Features VINTAGE SPRINT CAR PIC THREAD, 1965 and older only please.

Johnny Crawford ran this Offy at WG . The last time I seen an Offy sprint car compete. 1971 or '72 I think

 

Sure looks a lot like my "Warrior" sprint,which I was told was built by Jeff Kemper,designed by John Drauker! John S.

 

Did Steve Krisiloff ever drive for Charlie Chariot? John S.

 

I met Shorty in the very early 90's. I don't believe he ever drove nor that he was active as a photographer. I do know that he was a fan of the IMCA and in the early 50's bought a V8-60 powered Solar midget that he put Lu (Luther) Holland, an IMCA big car driver, in.

In later years, perhaps the early 80's and beyond Shorty acquired a lot of pieces, parts and cars. Mostly midgets and at one time had at least four.

There was a 110 cubic inch, 2 cylinder Offy resurrected from a blown up 220. Holland drove these cars up until the time Shorty became less able to participate and then passed perhaps 10 or more years ago.

I believe Jensen's cars and parts were sold in one lot to someone in the Atlanta area.

Lu Holland passed in August, 2008. His multiple vintage sprinters and midgets continue to be run in Vintage meets by his son, son-in-law, grandson, and friends. There were several meets in 2007 and 2008 were Lu had 4 sprinters and two midgets running.

 

Sprintmik,

The Offy that Crawford is driving was the former Edmunds that ended Aldo's career. Crawford sold the car to Ted Brewers wife Dell. Bill Wentz Sr. Laid it over on the 1 1/8 at Nazereth. The next day we stripped the driveline and running gear and sold the kit to Bing Metz who raced it for several years in URC. I still have Aldo's original steering wheel from the car in my basement.

 

Thank you

 

it was special built downsized from his sprint design too much power for short wheelbase got in his sesco hillegus following year and ran in top 3 almost every week

 

Initially no. The SMRC was founded basically to allow those with older, kind of obsolete equipment to be able to compete on a level playing field.

I do remember a provision that allowed newer equipment to run with the SMRC. Cars like the Linbad Badger & "maybe" VW's, etc. were allowed to run with a much narrower right rear tire .. in theory as an equalizer.

Johnny Mann in the Dewey Cali Chevy II powered Badger did run with us (Beltsville MD ?maybe?) and even with the narrower right rear handily won.

 

Many years before that I remember a similar race on the 1/2 mile asphalt at Old Bridge, NJ..

An ARDC midget & a URC sprint. The spint pulled the midget down the straight & entered the corners first .. the midget drove by the sprint in the corners. This went on the entire race .. with the midget barely winning at the finish line.

 

THANKS Billy!!!

BTW -- old age brain fade here .. I was a Director of the SMRC in '73 & '74 .. NOT '74 & '75.

Dutch Schaefer stepped away as an official of the SMRC in '75. Carl Miller took over the reins. Sometime after that the whole SMRC shooting match (Charter, etc.) was sold to Paul Weisel. (I think I met him sometime after that when he had something to do with the many time renamed 1/3 mile asphalt track in Hazleton, PA -- that at the time was called Evergreen).

When 1975 rolled around I was up to my ears in stock cars .. full time .. at the Riverhead (NY) Raceway.

Anyhoo .. it seems that sometime in there someone changed the SMRC rules?

Now looking at this on the surface .. The question that comes to my numb and sometimes feeble mind is ..... WHY build a SBC (small block Chevy) midget, when the cost has to be about equal to a sprint car .. and the purse that the sprint cars run for would have been significantly larger????????

I also remember the foolishness of the SMRC & the ARDC (in later years) booking dates (on the same day) against one another. When that was going on I went to an SMRC show at Flemington (the Fair maybe?) and there was sadly no where near a full field of cars. Not a good way for either club to do business. was my though back then.

OH!!! ... While I think of it. Back in 1974 Freddie Charles (Freddie Heydenreich) had a good looking midget that looked to be a scaled down sprint car of the day .. except the car was much better proportioned. I believe that he ran either one of those aluminum Buick or Old's engines in it.

 

WHile on the subject of the SMRC .. I'm goingto post a question about that club & one of it's adventures over on the midget thread.

 

fred had a buick I believein later years Johnny and Fred Jr both drove it

 

Needed a break from drying the basement,So here's a few....Rich

 

Baldtireman,
I do not recall Krisiloff ever driving for Charlie, but not sure.

 

Saw some info about Lou Holland and Shorty Jensen. Here's a photo of a midget that was for sale back in 2004 at the Hershey, Pa. meet. I noticed it had the name's Driver: Lou Holland and Owner: Shorty Jensen. This was a copy of a Solar midget although the frame was not stainless.

 

3rd pic... Looks like Pancho got er in a little deep chasin Op.
Great pics,thanks.

 

Rich, do you have any "Sprint cars on Trailer" pics you could post. Just some magic in old sprinters on open trailers I can never get enough of I guess.

 

Hey fellas I am not to good at this posting photos deal. Any suggestion on jpgs over the size limits?

Thanks Sprintmik

 

Herman Wise Lil 5 winner '71 in front of Speedway Motel

 

That is the correct number and color for the car as talked about in the cageless midget thread.

 

Sprintmik that photo of Herman Wise is fine-that size is OK to post.

It is kind of large,but I`d rather have them a bit too large than real small.


I usually post 1200x850 or so.

If your photos are really,really large,you may need a program like photoshop to resize them to a smaller size.

 

actually that was the back of the Speedway Motel

 

Just these, Most are action shots,along with some pit shots...Rich

 

Is the black racer in Australia? I know the Tatnell family have one almost identical.

Please keep this thread alive. I love it, I'm addicted to it- Just ask the wife!!!

 

The ARDC And that other club were so badly run back then, it was a joke. Just like that so-called match race at Flemington. There was no real way that Midget beat the big , not if they were still running the race from then until now! something like a WWE deal. lol.

 

Dunno about that spike, 1971 Springfield mile USAC Midgets, Sprint Cars, Stock Cars and Champ Cars, fast time during qualifying for the weekend Danny Caruthers in a MIDGET and that was on a MILE

 

Roy;
At Springfield, were all classes TT on the same day, both during the same afternoon, temps about the same, etc ?
That could make some difference even though Danny was a great driver.

 

.....'Nice! 'Anytime Jimmy or Danny Caruthers are mentioned, my rabbit ears go up. In that 1971 season Danny obliterated several long standing track records. And famous ones' at that; Ascot Park, Williams Grove (PA), and Terre Haute, to name a few. The year before, Jimmy set the all-time track record at Captital Speedway in Sacramento. This broke the super-sprint/winged super-modified record. So, Roy is right. The midgets held many all-time track records until things changed in the early 70's when (correct me if I'm wrong) the Pennsy sprint guys implemented the Firestone Drag tire. IMO if the midgets were allowed a right rear that was as out-of-proportion for their power/weight as the sprint cars, they would take over where they left off almost 40 years ago setting all-time track records.

 

I never saw ANYONE run the Grove harder than Danny Caruthers.