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

Leo Caldwell won the race, but it was quite disputed. The Imca scorers weren't, for the most part, use to scoring long races with many pit stops so there was those who thought Clair Lawicki should have won.

 

IMCA scorers (at least 1 year) were high school kids at The Little 500. A couple of disputes at the end.

 

Scoring disputes at Little 500 have been standard operating procedure for years.

Ask Butch Wilkerson about Jeff Bloom sometime.

 

Rootie,
Talked to Charlie. He also said the guy they said won the race was not the person that did win. He could not remember who won but said the car they said won was powered by a Ford motor[427] and Ford had something to do with the race. Dick Gaines was driving a car that was owned by a trucking company in Mitchel, In [the car was not owned by Dizz, but he was in charge] and the trucking company also had cars at Indy. Dick flipped the car and Charlie thought he was dead when he went aroun the first time, the secound time around Dick was getting out of the car because it had flipped in a ditch and Dick was not hurt. Charlie broke a torque tube and it went thru the belly pan and the drive shaft went right over Dean Roper's head. It dug into the track but did not catch on fire[Charlie said it must have had so much fuel in it that it put out the sparks[he had just made a pit stop] but when he got to the pit there where firemen everywhere. Hope this helps.
Jim

 

Thanks Jim, that's pretty much what the race report said too. It also stated that Wilson was quite a popular guy in the pits with guys looking for help with their setups, what with his Indy experiance and all.

 

alrighty so this is prolly pretty random but i came across this thread searching for idk what and fell in love with it! i dont know much about sprint cars and midgets from the 60's or 70's era and what i do know is second and third hand. My grandfather is Joe Demko and he raced sprint car's and midgets in the 60's and 70's in imca and usac and a few other sanctions more localized to our area. He was an imca champ in idk what years driving midgets and if anybody has any pics of him (650+pages is alot to navigate tryin to find pics) or any info on what happened to any of the cars he drove (im sure yall would need more info which im sure i could supply if i talked to my grandpa or my dad) i would be majorly appreciative as i find it incredibly interesting and cool and hope to one day go racing myself. i feel like im forgetting something but idk what, anywho heres a scan of him (#59)

 

Anybody got any more pictures/stories?

 

Was it John Auxter,of Fremont Ohio.? He was an IMCA regular who campaigned an Indy roadster with a big-block Ford.

 

Is this a Sam Traylor car? Sure looks like the Ed Lowther #2 that I admired so much as a youngster. Really Nice!! John S.

 

I'd heard about that race for a long time and was always curious about it but could never find much info on it. I then came across a old magazine called U.S. Auto Sports from 1964 that has the race report in it by Bill Marvell. Not much for pictures but a lengthy text. I'll scan it up tomorrow and post it.

 

Baldtireman,
I do not know if it was him or not. Will try to remember the name and ask Charlie. Maybe Rooties results will have it.
Jim

 

Rootie,
You sure know a lot, what size hat do wear[15]? That was a compliment, thanks for all your imput[and you have always been right].
jim

 

Dad's first Sprint without the cage.

 

Sideways27, more photos of the Paul Mead car. First at Winchester 10 July 66, 2nd in primer at Winchester 30 April 67, 3rd at Eldora 2 July 67.

 

I think the car Dick Gaines was driving was the Martin Bros Trucking Car. They were a Penn. company but hauled cement out of Mitchell. They also helped sponser Kal Halls Indy effort these Cars were always # 71 an were the Hall Mar Specials.

 

Scanned up the Bill Marvel piece on the 1964 Atlanta IMCA race. Here's the text. Double click to a new window to view full size.

 

Here's the pics that accompanied the article:

 

The July 1967 IMCA race at Winchester. Somebody blew a motor on the front straight and dumped oil everywhere. A bunch of cars spun in the oil from the flag stand clear through turn 1. Dad had hit the outside wall but was in pretty good shape until Curly Boyd hit him. The newspaper had the wrong name for the #2 car. Both cars were torn up pretty bad. Karl Busson was leading and Dad was running second - separated by a group of lapped cars - the first of which blew his engine. Bob King was involved and split his hand between his fingers on the steering wheel spoke. He still signed an autograph for me while bandaged, drinking a beer, and waiting on the pay window. Can't believe (even as a kid) I had the nerve to ask him for an autograph after he was hurt.

 

More from the Thompson shop. The balck sprint car was supposed to be a Traylor car in response to prior question.

 

Those are great detailed pics of the Meskowski champ car. Thanks!

 

There is a Dennis Unger picture of the Paul Mead car here

http://www.thevintageracer.com/unger/Misc2/index.html

Dave Norris is in it, picture says Dave built the car.

 

Oldbill,
Thanks for the pictures, this told me alot about the car during these years. During the 1967 season it was the Paul Mead Cab Spl. I really liked the pic's with the car on its trailer. It is going to give me some ideas on how to build the new trailer. Im very thankfull for the pic's they are helping me understand the history more and more.

 

.....'Hey Rootie! I'm still wowed by DaveWW1's pics, so thanks for clueing me in on who's champ dirt car that is from the Thompson Restoration shop. 'Absolutely gorgeous! And that black midget with the Offy engine. My first thought was, it was the old Caruso Offy #2, the Black Deuce that Bill Schindler made famous. Also, all the Offy engines on the engine stands and work benches, Wow! 'Great variety. I've seen a turbo-Offy, a super-charged Offy, n/a Offy's and a host of midget Offy's. I really hope DaveWW1 keeps it up! One other note: most car builders always seemed to be afraid of an extra long tail pipe. But both cars pictured have EXTREMELY long exhaust pipes and that's what makes them even more attractive, IMHO.

 

Just found this pdf file, it is not sprintcar related but might interrest some of you. This is a statistical summary of every Indycar championships covering AAA, USAC, CART, Gold Crown, CCWS & IRL

http://openpaddock.net/files/2009_ics_historical_recordbook.pdf

 

Some nice $tuff there for sure. Curious as to who's champ car that was but it's deffinatly Meskowski built. He said the sprint was a old Traylor car but he had several in his stable so it's hard to say which one. I'm thinking it might be the #55 with some updates such as the disc brakes and such. (?)

 

Roy this one's for you ;-)