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

Wow.....where has the time gone....RIP Rich Vogler. I remember like it was yesterday. We were on our way out to a dude ranch in Colorado with out daughters ....six and eight yrs. old. We checked into our hotel in Ft. Collins. I turned on the TV to catch a quick look at "Thunder" while we unpacked.......there was no one on the track......the announcers were struggling for words........unfortunately I have been there before at the track as a competitor and as a viewer on TV......I knew it was not good. The kids said "what's wrong dad.....where are the race cars".....even they could sense it. I stared at the TV and said.....let's get some dinner. We had some great mexican food and came back to the room for the ten o'clock update.......RIP Rich Vogler.

 

When Shane won Winchester last summer the thing he was most proud of was the plaque Mrs. Vogler gave him with Rich' picture on it. When he was a kid he got to see Rich on Thursday Night Thunder and thought he was cool. A great racer who did his talking with his cars-RIP

 

To anyone who didnt ever get to see Rich Vogler race at Winchester , you really missed something. I remember him one time even racing a upright sprint against supermods there . He was a amazing driver. RIP Rich

 

Good piece on the kid on tv...glad to see he's making progress.

 

Think of Rich often since I see this daily. He was always trying to figure things out in the car, he had a bad habbit in this one of turning the fuel valve half way off if he thought it was rich...using it as a dial a jet. That watch on my 18 year old arm was in style then...before I get any crap...

 

In regards to Rich Vogler....I had a good friend and racer who saw Rich for the first time at Eldora. He says..."if that kid lives he'll be a great racer". And eating breakfast at the Voglor's was nothing but an eperience.

And Buzz Gregory...I remember he had a big crash I'm thinking at Anderson and broke among other things broke both legs. That may have been before he went to California.

 

Same car. Was owned by a Mr. Griffith from the Canton, Ohio area I believe. Dean end over ended this car on it's first outing at Sandusky. It was one of the first 4 bar cars built by Trevis.

 

Thank you, Bob. That's pretty much the way I remember him. He always wanted to sit down in my office and just talk racing whenever he came in.

 

Vogler rep. is real both he , and his dad from badger to the east coast look it up . There what we call people users , ask his first wife Cindy !!

 

Welcome stevehmiel !

Can you believe what that guy Josh Shaw started ?

 

That stinks! I hope they allow us all to come back there next year, I love that place! I actually like to go canoeing there, because there is hardly anyone there. You can close your eyes and feel the speed! lol

Bob

Bob

 

Regarding the Lester Robinson sprinter. Lester towed to Topeka,ks in 1968 for the IMCA fair races in September. It was my understanding that he was returning west from St. Paul to catch one more race. He had only the tires on the car which were asphalt slicks. I got the seat through a friend. It was my first and last ride in a real sprinter without a cage. There were at least 60 cars on hand and I managed to time in faster than a lot of hot shoes but not fast enough to qualify for the first days race. Needless to say with all those cars and a very hot afternoon there wasn't much track left so a lot of very big names were disappointed. I recall having to remove the seat pad so my knees would fit under the steering wheel and still was a very tight fit and I'm not a big guy. We grooved the pavement tire on the right rear and the car really got around pretty well. Lester seemed to know everyone and I recall Jan Opperman coming by to speak with him for a few minutes. My thoughts were a really tight fit for the driver and a pretty decent motor capable of winning on a track like this. Pretty much the equal of most of the cars in IMCA at that time.

 

The second photo is of Bob Cicconi at Winchester talking to Terry Wente

 

Bob Cicconi and I both drove that car also

 

The first race Rich ever drove for my dad was at Winchester, it was a two day deal, Ron Shuman was our driver at the time, the show on the first day Shuman started the feature on the pole and in 2 laps was running way in the back if not last. The next day my dad took Shuman out of the car and put Rich in it, everyone was asking me if he had lost his mind, (I forgot to mention that my dad was pretty much the one who got Rich and Don kicked out of USAC for life a few years before this, not sure how long they were actually banned from USAC) anyway he set a new 1/2 mile world record in qualifying, I was standing in turn 3 when he qualified, I swear he never lifted. He led the feature until the last lap when he was lapping a slower car coming off 4 he went low Parsons went high in Lockard's Badger and ended up getting past Rich. Rich won his first USAC Championship the next year driving for us, and drove for my dad until my dad died. Later he drove my step Dad's Indy Car, He was like a big brother to me, Metal Bender I know Cindy and have since the 70's I seriously doubt she shares your feelings towards the Voglers, her and Eleanor Vogler are still close. I also doubt that all the people who have benefited from the Rich Vogler Scholarship would call the Voglers users, seems to me even the guy who started this thread was a recipient of one of the Vogler scholarships.

 

Hey gang, I'm a member of the Yahoo! Race History Group, and I got this e-mail tonight:
"
Group: As of last week, the registered car count for the 4th Darlington Historic
Racing Festival, September 23-25,2011 was low. If we want to continue to have
this track facility available for vintage racing the count needs to be in the
range of previous years 110 plus vehicles. I will be glad to e mail an
application for the event. Please contact me off line @ [email protected]
Thank you for your consideration.
Bob Coolidge
DeLand, FL"


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Early 60's IMCA

 

The # 65 Miller car is the one I remember Vogler in against the supers at Winchester. Now with all the knowledge on here, didnt he run third that day ?

 

Jerry Poland drove #16 in 1966 Little 500. Sun Valley Official program 1966.

# 16 car OWNERS in 1966 and 1968 are listed as G.M Fowler, W.R Hoback and A. McMeen. All Chev powered. (IMCA Yearbooks).
Any help?

Believe the car in the background is the Benny Rapp #14. Now owned by myself.
Jim Grant

 

#16 again at Allentown PA. Outside of row 2.
Rapp outside of row 1.

 

Two pics taken on the same day?
Winchester July 1967.

First from the Winchester website.

The second from Benny Rapp's garage wall in Deerfield MI last week.
Of course that's Hector Honore and the Black Deuce in the background.

Jim

 

4 more pics.
Milwaukee Mile 2011.
Yes, I fulfilled a lifelong dream of driving a roadster.....the Kurtis/Epperly laydown.
Josh's works of art.
Also drove (not pictured) #76 Joe Hunt Magnetos car and the #25 Kurtis. (1952 Kurtis engine pic from Amelia Island).

Thank you Phil and Joe.

Jim

 

Probably not you but somebody spun the Joe Hunt car coming out of Turn 4 on Sunday and it was pretty spectacular. That car did a full 1 and 3/4 spins and looked for sure like it was going into the inside rail but stopped sideways pointing toward the outside wall.

That has to be the first Indy roadster spin in about 45 years.

 

cg5 sent me some good info on Bill Hoback. That #16 car was originally built for Greg Weld who drove it in USAC. What a great photo here. Karl Busson on the pole with Benny Rapp outside. Daryl Harrison starting third with Dean Mast in the #64 right behind him. My dad is in the next to last row on the outside (kind of peaking out to get a look).
The first Winchester photo is the start of the fast heat. This is the race Dad set the record in. I purchased this photo from Ralph at Greenfield Galleries who have all the old Armin Krueger pics. I'm not sure exactly when, but I remember when Benny first brought that "pearl" car. Everybody was thinking: "He's in the money now."

 

By the way, that roll bar on the Alfater car Karl Busson was driving was the first sign that roll cages were coming. Nobody, and I mean nobody, questioned Karl Busson's courage.

 

This is a cropped section of the photo KK500 posted. Check out the knobbies on Hector's car. I realize these were "trailer" tires, but everybody had some on the truck. Man the dirt would fly when somebody would bolt these on. Not a whole hell of a lot of good at Winchester though. This car is in my little photo on the left - same day.

 

Yes guys, Jim sent me details of the "whoopsie' in the Joe Hunt Magneto roadster, so if it was the first roadster spin for 45 years at least he has a score on the board that most of us "young blokes" will never achieve!!
Cheers Greg

 

JUST A THOUGHT
I wonder if you guys might benefit up there from our experience as we down here enjoy all the experience expressed in this thread.
The whole of Historic racing as we know it in Australia was started by one man with one advertisement in our equivalent of National Speed Sport News in about 1970.
Robbie Rowe asked for people with an interest , knowledge, or ownership of old racing cars to write to him with details (well before the ease of the net) and he would set up an "Historic Racing Register"
It has been going now since that first advertisement and nearly every historic racing car from 1908 onwards is on it unless it is yet to be found in a barn somewhere!
The cars are all listed, the chronological history is preserved, and the integrity of each car is able to be researched by any historian , potential buyer , or family member of a previous owner or driver.
This has been a big job and we are a country with a population less than 1/10 that of the USA and racing did not grip us all as it did in the States so over there it would be a HUGE job, albiet with the help of the net and not snail mail.
If somebody would put their hand up to get it started I am sure a snowball effect would begin.
Josh has really started that snow ball down the hill with this fantastic thread and I am sure an enthusiastic computer savvy guy could pick up the idea and run with it .
What a legacy for future generations you could create.
Any thoughts
Cheers Greg

 

easter, Speaking of Karl Busson and Rollie Beal too are they still around? Denny Z