Pulled the front wheels off the '56 Ford for the first time since it was rolled in 1970, and was surprised to see this.....this is the right front wheel, so I imagine this is a internal wheel weight?
Dirt or asphalt, they had to reinforce the wheel. It was common for centers to break out especially on the right front. Most guys just welded five pieces of flat stock from just outside the lug holes on the outer side of the wheel to the rim. Some used a center cut from another wheel welded to the outside of the wheel, and some welded in a piece of plate like on your wheel. By the mid 60's many tracks had rules requiring reinforced or double center wheels.
I saw a '56 Chevy dirt car at the Springfield, MO swapmeet last year that had the bar stock reinforcements on the widened wheels.... Still has the stock drums and axles. This was the '56 Ford dirt car from Caney, KS everybody had fun with when I made the post about getting it home earlier this year. Picked up a complete "promised to run" '57 292 about a month ago. Just like to get it running, rolling and stopping safely right now.
if it has a title, get running, put in some head lights and tail lights, put it on the street and drive the heck outta it. Later
That looks like a 1/4" thick blank that was dropped in and welded inside the wheel. The old Holman Moody wheels actually had 2 center sections sandwiched together, concept is the same. I did see a figure-8 car years back, the wheel center was a 3/8" thick piece of diamond plate steel. 100% fabricated into the existing rim. Bob
That was a must at many of the dirt tracks back in the 60's my home track added that to the rules after several cars lost right fronts when the studs pulled through,it was common to run increased camber because of the turn banking which stressed the wheel centers.Many of the tracks in that era also added higher fences because spectators were injured and killed by flying wheels.
Yep, back in the day, we ran some pretty extreme camber. I swear, some of those rims we had weighed 20+ lbs.
I believe we already have the answer which would be to reinforce the wheel. But just to muddy up the waters I knew some old sprint car guys that would add weight to the right front wheel to help keep it on the ground.
A lot of the dirt cars ran wheels from retractable hardtops because they had heavier centers. We used to watch alot of mid 50s cars get destroyed down around Bradenton & Sarasota when I was little.
Attaboy Clayton! Good to see that you're working on that thing. We always hadto reinforce our wheels in a similar way. Sometimes they would still rip out. I lost a few! Tom
Minor update to a very slow project.... Scored a set of wheels at the Springfield, MO swapmeet last weekend. Long time neighbors asked what I was looking for this year, showed up Saturday morning with these!
wanna race???....looked at this 1956 D500 Dodge in Enid for over about 30 yrs.. finally had some crazy money around 2007 and went back to "Sooner Auto Salvage" there in Enid...he still wanted the same amount....and I bought it....so it's waiting on a fresh motor....at the moment....
That's some camber... oooffff. I always tried to keep the RF camber to a minimum, it was often used as a crutch on an ill-handling car. Once the RF started to lose the edge, those cars were easy to pass in the main. They'd skate right up the track in the turns. Bob
Stillrunners........ You bet! Gotta' get the brakes and wheels replaced and install the new engine. I'd sure like this car to see the Caney race track again!
I guess it would depend a lot on the track banking. this heap was raced on a 1/4 mile 33 degree banked bullring. Now, watching races on the Island growing up, I never saw any cars with that kind of serious camber, but Islip, freeport, and riverside really didn't have that kind of high banks. Granted, later, as one got smarter and racing parts became easily available, and legal, the old RF camber all but disappeared. But, I still miss those simpler times.
I ran Islip and Riverhead for years and saw some pretty extreme camber angles. The figure-8 cars especially. Freeport was flat, the other tracks had some banking, Riverhead more than Islip. They did what they had to do to keep the RF from tucking under in the turns. Bob
Messin' around with the car today, discovered the wheels pulled off of it seem to be 14"s , stockers are 15" right? Dirt track trick or advantage?
Hey guys, we are working on getting fendered cars in our lineup for next year. I presonally prefer tri-5 American anything. Keep digging! People love these cars. I have 3 old modifieds right now, and have located at least 7-8 of these old hobby stockers in central Oklahoma. It would be nice to have quite a few REAL stockers to watch again along with the old NCRA Modifieds we're already building.
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