History Vintage "Cageless" Midget Picture Thread

I have this Word document in my file that I think came from an e-bay add some time ago, along with about 6 pictures of the body on a frame. One would wonder if there was a Belmont frame or if the fabrication was left to the purchaser of the body.

Perhaps you bought the body

 

I ran against the #28 car in 66 when Bob Lithgow owned and drove it. It was allways spotless. Tatwould drive it if his ccar broke, they were good friends.

 

Jim, I believe the Lithgow car you ran against in '66 is the '65 Edmunds I am restoring. However, the Konstant Hot number 28 that apparently Lithgow purchased fills in a lot of blanks regarding the KK that he had prior to his first Edmunds (he had a later one than the one I am restoring). We believe some of the parts of that KK are on my Edmunds. Also, he apparently painted and numbered his new Edmunds in the same way as his former KK (Konstant Hot car).

Attached are some Ken Cole photos of Tattersal in the Lithgow Offy at New Bremen. They were neighbors in Streator, ILL.

Blacki-Suede

''Life's tough, pilgrim, and it's even tougher if you're stupid.''-- John Wayne

 

Attached photo...two Studebaker Champion 6 cylinder flat head powered midgets at Van Wert, Ohio this July 4th weekend.

Notice the vertical trailing edge of both tails.

John Barlass driving my Hillegass #6 (notice the number is an "in-line" 6) and Sparky Bradel in the #7 (I think the #7 is oversized to match the bore of the engine). LOL

Roger Grevankamp photo.

 

The differences in driving posture of the two drivers is what makes this a great picture.

Well, that and the somewhat alarming lack of driver safety gear (shoulder belts, gloves, neck restraints). How HARD do these guys run these cars?

 

Shoulder harnesses in a non roll bar car are a no/no.


Attached is a photo showing the other two 6 cylinder flat heads running that day, both also owned by the Bradel family. The number 27 with a roll bar is the third Studebaker and the number 47 is Continental powered.

There were only two V8-60's there.

Roger Grevankamp photo.

 

We went so Hinchcliffe Stadium on 9/1

 

More old stuff...

 

Old stuff from the Car Show in Warren, NJ.

 

Mississippi Valley Vintage Race Car Association (MVVRCA) is holding its annual Hawkeye Futurity at the Oskaloosa, IA ½ mile dirt track this Friday and Saturday with a rain date of Sunday

Will be over 50 cars running exhibition heats and features both evenings with test and tune also running Friday from 9 AM until early afternoon, one car on the track at a time.

Y’all come

 

I thought that you guys might want to know that we recently lost Denny Lott,long time driver and owner,and later a patron to some local racers in his Ohio area.....

 

Spent the last three days running at Oskaloosa, IA 1/2 mile dirt with the Mississippi Valley Vintage group. Had about 46 cars.

Had a small but nice group of uncaged midgets including my Hillegass, a Kurtis Offy, a Kurtis Chevy II, a Kurtis Pinto, and a square tube chassis V8-60. My car ran perfectly all weekend, never touched a thing, only added fuel.

Had a neat Aussie pair (Ross and Helen Benge) there that were staying with one of the group in Iowa. They have a Holden powered uncaged car and a caged VW at home. She does the driving, he's banged up a bit in the back from a flip years ago.






She got a ride in a sprinter Friday night. When I heard that I suggested she come by my car Saturday afternoon and see how she fit. That went well and she took it out for the first run Saturday night. She drove it faster than I do and I should have left her in it..

Little did I know she was also had a ride in a prewar car with a 2 litre VW water cooled engine in it and a cage on it for the second run.

The last heat she was in the Paul Waters newly restored Kurtis with the Chevy II, this being its first outing. She's shown here with the car and Molly Waters and her Chevy II OT car.

 

RIP Denny.

 

Spoke with Laurence Deutsch yesterday, he's the editor of our WRA Newsletter, chief photographer, cook and bottle washer.
http://www.westernracing.com/
Seems that a Japanese based film crew was on the way to the US to film some commercial stock to be used in future Subaru commercials.
They were to be in Willow Springs for two days, saw our WRA webpage and wanted to shoot their new car on the dirt track with one of our vintage midgets, (had to be blue).
Laurence had a career in commercial film and media and knew how to talk to these folks and a contract was quckly signed.
Two weeks later the Erickson's Shilala Midget was on the Walt James Dirt Track, followed by the Subaru driven by a contracted Japanese F3 driver and film crew. ​

 

28 Dreyer, Do you have any Idea where the two Midgets sold at auction last Weekend are Destined. In particular the Shannon ,Bob Higman cosworth #22. They were part of the Ross Fischer Estate. Keep it sideways,, Mate, SPEEDIE

 

I was at the Fischer estate sale, I don't know where the Higman Cosworth midget is going but I heard the Offy midget is staying in Indiana.

 

Vintage BCRA midgets and hard tops will be running with the second annual 100 lap Johnny Soares midget classic Sat Oct 5th at Petaluma Speedway in petaluma calif.

 

It has been reported that East Coast midget racer Lou Fray has passed away.

 

RIP Lou. Wow three friends I've lost in one week. Two racers and one high school buddy. Denny Z.

 

Anyone know what happened to the Vintage Sprint Car Thread? I cant seem to find it anywhere.

 

It's there for me right now, all 1057 pages

 

Works OK for me too. Denny Z.

 

Pace car for Sat Nite Oct 5 @ Petaluma Speedway

 

Is anyone familiar with this BSA powered micro midget. It has a Davis Engineering tag. It has Davis cast wheels with knock offs, cast aluminum steering box and an aluminum quick change rear. I think the black and white photo came from the photos of days gone by thread on here a couple of years ago.

 

I am looking at a vintage v-60 powered midget, made in the 40's, and I have a question on the brakes and rear end.

The brakes are the same on the front and rear, and the owner thought they were Ford, and the rear end assembly from a Model A.

The brake drums appear much smaller than Ford, and the read end is a banjo style, also much smaller, with a torque tube connected in an In & Out Box.

I do not have a picture of the read end, but the drums are the same as the front in the picture.

Any ideas, sorry for the limited information.

Bob

 

All of my pre-war midgets have either A.T or Willy`s brakes on A or T rears. Post war car started to have purpose made Lightweight brakes. somr drums were aluminum drums with steel liners. I have a kurtis that had Crosely Hot shot spot brakes on the front. After that brakes improved greatly. If I had a nickle for every driver that said that you did not need brakes on a race car I would be a rich man.

 

Looks to me like post war purpose built such as Bell, Schroeder, Tomshe, and I think Casale made. Usually the name was on the backing plates.

The rear end could be a Willys.

Stan, you know that brakes were only for starting the car, and stopping in the pits.

LOL

 

Playing old school

 

Hi folks I am in the process of finishing off my Kurtis replica. See the pic below.

My question relates to the Schroder steering box that is fitted. The difficulty I have is the adjustment of the mesh of the gear and the worm.
I understand that the part of the housing that unbolts and holds the pitman arm , bearings shaft etc is made with and eccentric to permit adjustment of the mesh. The problem is that there is no infinite adjustment but only from bolt hole to bolt hole as you rotate that part of the housing. Every way I have tried I end up with either the worm and gear binding which is unsatisfactory or there is an amount of play. Is this usual?
I am used to adjusting steering boxes where adjustment is not limited in this way. I am thinking of moving the worm a little with a shim to free up the setting when it binds.

Any tips or advice much appreciated.

 

...what a nice looking car.....love the Daimler Hemi....very cool..