Hot Rods Vintage roundly round pics

More Jalopidum






















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Original Posters​

 

I've posted these pix elsewhere before (my apologies) but these kinds of cars were my favorites back in high school (early-mid 1960s), up in Northern Illinois. They ran in eastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. The rules for these modifieds were pretty simple - set maximum tracks and wheelbases, minimum roof and bumper heights, the use of American car frames and bodies, and no quick changes. 30" was the minimum between the frame rails and think about 36" in the cabin. But the best rule was - no engine restrictions. Run anything you wanted. Good gawd. Gary

 

1956 Gardena Stadium Southern California.

 

My Mom during Powder Puff Derby @ Belmont Raceway , Belmont California in early 50's

 

Hales Corners, Wis.

 

^ Been there! Bob, did you ever see any races in Waukegan? Gary

 

Just an observation...is that a bumper guard...literally? I guess its a exhaust shroud but pretty resourceful at that.
Cool Mom there Dave...what the heck did Dad do?

 

Gary, we lived in Minnesota, and Dad would take us to the Milwaukee Mile to watch the Indy cars, with a stop at Hales Corners to watch the modifieds run. Man, I those mod's would fly. Thinking about it now, how great it was to see the Indy roadsters and the modifieds, It gives me brain overload. Bob

 

It must have been a blast to do this stuff but there was a dark side.

 

( yes I think that is a Bumper attached to the side of the car ) My Dad owned small Body Shops all his life . He built quite a few Hardtops back then , He built the Push Trucks from scratch ( Jan. 1955 issue HOTROD Mag. )

 

Well there is no doubt where your direction in all of this came from...cool stuff.
Any more pics of Ma and the Powder Puff Jalopies...Thanks for sharing Dave.

 

That 119 looks like a car "wild Bill Murphy" bought and raced up here in New England ........

 

Some Checkers looking for a Flag
(Why is this fellow smiling? Because he is having the time of his life)




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There was a dark side for sure. Most of the guys that were running the coupes were always trying to keep the cars light weight cars. Some went to pretty risky things to get that light weight car.
It was expected the cars would have roll cages, and most had pretty big front and rear bumpers, side nerf bars and the like, and were powered by the biggest motor they could find. There were a few guys that figured out lighter cars were easier to be fast, so if they used electrical conduit instead of black pipe (the standard roll bar material of the day), they could save a couple hundred lbs on the car weight. Not very safe, but it looked like it was safe, and it was fast. As one might expect, those cars built with electrical conduit didn't hold up well in a crash, there were a lot of guys that were very lucky. Most tracks really didn't care what a guy used to build his car, all they cared about was filling the stands with people, and fast cars and mangled cars filled the stands, as long as no one died.

One night my family went to Darlington WI for the races. The pits at Darlington were on the back straight, and the only thing on the infield was a guardrail behind which they parked the ambulance and the wreckers, and the utility poles that light the track. At the time, Darlington was a short 1/2 mile track. During one of the races, one of the coupes lost control and slid sideways into one of the light poles. Normally, a race car sliding into a light pole would result in a broken off light pole, or the car would bounce off the pole, but that car hit the pole and wrapped itself around the pole, until both bumpers hit each other (yes, 360 degrees around the pole)! The driver survived, but had some serious injuries. To get the driver out of the car, they hooked a wrecker to the front bumper, and another wrecker to the back bumper and sort of pulled it straight. I wouldn't want to bet what material that roll cage was made out of, but I suspect it wasn't black pipe. I remember my dad and his friend had some questions regarding that car. Before that wreck, that car was very fast.

When they started racing the late models, for the first 4 or 5 years, most of the cars were very heavy, probably in the 6,000 lbs area. Gene

 

My Mom always had a heavy foot , our Dad built three of those little trucks , he traded the second one ( Mid Engine Stude Golden Hawk powered ) for a Brand new 59 Chevy Pickup , our Mom used to pick us up from school my brother and I and a few friends , we'd pile in the back and hold on , She liked to lightem up around the corners. there are more pics in family albums , but I do not have them downloaded on my puter . ( pic of the last truck he built )

 

Well we know who was the wild one in your family...

Hey find those Jalopy pics Dad built for your Mom.
Any shop pics of him building them for her...puttem here. Your Dad was an innovative man.

 

T Anybody

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I see there is a way to streamline a brick...

Credit to Owners, Photographers &
Original Posters
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Bob,
I sent a copy of the image you posted to a fellow who is a big part of the VMSC - and he had never seen it. So, do you happen to have any more to share? If so, either post them here and I'll forward them, or you can yak at my friend John Surges directly if you want. PM me for his email address. He and his wife live in Milwaukee and are webmasters, newsletter editors, cheerleaders, vintage modified owners, etc. at the VMSC and they have a HUGE collection of images and historical artifacts. As for the big mile track, I've only been there a few times, for one Indy car race, an ASA race (back in the day when Trickle, Martin, Wallace, Reffner, Senneker etc were still at it) and one Miller Meet. Nothing like those State Fair tracks, eh? Gary
http://vmsconline.com/

 

Getting Ready to Rumble




Credit to Owners, Photographers &
Original Posters

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thanks for the post guys.....

 

Two more pics of my hero's,my #1 hero is Mel in #30 { 8x2s are just enough 460 Linc. LOL] an this pic is at West Palm Beach Fairgrounds Speedway{1/2mile highbank]biggist track in south Fla. at the time,our others in the late 50s an through 60s/70s were a number of 1/3mile an 1/4. The #X is Buzz Barton in Tampa/St Pete,this was at the time called mod"Bugs" and Buzz's bigblock Ford Crosely wagon bodyed racer was nicknamed"The Roadgradetor" Sadly only one track is still running oval races out of the 2 doz.+ in Fla. I went too and also raced myself.

 

Sad, but beautiful all at the same time!!!!

 

Gary, you have a PM

 

Old photographs of track roadsters that ran in Jewett NY about 15 miles me.(just post war)
Check out the car on the left.

 

Dana B - Might that have been Buzz Barton?

 

Robert Hamke is still building short track chassis and his chassis win all over the country.
He is also a real character and very knowledgeable on chassis set ups.
Jimbo

 

Wow! What a photograph in lots of ways - thanks for sharing!

 

Bob, here is another photo for your scrap book! The driver's name was Jim Pierner (this is a 1962 photo) and the car was either light yellow or white and it probably red numbers. That's all help my friend can offer. As for the sponsor on the roof, Pilgrim Pate Service, best guess is that it was a cylinder head place as Websters defines pate as the top of the head. If true that would be a pretty archaic name for a cylinder head shop, eh? Gary

PS This just in... Pate was a brand of gasoline, or the name of a gas station!

 

Yes,he want on to become sprintcar driver of some fame. The Robert Hamke known now is the son of Robert Hamke Sr. who designed an built the super mods. Both very very skilled.