I believe the C.W. Moss building was an old Chevrolet dealership, but that Ford dealership certainly resembles it. Mick
This is Vince Conze's down tube Championship car at Pikes Peak. Al Unser won the hill climb driving this car in 1964 but Jimmy Davies had also driven the car there a year earlier. I'm not sure which driver is in the photo. Conze also ran the car in some sprint car races. Conze was something of a mechanical genius and was involved behind the scenes in engineering and machining capacities in all kinds of race cars going back as far as the front drive Novis; probably even earlier. Frank Kurtis used Conze drivelines, hubs, and steering components as standard equipment in most of his Indy roadsters unless a customer specified otherwise.
"Back in the Day” – California’s Johnny McDowell was among a number of West Coast racers that saw competition in midget racing action in and around the Chicago area in 1948. McDowell scored three feature wins on his way to winning the Solider Field championship in ’48. McDowell also had the distinction of winning the very first midget feature race at the new Rockford Speedway on May 26, 1948 – the inaugural opening night for the banked, quarter-mile paved oval. Sadly, McDowell, a four-time starter in the Indianapolis 500, died from injuries suffered during a Champ Car program at the “Milwaukee Mile” in June of 1952. He was 37 years old. A photo from the Bob Sheldon Collection shows Johnny McDowell posing for the camera in the pits at Chicago’s Soldier Field, circa 1948.
I remember going here as a kid with my Dad on a camping trip. I forget what time of year it was (summerish, since I was off from school) but it was a cloudy day in the parking lot. Up on top of the mountain, snowing. Time frame for this picture is about right, too.
The Jalopy Journal
