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

Neal, The Essex frame was the common one to use on dirt cars, you may want to check that out. The Christman car has a Franklin front axle. I saw an odd early one at Hershey that was out of an old race car or Hot Rod, had ends that took what looked like '28 Chevy spindles. Should have gone back and taken a photo.

 

Roy my buddy has a Star Coupe and he's not going to use the frame ,i showed it to Mike today call me Ron

 

Talk about bringing back memories!!
Sadly Jim Moughan Sr. just passed away... but what a driver!

 

Another pretty good lookin car on Ebay this week.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vint...727|39:1|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

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SO dad calls me at noon friday and says "what do have going on the rest of the day?" This usaully means he is half way to my shop, and the rest of my day is shot weather I know it or not!

Well, 3 hours later we were at KOKOMO for the first time for both of us.

It was killer! We sat next to John Stanbro's mom and watched him win his heat by passing Dave Darland in the final laps. Then Jon topped the night off by WINNING THE FEATURE FROM FOURTH IN THE LAST TURN!! The track was incredibly heavy, with lots of cowboy action.. on the last lap, last turn the leader "Cole Whitt I believe" Bicycled and sent the guys behind him scattering trying to miss him. Stanbro drove passed them for a well deserved win after a pretty shakey year.

KOKOMO was small, tight and fast. I loved it!

 

That e-bay car looks MUCH better without the cage. I don't want to be a party pooper, but I never liked the CAE bolt on cages I've seen.

If it were my car, regardless of what anybody said, I'd pursue a bolt on Grant King style cage.jmo

 

Well, I got it home! Been looking at it and as the "new" washes off I still dig it! Funny how when you chase a story down on a car, the truth manages to show you how imaginitive you can be, almost to the point of something to worry about.lol

Serial numbers 1-87-1

Yeah, the first Nance built in 1987. Before you laugh, in ten years that tidbit could boost the value by $10! Seeing as how it was made during the "Spinal Tap" era, it could go as high as '11'!

Really though, for a non-downtube '80s car, I like these most. They only built this style for a while.

now back to regular broadcasting

 

Ditto these comments. I went for the first time earlier this year, helping my buddy with his car. Awesome place, well worth the trip...and getting home an hour before I needed to leave for work the next morning.

I also hit the 'Burg for the first time this year, at the MSCS race a couple weeks ago. Another outstanding venue...I never saw the old version, but the new one is FAST!

 

Looks like you've got some serious work ahead, Brian. Send in some pix when you get that cage "torched" off of the frame and put some real bodywork on it.

 

You know I've thought about a track nose on it but not sure. 21 years is enough to call it retired i think. I look at it like this, 'it's my new car', the rest I have are vintage.

By the way, my Edmunds bodied super is based on a twin to the Challengers. Sweet fit aren't they?

 

Mac,

Where did you get the cowl, hood, and nose for that car? I got mine from speedway and they did not fit like yours.

Is it Pruitt from PA?

 

Here is a shot from my collection that is from Soldier Field, Chicago in 1947. This is a track roadster from the Hurricane Racing Assoc. that was organized by Vince and Andy Granatelli. They ran there for several years before the track roadster evolved into sprint cars. A lot of guys from Central Indiana called the Mutual Racing Assoc used to go up there and race occasionally.
Gene

 

hey gene got any more pics of the roadsters that ran i am just finishing my a roadster . and realy like these cars

 

Sure do have some more. Here are three that are from the Midwest.
Gene

 

Here is one of my friend's Mutual Roadster. This car was restored a few years back. It runs and he takes it to vintage meets in the Midwest. It was driven most of it's life by Pete Allen from Dayton, Ohio. Pete Allen was one of the Mutual drivers that went on to race in the NASCAR Speedway division. Most of the body work on this car is unrestored. I took a complete 360 of this car including the cockpit if someone would like to see them.
Gene

 

Another HAMB'er posted these on a new thread. I thought they belong here so here ya go!


Bob Shutt


I was at the The Collings Foundation in Stow, Mass this past week-end and took these shots. I thought you folks might be interested in seeing them. The quality is not great because I took the pics with my cell phone.
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he makes em

 

Gene, love the roadster pics, but Josh is quite adament that this post is for non wing (supposed to be non caged) sprint cars, midgets and champ cars only

 

yes thanks gene for posting the pics . it is kind of sad that these cars dont get more press this is were the sprint cars come from and all the big indy drivers in the late 40 s and early 50s come from with out these good looking little race cars there would have never been sprint cars and a lot of the speed parts that we look for come from these guys racing these cars week in week out . so i dont think josh will mind if we get back to the roots of it all .

 

I make all of my own 'glass bodywork. I had to buy a couple of 'glass parts from Speedy Bill, that I didn't have molds for, but I found them to be of unusable quality and ended up making my own patterns, molds and parts from scratch. My parts are all hand laid.
I have used a couple of seats that I got from Ralph Pruitt but he is very difficult to get in touch with.

 

"roadsters became sprint cars"...

Well, kinda.. I'm know of a TON of great drivers came from the roadster ranks, but roadsters were simply roadsters. If anything, they "merged" with the sprint cars that had been around all along since the twenties, or they just became "modifieds"
John Gerber was an amazing guy. Read his book if you get the chance. It's called "outlaw Sprint car racer" He raced a short wheelbased "sprint car" all over the country in the 20's and 30's He slept on the side of the road with his pistol under his pillow, because guys tried to rob him after the races.
Here is some examples of his car, and others. REMEMBER,, These cars were racing BEFORE the model A had even been offered.






1929

​

This guy, Oscar Coleman, died in 1938




Now I'm sure some of you will be saying, "but those are Indy cars, or "big cars" but Johns isn't. You had to be 100" wheelbase to run at indy. Most of these cars are 93" and down.</O
<O
<OThis car was called "The AC Sprint car". By AC company. This was during testing, and the picture was takin in 1925</O
<O</O
<O
<OAnd lastly... here's another opinion.</O
<O
<O

Don is a former racer and author of a number of books on the Roadster and Sprint Car era. See the end of this article for information on three of them.
Sprint car racing really had its beginning in the years following World War 1. The racing before then was mostly with larger cars that were primarily modified stock cars. Most of this racing was in the larger cities with factory sponsored race teams. After the war racing came to the rural areas with competition on the country fair horse tracks and machines built from stripped Model T Fords. There were other makes of cars but the Model Ts were plentiful, cheap and there were soon lots of speed parts available. These home built machines were not called sprint cars they were simply "race cars" or maybe "dirt track cars"

Noel Bullock in 1922 (Click to see larger image)
By the 1930s and 1940s the Model T based cars evolved into more refined racers. There were still lots of Ford parts with the four cylinder Model A-B engine being the base for many racing conversions. Special racing engines such as the Millers and Offenhausers were available for those who could afford the price tag. Much of the racing was still on the country and state fair horse tracks but purpose built auto racing tracks were starting to emerge. These cars were still not called sprint cars. In the 1930s the midgets had come on the racing scene so the bigger machines were called "big cars"

A typical 1930s-1940s big car (Click to see larger image)
The 1950s and 1960s brought about improvements in the design of cars and professionally built race cars became more common. In the 1950s many cars still used the pre World War 2 four cylinder engines but the flathead V8 Ford or Mercury engines were also popular. In the 1960s the Chevy V8 came into its own and soon made other engines obsolete. There was still a bit of racing on the horse tracks but this was on the way out In around 1950 somebody thought of the name "sprint car" so finally we had sprint car racing

Ascot Park, Los Angeles. 1964. #10 Allen Heath, #1 Bob Hogle (Click to see larger image)
Beyond the 1960s the cars slowly evolved into what they are today. Safety dictated the use of the cage roll bar. Engines developed more horsepower requiring wider tires and body designs and wings took advantage of aerodynamic down forces.

Mark Kinser at Parris, 1996, photo by James O'Brien, used with permission. (Click to see larger image)


</O
I am in no way discrediting the Roadsters. I LOVE THEM!! The "NO ROADSTER, NO JALOPY'S" rule was LOOSLEY put into place simply because there are already OTHER post going on here (HAMB) about them.

Sure, I'd like it to stay only Wingless sprint cars, But I don't mind an occasional example of something else.

Besides, Gene's been a super good guy since I met him, so "I ain't mad at cha"

 

Now, Back to Sprints, Midgets, Champ cars, and even an occasional 1/4 Midget!

First ones for you ROY!!












JD

 

That pic of the car "airborne" looks like it was taken in England at Brooklands on the Hillclimb section.

 

Do you sell copies of that Champ car cowl/hood/nose set?

 

Brian's got a tank coming in the mail...

 

I was about to post a pic of the Ascot 64 that you posted. One of my favorites. I remember this era well as a child watching from the stands. Hogle in the Tamale Wagon Offy #1 and Heath in the Traco 10. I know the Tamale wagon ended up in Speedy Bill's museum, but not sure whatever happened to the Hank Henry built car Heath is driving. By the way, I don't remember Heath driving much after 64.
Look closely and you'll notice his "hook" not on the wheel. Sometimes he'd slide through the corner waving it in the air. Quite a showman was he.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/RUDGE-WHITWORTH-VINTAGE-RACE-CAR-WIRE-WHEEL-SPRINT-CAR_W0QQitemZ260303577788QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260303577788&_trkparms=72%3A727%7C39%3A1%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

 

Yes! $575 for the three pcs............ cowl, hood and nose, as pictured.

 

OK, on the roadsters. I was asked to post some. On the quote of 'roadsters evolving into sprint cars.' I am aware that sprint cars or big cars were around before roadsters came on the scene as real race cars vs being called 'hotrods'. My comment referred to the Mutual Roadsters evolving into sprint cars later in life. A case in point is the Tom Cherry car. It was originally built as a Mutual roadster, then converted to a sprint car to run in Tom Cherry's All Amercan Racers series, then the same car was converted to the NASCAR Speedway Division form. It is today still in the Speedway Division design.
Gene

 

Very Cool, I like that car.

They might make it sound like I'm in charge, but this deal is everybody.. Enjoy it however you like. Roy is the "inforcer" of the bunch, Thats why I like him. ..i'm a little suprissed he hasn't perked up on that pic of Jimmy and his old man next to there #5 TQ yet though.. Roy...?.. You still out there? Don't let them kids throwing a rock through your trucks windshield get you that down!! lol

Did you get the pics I E-mailed you of dads hauler?

 

After this weekend I'm a little broke! But, that price is good for that kind of work. I will keep it in mind. There are others in my part of the world who'd like a front end like that. I'll put your name in the "good" pile.