When the Diesel came to Indy...

it wood be nice to find out who is who in the piture of all the men beside the # 28 race car ?? and what there conection to the car or to cummings was

 

Being that I'm currently building a diesel-powered rod, I always love seeing diesel threads on the HAMB!

 

You know what, every dealer has their own website, that requires a dealer number to enter. Generally they have history tabs, like CASE................I'll forward this to my Unca Russ and see if he can find it on their dealer site.

Unless somebody jumps up with it all wiki wiki.

 

SOOOooo...did the Indy rules makers change the rules the following year to limit the diesel's performance? Why were there no further (independent) diesel-powered efforts?

 

HA HA yeah my son has a Dodge diesel pickup, and we were laughing about putting a Cummins Diesel in a 50' Buick like the sedanet I had. Make a great trailor puller!

 

A little remembered about 1949 (from when I was 7 years old) . . .

My dad was an Indy fan and we listened to the race faithfully. And when we went out of town, Walnut Creek, Calif., we'd stop and get gas from a gas station that Freddie Agabashian owned beneath what we called Signal Hill, between Lafayette and the soon-to-be Pleasant Hill. There was a beacon tower on the station (or the hill?) and it was a Signal gas station, hence the reference. Dad knew Freddie and once we got tickets to midget races (the cars, not the drivers) in Pinole. I sure remember the fuel smell.

But what I remember most about Freddie is that after his driving career was over, he was the color commentator on the annual broadcasts for years and years. Dad died in 1950 and I don't remember going to the station after that, but always looked forward to hearing Freddie on the radio. I believe he held the record for 2nd place finishes -- never got the big one.

Stan Back

 

Yes.

Cummins main office building. 500 Jackson St, Columbus, IN.
It's sitting in the lobby.







I have a bunch of pics if anyone is interested.

 

Not sure of the order in the pic, but here's something from an article link I had stashed away.


"Nearly everyone who worked on the 1952 race team was a Cummins employee-Clessie's brother Don (who spearheaded the operation), Nev Reiners, Thane Houser, Bill Doup, Mike Fellows, Art Eckleman, and Joe Miller. The seven of them "worked day and night on the car since it had arrived" at Cummins in early 1952, The Columbus Republic newspaper reported that May."


The Clessie mentioned is Clessie Cummins... self taught engineer and founder of the company (in 1919).

 

How could we not be interested?

Post some more of them here, please.

 

I plan on putting a 6.2 in the IH eventually. I love the diesel engines!

 

Will do. Give me time to dig through my external HD at work tomorrow and I'll post em up.


Interesting fact about the #28 car:
After the race it was put on permanent display (it still has the worn race tires on it). 1969 was the company's 50th anniversary and they wanted the #28 car looking it's best so in 1968 it was taken apart for a resto. When the engine was torn down they saw that the crank had cracked from journal 2 down to journal 6. Even if the turbo wouldnt have eaten rubber the engine wouldn't have lasted too much longer.



Unrelated to this thread, but mechanically badass at any rate... here's another pic from the lobby of the same building. If you guys are ever in that area go check it out. There's some history to be seen.


This is an old Cummins 855. I was told it was done by a tool guy at the plant years ago and has been around ever since.



I didn't realize there were so many diesel fans around here. At the risk of getting my hand slapped I might start a thread full of engine pics and stuff one day just for show and tell.

<-- Cummins engineer

 

It was a JBS-600 based engine... generally rated around 150hp for trucks, they got it to 380hp for the #28 car.

4 valve, 4.125" x 5", aluminum head / block / pistons

 

Simply A*M*A*Z*I*N*G!

 

wow.....that 28 car is pure sex.....

I'd jump on that grenade....

 

that is a great looking car. that 885 display is wicked

 

As far as I know I've never been to Indy. Ohhhh never mind!