Hi Everyone, I have looked into many posting that various members have posted and wanted to respond. My grandfather was Sig Haugdahl the famous race car driver. It is great to see so many pictures and posting over the years, but frustrating as well. There are a lot of postings that have wrong information and names involved. It's also funny to see postings from people who never knew him or his car racing career being so passionate about him. He was a racing pioneer and that is something I am very proud of, and very proud of him. I think I really could appreciate the fact that he held his own for all those years in racing and never sold old, meaning he never took on sponsors and sold his name. He was the dirt track champion of the world, mechanic, designer, innovator, and most of all fearless of anything and that includes speed. Imagine years ago when he was a boy in Norway and they were very poor, he was one of 7 children and all he wanted was a bike for speed. Actually my dad ( Sig's son) is still alive at the age of 84 and he was around for his entire racing career. He has racing memorabilia from his father and thousands of pictures and articles from his career. I actually got to see the Wisconsin Special in Amelia Island, Fl March 2008 and got to sit in it. What a THRILL! Anyway if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.
Welcome to the HAMB!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've seen a lot of photos of Sig Haugdahl and his race cars, please feel free to post any you may have. There and generations of car people that don't know of his racing career, this is the best place to educate people. Thanks for joining the party. Bob
Hi Bob, Yes you are so right. You know many people just think about racing as the here and now. Look at all of the old racers that started racing from the early 1900's and they paved the way for racing now. Look NASCAR think that they are really doing something out of the ordinary...no the old guys were going 100 plus and grandpa went 180 in a custom built car, no seat belt,no safety cage, no safety bars, fire suit..etc. He wore a suit, goggles, and he chewed on cigars his friend brought him from Cuba. He never lite the cigar when racing he bit down on it because the car shook his teeth, it was for traction,lol
I just Googled your Grandfather to find a photo of him in his Bob Tail MILLER, and got this HAMB post from a whole back! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413223
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