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

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by Joshua Shaw, Jan 17, 2008.

  1. Swartzie #6
    Joined: Oct 3, 2009
    Posts: 4

    Swartzie #6
    Member
    from WNY

    Ron Lux was fatally injured in a three car accident during a sprint car race at Tulsa, OK.. on Jul. 16, 1966..Ron hit the wall and flipped twice on the third lap of the sprint car feature, hitting the cars of Ronnie Duman and Arnie Knepper in the process.





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    Last edited: Feb 8, 2012
  2. KK500
    Joined: Dec 29, 2006
    Posts: 355

    KK500
    Member

    Progress on my model...................

    Jim
     

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  3. Of course they have right and left hand threads, right? ;)
     
  4. 28dreyer
    Joined: Jan 23, 2008
    Posts: 1,166

    28dreyer
    Member
    from Minnesota

    The Jaguar used the Rudge Whitworth splined hub of the same diameter as the sprint cars but I believe a slightly shorter length.

    I have some Jaguar rear hubs here and fitting them into some solid mag wheels I have, the back taper of the hub sits too deep into the back taper of the wheel giving partial contact. The knock off nut, while seating on the front taper of the wheel, tightens but after slightly less than two turns.

    Thus a Rudge style wire wheel or disc wheel from a sprinter has too deep a center to allow use with a Jaguar hub.
     
  5. Old Sprinter
    Joined: Dec 20, 2010
    Posts: 141

    Old Sprinter
    Member

    Have any other pictures besides the knockoffs? I build 1/8 scale sprints and midgets too so I would love to see what you're doing. here's a couple of mine.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Ron67
    Joined: Apr 1, 2010
    Posts: 48

    Ron67
    Member

    kk500, are you making hammers to tighten them knockoffs?
     
  7. CTtoPA
    Joined: Jun 17, 2008
    Posts: 252

    CTtoPA
    Member

    Regarding Ron Lux-How exactly did he get into the wall? I've heard stories.
     
  8. pavementends
    Joined: Mar 25, 2009
    Posts: 42

    pavementends
    Member
    from Utah

    Josh, who is going to machine those castings? Do you get to do that also?
     
  9. Swartzie #6
    Joined: Oct 3, 2009
    Posts: 4

    Swartzie #6
    Member
    from WNY


    I knew Ron as a teenager. seems so long ago I cant say for sure i know the answer to that..maybe hearing what you have heard may jog my memory..But you also have my curiosity and will do some research..I do know he was as good a Dirt or Asphalt driver as I have ever seen..I watched him race Super Modifieds on both surfaces and he was second to none...His untimely death cut short a promising career which was heading toward a ride at Indianapolis which was already in the works
     
  10. I had Dayton make me some new ones. The ones originally on the car, once I got all the house paint off, were all cracked (caution using the wheels, peddled as antiques at high prices, at the swap meets). The guys at Dayton talked me into 100 spokes, rather than 72 spokes, in that I run the car on paved road courses. They're not cheap; but the hubs are forged (not stamped). The spokes are stainless. Another word: The Historic Motor Sports Association will not allow Rudge hub adapters with Rudge type wheels:confused:
    [​IMG]
     
  11. 60 ford
    Joined: Nov 23, 2007
    Posts: 1,807

    60 ford
    Member

    Awesome photos, In the late 60s and 70s used to watch the sprints run at Salem Speedway in Indiana, great racing.
     
  12. carl s
    Joined: Mar 22, 2008
    Posts: 745

    carl s
    Member
    from Indio, CA

    Those wheels must be very strong for as hard as you run #32.

    Are you going to Billy Shuman's two day vintage event at Havasu 95 Speedway tomorrow and Sat?
    If not I'm sure to see you at Fontana in June.
    I'll be hooking up the trailer at 5am tomorrow and heading East to The River.
    You missed a good time and 3 full days of on track time back in Nov.
    Hope #32 is back together.
    http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/carl44s/Havasu Nov 3-5 2011/?start=all

     
  13. My car is not quite ready, Carl. I found a few things more to do, when Testing last month at Buttonwillow Raceway. Running these things "hard" has it's drawbacks. We're planning to be at California Speedway in June. See ya.

    JOHN
     
  14. hambhawk
    Joined: Oct 26, 2011
    Posts: 20

    hambhawk
    Member
    from Bay Area

    ATTENTION SO-CAL OLD TIMERS:

    This thread really gets my blood pumping!

    I grew up in So-Cal during the 1980's so the only familiarity I have with pre-1969 Sprinters are the pics/stories in this thread and the stories I got from my dad and grandfather. We were all at Ascot every Sat while I was growing up. Dean Thompson was king, of course. Bubby Jones, Jimmy Oskie, Rip Williams (when he could keep it right-side-up), Lealand Mcspadden (when he made the trip from Manzy) etc... Great memories for me.

    Anyway, I'm hoping some of the old timers here can fill in some blanks in my knowledge of history. My grandfather and father are both deceased, and I failed to get this stuff straight while they were still around.

    My grandfather was VP of Alex Foods and very good friends with the Morales Bros. Naturally, we were always cheering for the Tamale Wagon.

    So my grandfather loved to tell me about the old days. Lately I've been trying to piece together something he told me about one of his favorite drivers: Rick Goudy. I seem to recall him telling me that after Rick was done racing he started a wheel company in Long Beach (or Huntington Beach?) called Streaker Wheels. I can't find much doing web searches to corroborate this. There is only one thread that comes up in the HAMB when I search for 'Streaker Wheels'.

    When I was growing up I really liked those wheels and I fantasized about getting a set for my 1969 Mustang. Anyway, fast-forward to today-- I can't seem to find any information about those wheels. But I distinctly remember that as of the mid-late 1980's Streaker Wheels was sponsoring some of the cars at Ascot. I can still picture the sticker that they would place on their rides.

    Do I have this all wrong?

    Does this sound familiar to anyone?

    BTW-- thanks for the thread!
     
  15. Bill Chadbourne
    Joined: Nov 28, 2011
    Posts: 71

    Bill Chadbourne
    Member
    from Sonora Ca.

    Hi hanbhawk: This from a No. Cal Old Timer. Streaker Wheel Co. didn't last to long because the centers would fall out of there wheels. I ran a few at Baylands in late 80's they were lite but to lite in the wrong place. Welcome to the HAMB. Bill
     
  16. hambhawk
    Joined: Oct 26, 2011
    Posts: 20

    hambhawk
    Member
    from Bay Area

    Thanks for the reply, Bill.

    Too bad about the wheel. I hope you didn't learn about that the hard way!
     
  17. hambhawk
    Joined: Oct 26, 2011
    Posts: 20

    hambhawk
    Member
    from Bay Area

    Thanks for the reply, Bill.

    Too bad about the wheel. I hope you didn't learn about that the hard way!
     
  18. racer5c
    Joined: Nov 30, 2002
    Posts: 2,218

    racer5c
    Member

    Who was your grandfather? I spent a lot of time at Alex foods when I was a kid, my dad's shop was down La Palma a little ways from there. My brother drove Alex's Indy car and my step father ran their Indy team. Did you know Alex, Gil and the rest of the brothers?

     
  19. Bill Chadbourne
    Joined: Nov 28, 2011
    Posts: 71

    Bill Chadbourne
    Member
    from Sonora Ca.

    Hi hambhawk: No didn't learn the hard was very lucky. The only wheel i ever had brake was Weld Wheel right rear while qualifying for a Woo Race at Tulare Ca. in 2006 in the Family Auto Service 98x car with Andy Forsburg driving. Broke the center rite out of it. Bill
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2012
  20. Ascot, CRA vs WoO

     
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  22. I doubt they would be strong enough for the street though, they are very lightwieght and throwaway . I wish I had one more 8" front for a future project however.
     
  23. gmc_52
    Joined: Mar 1, 2010
    Posts: 13

    gmc_52
    Member

    Not sure if this fits here, but need some help finding out what we have. It came from Northern Minnesota, it has a culbert automotive engineering tranny and a roadster 301 q/c rearend. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
     

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  24. MarioFanKri
    Joined: Jan 11, 2011
    Posts: 92

    MarioFanKri
    Member
    from France

    Happy hitchhiker .... the legend says : "On June 7, 1975 the USAC Sprints ran Schererville, Indiana. The always playful Jimmy Caruthers hammed it up, right on the top of Johnny Parsons."
     

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    Last edited: Feb 11, 2012
  25. MarioFanKri
    Joined: Jan 11, 2011
    Posts: 92

    MarioFanKri
    Member
    from France

    Taken from www.coastal181.com

    1. That’s Mario Andretti next to the Mataka Bros. ARDC midget at Thompson (CT) Speedway. He finished third that day.

    2. Johnny Rutherford is wheeling the MOOG St. Louis #2 to a sixth-place finish at the Sacramento mile in 1965.

    3. Jud Larson in Chet Wilson’s “Offy Killer.” It was 1963, and the way-brave Larson had just returned to the ovals following a four-year recovery from a heart attack. He had lost none of his style, as he shows here, confidently riding out his win at an IMCA event at Muskogee, Oklahoma.

    4. Sitting proud and upright was the much-admired Don Branson at a USAC Champ Car race at Trenton in 1963. The masterful Illinois veteran racer loved the roadsters and exercised them with a gentle touch at ferocious speed.

    5. Jud Larson, the definition of bravery, exercises the Watson Offy at Allentown, PA.

    6. Roger McCluskey parading in the famous Konstant Hot #2 at Allentown, PA, on September 21, 1963. What does he see that we don’t?
     

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    Last edited: Feb 11, 2012
  26. MarioFanKri
    Joined: Jan 11, 2011
    Posts: 92

    MarioFanKri
    Member
    from France

    1. Herk checks the radiator in the Sterling Plumbing Special for dirt clogs at DuQuoin in 1963. He ran 14 USAC Sprint shows that year and won at New Bremen, OH, and Lancaster, NY.

    2. Sometimes even the best of buddies get to banging. In March 1954 Bill Vukovich and his promising mentee Johnny Boyd both showed up at a 100-lap AAA midget race in Fresno.
    Boyd recalled, “To this day I don’t know why I did it. The juices were really flowing…I dropped down to where he was running and BAM! I ran right into the back of him… I thought, ‘Boyd, you dummy!’ Sure enough the next corner here he came. He didn’t even attempt to turn and hit me a ton. Then I got mad….”

    3. A beautiful beginning. That’s the very first Morales Brothers car, shown here in 1948 at the old Carrell Speedway at 174th and Vermont in L.A., a mile North of Ascot. Johnny Mantz is at the controls, and Walt James is in “Silent Six.” Mantz was a charger. Two years later he won the first Southern 500 at Darlington.

    4. ... (no need to tell)

    5. Mario in the Langhorne 100 in 1964, his first USAC Championship dirt race.

    6. It was May of 1961 and that’s Mario Andretti in his very first URC sprint car ride. It was at Lebanon Valley Speedway in Eastern New York.
    In his book WHAT’S IT LIKE OUT THERE?, Mario spoke disparagingly of the car. “Maybe a guy has a machine that would be more serviceable towing trash, but he believes it is a championship car.”
    He did manage an eighth place finish, his best of the year.
     

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  27. MarioFanKri
    Joined: Jan 11, 2011
    Posts: 92

    MarioFanKri
    Member
    from France

    1. That’s Mrs. Van Johnson plantin’ one on Tommy Hinnershitz.

    2. The highly respected Don Branson wheels the Wynn’s Sprinter into the pits at Allentown on August 7. 1965.

    3. Joe Barzda is a human radius rod, being pushed back to the pits after bouncing off the fence at Allentown.
     

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  28. MarioFanKri
    Joined: Jan 11, 2011
    Posts: 92

    MarioFanKri
    Member
    from France

  29. MarioFanKri
    Joined: Jan 11, 2011
    Posts: 92

    MarioFanKri
    Member
    from France

  30. MarioFanKri
    Joined: Jan 11, 2011
    Posts: 92

    MarioFanKri
    Member
    from France

    sad story, but I love the pic (Joly Roger)

    [​IMG]
     

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