History Daytona Beach - Early Land Speed & Stock Car Racing

Here's a photo of "Thumper" to compliment the fine post by brecklrl on the previous page .............





Quoted from www.autoextremist.com : "Daytona Beach, Florida, 1956. Vern Houle, Driver and Mechanic for Bill Stroppe Racing, standing beside "Thumper," the highly modified 1956 Mercury that ran 152 mph in the Factory Experimental Class at the NASCAR Daytona Beach Speed Weeks. It had a modified 391 CID Lincoln V8 engine with Hilborn fuel injection and Spalding ignition. It was also called the Jato-450-X."

 

my uncle ''reggie alewine'' raced all up and down the east coast in the 30s and 40s, from maryland to florida...he raced law enforcement all through the backwoods of 5 states while hauling moon juice...he raced in the 1941 daytona race, broke a tie rod and piled into a dune, i think finishing 17th place...he was known well to people like smokey yunick, fireball roberts, junior johnson and many others...he field tested herbert race cams..in the 1941 race if not mistaken he was driving a 35-36 chevy coupe....if anyone has pictures of this race, or of old reggie, i would very much appreciate their being posted as i have pics of him in air force, guarding howard hughes spruce goose, and many others but not a single pic of him during his racing years.....thank you....

 

Bill Stroppe and the Mermaid, 1957 at Daytona Beach .........

 

Great thread Toby. Lots of wonderfull history to read about here.

Wish I had something to contribute....

 

Here is a link to a video of the recent North and South turn dedication ceremonies in Ponce Inlet. It went off like clock work and really turned into something special.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKehKRTKVdc

Blacki-Suede

 

Wow! Thank you very much for posting. Overwhelming!

 

More than a couple of "oh shit" moments...

 

That is a great shot of the cars in line for the 1956(?) Daytona Speed Trials. It's the only picture I have seen of Bob Osiecki behind the wheel of Mad Dog II. Thanks.

 

My buddy bought a new Frank Lockhart book called Frank Lockhart, American Speed King through hotrodenginetech.com. I just looked through it and it's awesome. Hundreds of great pictures including a lot of new stuff about the LSR car. They showed a couple sample photos and there's a link to the Lockhart crash too. Here's the direct link to the book review.
http://hotrodenginetech.com/frank-lockhart-american-speed-king/

 

Chasing speed records in Lockhart's day was a dangerous business for sure. Here's an amazing video of his run at Daytona. For 1928, this was truly hauling ass (see view from airplane). He was on a great run, but, alas, it didn't end well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzJ0dEXm6Nw

 

i'd give anything to see an early 50s race on the beach. the last beach race. and the first daytona speedway race. and do some bull shittin with smokey

 

Actually Sig drove the Wisconsin Special on February 18, on Pablo Beach to a record of 159MPH. As my dad tells me he worked on the car more and changed the opening on the front end to the tear drop. After the modification it handled better. He also balanced the wheels for better handling. Grandpa was the first to balance the wheels, and this changed wheel balancing for driving race cars, especially on the beach. Then he took the car to Daytona beach on April 6, 1922.

Linda

 

2club,

My grandfather worked closely with Lockhart in Daytona. This first time he crached into the ocean on his first attempt to break the worlds record. Sig was up on the back of the Stutz Blackhawk race car trying to direct traffic to get Lockhart and his car out of the ocean. Lockhart tried again for the record 6 weeks later. He blew a tire at 225 mph, my grandfather was up on the mile marker on the second run. Sig and Sir Malcom Campbell both told Lockhart to change his tires after the first run, but he didn't and it cost him his life. Lockhart died April 23,1928 and my grandmother ran into the ocean right after the crash but he was already dead.

Just a bit of history, I have pictures that my grandmother saved from grandpa's entire racing career, in fact thousands of articles as well as pics.

Linda Haugdahl

 

Great, we would love to see some pics and articles if you could get them scanned.

 

Looked at this thread hoping to find something about my dad. He competed in the Man Off The Street in 1956 and 1957. His name was Rankin Shrewsbury. He was also the Chaplain.

 

- gives a new meaning to the term "sand trap"

 

The 2nd Annual Ponce inlet Beach Racing event was held this past February. And just like last year it was a huge success. There were a number of drivers, officials,mechanics, etc. from the beach racing days on hand to sign autographs and bench race. Buzz McKim, Director of the NASCAR museum and Hall of Fame interviewed many of those people on the North Turn Restaurant's stage.

But the highlight of the day was the vintage race car parade that saw race cars, for the first time since 1958, race up the beach from the South turn to the North Turn. Yes the 40 plus cars ran the entire beach/road course. It brought tears to the eyes of many.

If you are in the area during Speed Weeks you should make an effort to check this out.

Blacki-Suede

 

Thanks for the tip regarding future events, Blacki. I'd love to see that number of old race cars speeding up the beach! Man ... talk about a blast from the past!!

 

Photo taken the day of Sir Malcolm Campbell's record run of 272.46 mph, February 22, 1933, at Daytona Beach.

 

Here is the " Racings North Turn " restaurant that is on the site .

http://www.racingsnorthturn.com/
Also you can use Google Maps to street view the road as it is now .
Put in 4511 south Atlantic Ave Port orange Fl .

 

At the intersection of A1A and SR 40 (Granada Blvd) in Ormond Beach, Fl, is The Birthplace of Speed Park. Right here on the Beach is where the speed runs started. The Motor Racing Heritage Association has placed a small replica of the original Ormond Garage here, and in are 3/4 scale replicas of the Olds Pirate and the Winton Bullet. Also there are two granite monument depicting significant speed events that took place here. I'll get some pictures posted here in the future and also will post information about joining the Association. We also have a few of the original flooring bricks from the original garage built in 1904 and burned entirely in 1976. And you can still park/rive on the Beach right here where it all happened.

 

Film of Ormand Beach race, 1905 .........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbplwxZbkys&feature=youtu.be

 

That video was especially interesting to me because all the research I have done on Ormand/Daytona Beach speed trials does not mention oval track racing until after 1933. It appears in this video some sort of competition other than flat out straight line speed trials was taking place there as early as 1905.

 

Frank, that got my attention, as well.

 

Hi guys,
I know I'm late picking upthis threat again but I run only just recently across H.A.M.B. while researching the early US history of my 1950 Jaguar XK120 roaster. According to a previous owner this car was raced for speed trials at Daytona Beach by a lady!
Since you are obviously experts for Daytomna Beach Speed Weeks I'm wondering whether somebody has a hint were to continue my research.
Any help is highly appreciated.