History Stutz Blackhawk LSR-Lockhart's Tragic Masterpiece

Lots to admire about this advanced, lightweight design, that intercooler alone is a thing of engineering and casting artwork...sadly a clamshell on the beach may have ended it all...

 

are those twin 4's? or a V-8?

 

Looks like an eight with two crankshafts?
Whats the tragic story? I wanna hear it, I'm a masochist!

 

2 straight 8 91's on a common crank case.

 

He died.

 

KIRK just posted a pic of a sculpture of that car I believe in his shop visit thread.

 

When most of the LSR cars where gigantic (how big was the bluebird??) this was a different approach for sure.

The Stutz chassis for the car in my avatar was supposedly chosen because of Lockhart's car, even though there is no real relation. The advertising for Stutz seemed to have worked.

 

Cool thead...look foreward to more pics and info

 

I first read about this car in Griff Borgeson's bookk on the "Golden Age of American Racing". The twin 8 Miller 91's were joined on a common crank if I recall correctly. Must have made a helluva noise. After one non-fatal crash on the beach, and a rebuild, Lockhart lost control and rolled it fatally. I remember reading that a big clamshell was found at the point his tire tracks indicated trouble perhaps the cause of a cut tire. We lost a great one that day.

 

I might NOT have recalled correctly, it appears that the separate miller 8's crankshafts were geared together, not sure if with one or two output shafts?

 

Where is the intercooler? That car is a work of art.

 

it's those 2 grills in the hood. It covered the whole top of the engine.

 

I did this drawing last year after seeing a number of the old beach racers at the amelia island concours. There was a similar car at the concours called "wisconsin special" that is still owned by family of the builder. The car was in as raced condition complete with bug splats. I will have to search for them but I will find my photos and post them over the looooooong weekend.

 

I don't know what it is about this car but it has been one of my all time favorites for many years. I have some original pics I found in an old family album down in Indy in the eighties. I am including a pic of one wall in my shop with a copy of the Blackhawk blueprint signed by Myron Stevens who did the metalwork and some pics of the car. Then I see you have one of my pics in your #1 post (the color shot at Road America). I also am including a pic of the Sampson 16 wherein the original engine from the car now resides (in the Indy museum).

I have to agree that Lockhart was a special racer. Too bad the original car never survived.-Jim

 

I think I read somewhere that Miller and Lockhart originally did time trials at Muroc before going to Daytona...anyone confirm that? If so, wonder what he turned?

 

The story that I always heard was that the large wheel spats were responsible for the crash. They moved with the tires and acted as rudders. When he corrected, maybe because of the, alleged, clam shell, they caught the air and sent him out of control.

 

Yes, Lockhart did run on the dry lakes in his rear drive Miller 91, his normal oval track racer. I believe he made a one way run of over 171 mph when the world's land speed record stood at 207. Lockhart's two way average was over 164. Just incredible for an oval track race car with only 91 cubic inches. On his first trip to Indy as a spectator at the ripe old age of 23 he wound up driving one of Miller's works cars and winning the race by miles. He was only 25 when he was killed. His car in my opinion was one of the greatest ever built and I think without question he was an incredible talents both as a driver and designer. Thanks for starting this thread Miller91, Lockhart and Miller were the icons of the era.

 

There is some film footage I have seen of the final run on Daytona. Lockhart was thrown several car lengths ahead of the wreckage.

 

Kinda strange, the photo marked Daytona Beach 1928 is obviously the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I have always been fascinated by this car and in awe of Frank Lockhart. Pop Dreyer in Indianapolis was involved in building this car also

 

the "accident report"

 

Automobile Quarterly did an awsome story on the car and the man a couple of years ago. he was the pro of his time. I understand according to that story that his body landed almost where his wife was standing. Men were certainly fearless back then.

 

...

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=16121

 

That is a work of art. I never new anything about the tragedy.

 

Why do you say that? There's surf visible in the background.

 

Here's a quote from Griff Borgeson's "Golden Age of the American Racing Car" referring to Lockhart's first attempt at Daytona Beach:

"Finally, late in the afternoon, the little white car was towed to the south end of the course. The next thing the crowd was aware ofwas the 40,000 rpm scream of the Black Hawk's twin superchargers. Frank was on it all the way-moving at a good 225 mph the experts said-when he hit a patch of rain."

Lockhart then flipped the car twice, landed in the ocean, but survived this first horrific crash.

He wasn't so lucky the second time, but I sure as shit would not have even got back in the damn thing! A real superman in his era...

 

A shot of Lockhart after the first crash.

 

A new website has been created and dedicated to the biography of Frank Lockhart and the Stutz Black Hawk Special.

This site is for online collaboration and research of all things related to Frank Lockhart, his racing career and life, and the Stutz Black Hawk Special record car.

http://stutzblackhawk.tripod.com/index.html

A full-length biography is being written and your inputs are solicited, especially in the form of previously unpublished photos or manuscripts.

Contact information: Author: John R. Bayer
Email: jrbayer3(at)yahoo.com Phone: 206-715-1264


Frank's story: http://stutzblackhawk.tripod.com/frank-s-story.html

 

He's not referring to the photo in the post above his but to a post much prior to that where there are a bunch of gents standing around the car. There's a visible landmark over the fellas' shoulders.

That accident report is chilling.

 

I think we are witnessing BOTH crashes here. From the plane, the surf is on the left of the car and the ground shots show the surf on the right. Crazy how close the people were when that thing let loose!