History Vintage "Cageless" Midget Picture Thread

Lumpy95 - this is especially for you - Rhinebeck Midget results that were sent to me. I have quite a few more tracks with Midget results, along with driver win listings, too.


Rhinebeck, NY
Rhinebeck Speedway


1947
ARDC Midgets
Sept. 9 1. Mike Nazaruk
Sept. 16 1. Johnny Ringger
Sept. 23
Sept. 30 1. Ted Tappett


1948
ARDC Midgets
May 11 1. Ted Tappett 2. Ray Nestor 3. Bob Disbrow
May 18
May 25
June 1 1. Tony Bonadies 2. Stan Disbrow 3. Larry Shurter
June 8 1. Ray Nestor 2. Stan Disbrow 3. Steve McGrath
June 15
June 22 1. Stan Disbrow 2. Bob Disbrow
June 29 1. Bob Disbrow 2. Johnny Rice
July 6 rain
July 13 rain
July 20
July 27 1. Ray Nestor 2. Johnny Carpenter 3. Johnny Rice
August 3 1. Steve McGrath 2. Vernon Land 3. Johnny Carpenter
August 10
August 17 1. Stan Disbrow 2. Dutch Schaefer 3. Johnny Rice
August 24 1. Johnny Carpenter 2. Buddy Chase 3. Stan Disbrow
August 31 1. Johnny Rice 2. Dutch Schaefer 3. Stan Disbrow
Sept. 7 1. Dutch Schaefer 2. Bob Disbrow 3. Johnny Ford
Sept. 14 1. Larry Shurter 2. Dutch Schaefer 3. Bob Disbrow
Sept. 21 1. Dutch Schaefer 2. Bob Disbrow 3. Art Cross 50 laps
Sept. 28 1. Chet Conklin 2. Tony Bonadies 3. Steve McGrath Offy
Sept. 28 1. Chet Conklin Ford Feature


1951
July 20 1. Bert Brooks 2. George Flemke 3. Cliff Riggott

 

That's fun to see also Johnny Carpenter drove my dad's sprint car, my
avatar is Johnny Carpenter at the Syracuse mile NY.

 

Lumpy it was good meeting up with you after all the years that have passed since we last met up, Here is Your Dads car after it was converted to half rail and front half tube framed car. Then went through Bob Craddocks hands and finely ending up with Chet Taylor and Jack Hughes as owners. Dave Imrie is in it in Oakland indoors were He was indoor BCRA, B Race champ for that winter. It wasnt that neat as He had to stroke it every night to be in the B? Last race of the year at the Cow Palace He sorta of unleashed the car and made the Trophy dash!!! go figure
By the way Johnny Baldwin on the right in another ford V8 sixty of Stan Brooks a real fast offy Killer! Stan on left and One of the Goff brothers on his right in back ground Moe I think?

 

Uncle Dudly in the car at San Jose Curly Gardner on left and Chet Taylor on right better view of front frame as tube instead of rail like the back of the frame. Sure was a sad day whe we hauled all the major parts of this car off to the dumps including that all aluminum body>(

 

Lumpy one more photo from the Don Smith collection it is allmost the same shot you have in your photo album except it is missing all the back ground visitors as Myself, Son and Grandson were the only ones on the tour given by Don to us that day. See more of what I wrote about Dons tour here

http://www.openwheelracers3.com/Vintage.html

The article I did is just about at the bottom of this page as it was done in 2009

 

On September 13, 1952:

Paul Russo won the AAA Eastern Sprint Car race over Bill Schindler and Tommy Hinnershitz at the Morristown Speedway, Morristown, NJ.

I was there that night, with my brother. It ranks up on the top of the list of being one of the best races I've ever seen, with Russo and Schindler going at it, side-by-side for the entire race. That was the last time I saw Schindler race, since he ran his last race a week later, at Allentown.

 

Here is a rail frame midget I had a few years ago. Found it near Detroit. I always thought it had an interesting look about it. I wondered if anyone on here might have seen an old photo or had any insight.

 

On this night Sept. 14, 1939, the Capital Speedway located in Washington D.C. on New York Ave. and Bladensburg Rd. held its sixth race of the season.

The new 1/5 mile dirt track opened for business on August 1, 1939 under the promotion of Jimmy Frattone.

The 30 lap feature on Sept 14 was won by Paul Russo over Bill Schindler and Honey Purick. Also in the field that night were Joie Chitwood, Cowboy O'Rouke and Red Redmond to name a few.

 

I hope this not O/T. If so please remove it.
I am working with Arlen Kurtis regarding his old tee shirts, hats, posters and artwork. Just want to see if there is enough interest to do this and cover the cost. If there is enough demand we will try and make this happen. Please PM me and do not post on this site.
Thank You

 

I think most of us would agree that the bodies on modern midgets are fugly. I race a 270 micro sprint and would love to run a retro hood and nose on my car. We all know that roll cages are needed but all that extra bodywork they put on a midget today is just ugly and hides the driver from the fans. Wouldn't it be cool if there was a trend to bring back the style and lines of the 50's cars?

 

Good gosh yes the modern sprints and midget are FUGLY!! I guess they made them out of used shower enclosures? Anyway, I think they did it to blend in with the down tubes right? They look like IMCA modified bodies crammed into a sprint/midget.

 

Mike Miller had this hood made for his ARDC midget back in 2005. SORRY FOR THE CAGE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

HUUUUGE improvement in looks over other current cars.

 

yes!!!!!

 

Great thread.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I sent you a PM from the Sprint Car page, I believe. Still waiting for reply back

 

My dad just picked this up and we really don't know anything about it. Just looking for any kind of information at all, especially what it was powered by?? I had posted pics on the 1/4 midget thread and was advised to post it here.

 

The sign on the nose says Crosley. A lot of TQ's were powered with Crosley 4's back in the day. Yours probably was.

 

We were guessing it might have been originally crosley,,, but judging fron the driveshaft with sprocket I'm thinking at one point it might have been motorcycle powered?

With the crosley power did they run a clutch and trans or was it direct drive with an in and out box of some sort and just push start them? Also did they run a mag or have the crosley ignition and a generator?

We would like to make this thing run and go again!

 

...

 

Keith,Talking paint design for Midgets,have you looked at page One of this site ,in particular #16. Two nice designs&one in red & white. I think both of these cars sold recently to Arizona Happy Hunting. Speedie

 

I helped mask this car in 1958 and found it in this condition about 25 years ago. I had to trade a Kurtis offy for it, but I had to have it. Crocky
wright drove it for me in many vintage meets. Not often a car is used this hard and still looks decent.

 

Great. I'll look!

 

Stan, Crocky got me a ride in the car behind the #25 one time in Fl.

 

Enjoyed going thru the entire thread. Spent many winter weekends at the Oakland indoors in the mid to late 50's as a teenager. Lived close to the Expo building. The discussion regarding open trailers reminded me that you could load a midget in the back of a long bed pickup as well. A friend of mine drove for the Montgomerys. They had two cars, one Offy and a V8 60. The friend drove the flathead. I ran Supers at West Capital, but one weekend I was free and we loaded the midget and drove to Anderson, raced, and then to Medford the next night. He always wanted a shot at driving the Offy powered car but never happened.

 

I don't know if this has been posted before. a nice short Pathe News film clip of midget racing in New jersey, 1938 with sound.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/midget-auto-racing/query/midget+auto+racing

 

I wonder if you guys could help.I'm trying to find out about a racer who ran a midget in BCA up in San Francisco in the 1960's ,called Rodney 'Chip' Gray.Any info would be cool.

 

Surfref32,I also run a 270 micro(had a pretty good 2012,being 66 years old and finishing 8th overall in points at the local track against younger drivers 1/4 my age and completely fearless,has been a particularly satisfing summer)I agree that the hoods of our micros look ugly,and have been working toward putting together a retro-styled body,that brings back those beautiful bodied midgets of yesteryear.Problem is I'm not much of a fabricator,and I fear that my creation won't be as good as I would like.....Your take on this???

 

Hey Guy's, Do any of you know what this might be or was. It's cast brass and about 8 1/2 in. long 2 5/8 in wide, 2 1/2 tall,It has holes in the sides for axles and wheels. It looks like it could have been an ashtray for a cigar smoker.Hopin someone here might have seen something like this back in the day and what it might be.................Rich

 

That was the Nutley Velodrome..great video !