Register now to get rid of these ads!

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

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

  1. rooman
    Joined: Sep 20, 2006
    Posts: 4,045

    rooman
    Member

    That is a pretty stout list of shoes. I currently work with Roger's son Chris and get to see his dad occasionally.

    Roo
     
    Speedwrench likes this.
  2. Offset
    Joined: Nov 9, 2010
    Posts: 1,870

    Offset
    Member
    from Canada

    Never heard of any of those guys! Wow some history with that one.
     
    loudbang likes this.
  3. The37Kid
    Joined: Apr 30, 2004
    Posts: 30,582

    The37Kid
    Member

    [​IMG]

    Fairly sure this ARDUN powered car raced out of New York. I bought a NOS set of ARDUN heads that were spares for the car many years ago. Think the fellows name was Ben Symorto. Saw the car restored in the Hershey Swap Meet within the last 10 years, with something odd in it like an Oldsmobile V8. Bob
     
  4. Kathryn Balazs
    Joined: Sep 1, 2018
    Posts: 10

    Kathryn Balazs
    Member

    1957 Ford Y block, Hank Henry frame. Any history or photos would be great. thanks for your time. 20181016_154127.jpg 20181210_183850.jpg 20181210_183938.jpg 20181016_154127.jpg 20181210_183850.jpg 20181210_183938.jpg
     
    AHotRod, tractorguy and loudbang like this.
  5. s55mercury66
    Joined: Jul 6, 2009
    Posts: 4,333

    s55mercury66
    Member
    from SW Wyoming

    You might get some help from the Hilltop Speedway Facebook page. That thing looks familiar, and Charlie McCann from the southern Ohio area ran that number in that same small font at Atomic (now KC) and Skyline Speedways in the late '60's and early '70's. Hopefully others will chime in here.
     
    loudbang likes this.
  6. oldtom69
    Joined: Dec 6, 2009
    Posts: 583

    oldtom69
    Member
    from grandin nd

    a lot of info available about Stan Bowman including a book by John Lucas and movie byCam Miller.A goole search for Stan Bowman also resulted in a photo of the car you are asking about driven by Bill Teagarden.let you know if I find more
     
    loudbang likes this.
  7. The37Kid
    Joined: Apr 30, 2004
    Posts: 30,582

    The37Kid
    Member

    [​IMG]Is that maroon cat a Dreyer with a twin cam McDowell, remember seeing it at AACA meets. Bob
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2018
    AHotRod and loudbang like this.
  8. Kathryn Balazs
    Joined: Sep 1, 2018
    Posts: 10

    Kathryn Balazs
    Member

    20180930_151713.jpg
     
  9. Kathryn Balazs
    Joined: Sep 1, 2018
    Posts: 10

    Kathryn Balazs
    Member

    loudbang likes this.
  10. I am looking for information for a Buick powered nail head sprint car that raced in Ohio in the mid to late 1950's. I have a friend who drove this car every other weekend sharing the ride with an Indy driver back then. I was told the owner of the car came in from California and towed to the mid west to compete with the car. This owner I am told was a 1 man crew with very little help. This car was very competitive and came in in the top 5 regularly. Was told there was another Buick powered sprinter that showed up also possibly the Vivian Buick?? My friend has suffered lapses in memory because of medicine he was given for a misdiagnosed ailment. Some things are very clear and other thing he struggles with! He cannot remember the number or color of this sprinter and said the car was plain with no sponsors on the car. I tried to reach the family who owned the Vivian Buick but got no answer to emails. Even tried race track forums around Cincy area and no luck either. Any help or leads would be very appreciated. Thanks Don.
     
    loudbang likes this.
  11. s55mercury66
    Joined: Jul 6, 2009
    Posts: 4,333

    s55mercury66
    Member
    from SW Wyoming

    Don, if you could give the driver's name or names, it might help a ton. Wishing your friend the best.
     
    loudbang likes this.
  12. Speedwrench
    Joined: Nov 21, 2009
    Posts: 1,032

    Speedwrench
    Member

    Vivian was a Buick dealer in Richmond, Indiana. I remember the car primarily running USAC. I think the Vivian car was numbered twenty six.

    The only other Buick powered car that comes to mind at the moment was owned by Warren Null from Columbus, Ohio. It was self-sponsored by Null's Garage. Null ran mostly unsanctioned and IMCA races. Null may have had two cars, a roadster and an upright.

    Not sure if this will help. My knowledge of these cars is from the mid to late sixties and I'm not sure of who all drove either car. I think both cars had several different drivers.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2019
    loudbang likes this.
  13. s55mercury66
    Joined: Jul 6, 2009
    Posts: 4,333

    s55mercury66
    Member
    from SW Wyoming

    Jack Steck had a Buick powered super at one time also.
     
    loudbang and Speedwrench like this.
  14. Hi, Yes his name is Norm Guay and his Uncle Tom Askew drove out with him to Ohio to race. Norm's parents did not know what he was doing this and thought his Uncle was driving there and Norm was along for the ride. Tom purchased an Offy midget from a friend he knew and he raced in the late 40's thru about 1955 believe in the New York State area. Norm got caught warming the car up during hot laps at Altamont Fair speedway and from then on he was sidelined there. Norm remembers the car in Ohio had alloy knock off wheels 2 carbs on the nail head engine and there was a simple N.G. on the side of the cowl for his initials! Norm said he and his Uncle would take Friday afternoon off and drive to Ohio (about 10 to 12 hours away ) check into a motel race on Saturday and return on Sunday. Norm is struggling with details about the midget also as I am trying to locate info on this race car. Have tried the Altamont Fair records but little at this point! Norm built and had Karl Haeussel race a 1939 Ford coupe at Lebanon Valley Speedway in 1959 thru believe 1963. A 4 year search just turned up a fellow racer ( 89) that verified info on Norm's memories and corrected a few things that were cloudy on his past. I have downloaded several speedways that ran sprint cars in Ohio for Norm to look at and he keeps looking at Eldora. He remembers a banked dirt track, bleachers on the backstretch and it was fast but the location is fuzzy to him. I tried to rule out tracks that were not running sprint cars in the 56-59 time frame. He thought the track was named mid Ohio but I corrected him on the Mid Ohio we all know now. I know he was involved as we own a vintage sprint car and Norm knows his way around it for sure. He remembers Pappy Hough, Doug Garrison and others well. I know this is a long shot but trying to help him out as I can. Wife and I made a model of his 39 Ford coupe from the only surviving photo he had from that time period for Xmas. He opened it up for Xmas and just grins and holds it. We made his day for sure. We will be visiting a fellow racer from Lebanon Valley next week to reunite them both and talk about those days. Possibly a few cob webs will be dusted off and new info to come out!! I thank you very much for any info that may help him on this, Don.
     
  15. Michael Ferner
    Joined: Nov 12, 2009
    Posts: 813

    Michael Ferner
    Member

    The Vivian Buick was a Chevy, actually...

    About the best known Buicks in that time frame were the Keith Sapp "Sappo" Buick out of Illinois, the Duane Besse/Roger Hegg Buick out of Minnesota, and the Vern Williamson Buick out of California. A bit earlier there was also the Warren Wickham Buick out of California. Both the California cars ran in the Midwest on occasion. The Sappo car was usually white, and #8. The Williamson car was originally #60, but changed numbers every year. The Besse-Hegg car was mostly #65. A bit later, there was also the Bob Trimble Buick out of Ohio, a blue & white #0.

    I have no info about Norm Guay, and the only entries I have for Tom Askew are from way back in the forties, running a Cragar in New York state. Sorry that I can't be more helpful.
     
    loudbang and Speedwrench like this.
  16. Wow Thanks. I have something to go by!! I will present Norm with the Buick team cars. Norm did say this owner traveled from California to race so possibly one of the 2 you mentioned may be one of them. I will see his reaction to the names and car numbers. I will try and find more info on these cars such as color! As far as Tom, that is exactly the guy we are looking for. Tom was his Uncle and raced after the war assume locally around here. Again Norm thought it was an Offy but the Crager makes sense. I will present that fact to him and see his reaction. Do you have any more info on the car or Tom? Norm cannot remember the car number or color but said it was fast!! His Uncle let him drive it as Tom was getting too big to fit into the cockpit!! Norm had temporary seizures so he did not hold a drivers license back then so he was flying under the radar. His name will not show up I assume. His Uncle had no children and he moved to Florida and passed away there. The Altamont Fair board needs more from me to zero in on records that may still exist!! You did fantastic and I thank you very much!! I will take any info good or bad to either rule out or zero in on this. Don.
     
  17. blueprint2002
    Joined: Dec 25, 2018
    Posts: 235

    blueprint2002

    Hi everyone.
    I am new to this thread, and I hope I am not bringing up something which has already been thoroughly discussed. Apologies if this is so.

    Around the mid sixties there were a few dirt cars with the Ford DOHC V8, one such was driven by Mario Andretti. The exhaust headers were naturally on the outer side of the heads, not in-between as on the rear-engine cars. It may have been possible to simply interchange the heads to the opposite sides, with some modifications to the camshaft drives, but this would have certainly reduced the power output, because the pipes could no longer be arranged to combine L1-L4 with R2-R3 (and R1-R4 with L2-L3).

    Maybe the crankshaft was also changed to get over this? A “flat” or “single-plane” crank could have been substituted, as on many other racing V8s. On the other hand, maybe the reduced power was still adequate, or some loss of top-end power may actually have made the engine more driveable on the dirt? In which case, they may have left it that way. Does anyone have any information on this?

    There are also some pictures on the web showing a Watson roadster (#95) with the Ford DOHC V8, but this is tilted to the left and so it retains the centre exhaust feature. It seems the car was built in 1963, in which case it could not have been fitted with this engine originally. When was the conversion carried out? What was the car’s racing record after that? Can anyone fill in the blanks? My search of the web has come up with nothing. Many thanks for bearing with me thus far!
     
  18. Jim Nise
    Joined: Oct 31, 2008
    Posts: 1,210

    Jim Nise
    Member

    The number 95 was AJ Watson's 16th car made. It was the roadster Roger Ward drove to 4th in 1963 Indy race. It did not make the field for the 64 race, Jud Larson driving. In 1965, Bob Wilke put the a 4cam in it #95. Bobby Grimm and Don Branson DNQ and blew the engine. It was then retrofitted with an Offy. It was sold and became a super modified driven by Jack Greedy. It passed through several hands and ended up in the Bob McConnell collection. Data from "the Watson Years" by Gary Wayne.
     
    tractorguy and Speedwrench like this.
  19. blueprint2002
    Joined: Dec 25, 2018
    Posts: 235

    blueprint2002

    Thank you Jim!
    That is a comprehensive answer. Reading between the lines, I assume the car has been restored to 1965 configuration.
     
  20. Jim Nise
    Joined: Oct 31, 2008
    Posts: 1,210

    Jim Nise
    Member

    as I understand it yes, I have seen "recent" pictures of it at Milwaukee I think it was.
     
    Speedwrench likes this.
  21. blueprint2002
    Joined: Dec 25, 2018
    Posts: 235

    blueprint2002

    Equally or even more obscure car: Stoye special of 62-63. Next to nothing known, but looks rather different to contemporary roadsters; more like a dirt car in it’s proportions, with unusual radiator(?) and some hint of unusual suspension - coil springs and leading arms are visible at the front? What about the rear suspension? Engine? Who was the builder of this car? Have just seen one low-res picture of it, maybe on this thread, long ago.
     
    Desmodromic likes this.
  22. Jim Nise
    Joined: Oct 31, 2008
    Posts: 1,210

    Jim Nise
    Member

    It was a 1949 Kurtis2000/326.

    The few times I saw it it was ugly and slow.
     
    Speedwrench likes this.
  23. J.D.W.
    Joined: Oct 31, 2011
    Posts: 9

    J.D.W.
    Member

    Sir. My dad Drove the Keith Sapp Buick for several years back in the day. It was a White car with the number 8 on it and it was cage less car. I have pictures of the car if you would like to see them. My dad's name was Jimmy Williams and he drove IMCA. I have a picture of my dad racing Jerry Richards at the Iowa fairgrounds in the car. The car was partly restored by a man in Iowa and I was told his garage caught fire and it had a lot of damage. This was several years ago so I do not know if it is still around.
     
    loudbang and tractorguy like this.
  24. blueprint2002
    Joined: Dec 25, 2018
    Posts: 235

    blueprint2002

    Thanks again Jim. I seem to have heard similar opinions before, but somehow it's still interesting, if only because someone somewhere took the trouble to try the best he could. And with a 13 year old car! An underdog if there ever was one.
     
    loudbang likes this.
  25.  
  26. Hi Sorry to get back to you so late as too many irons in the fire. Yes if you would post a photo of the car. Possibly it will jog Norm's memory one way or the other!! I was to meet with him last week but he became ill and his monthly treatment was delayed. Also had to delay a meeting with Joe Messina and Jerry Townley (Catskill Comet) with Norm as they were under the weather too!!
    He is now back on track and seeing him this weekend. I have quite a few leads from this site and will present all the data to him. Maybe something will shake out of it!! Thanks for the help.
     
    loudbang likes this.
  27. s55mercury66
    Joined: Jul 6, 2009
    Posts: 4,333

    s55mercury66
    Member
    from SW Wyoming

    Hey, we always want to see pictures, anytime. Also, could he possibly have been racing JerryReichert, there at the Iowa Fairgrounds?
     
    loudbang and Speedwrench like this.
  28. Hi everyone, I met with Norm yesterday. We spoke about possible tracks and cars again. I gave him several names and places from your inputs and have a possible culling of information. As far as tracks he remembers the track he went to was changed and made bigger. I assume this would be Eldora. The time line he gave me coincides with the track being changed during that period. I will say for now it looks like Eldora is it. After we spoke about what he remembers , track size configuration and bleaches etc., I brought up a few speedway photos from Ohio and surrounding states in that period on my Ipad. Well he looked several over and when he saw Eldora he smiled and began to tell me that the overhead view of Eldora sure looked like what he remembers. The parking lot size was not the same, the pond in the photo to the rear of the main grandstand and the backstretch bleachers were not there. He also said the track was enlarged during the time he went there and it became banked. he had no prior info from me when I showed him these tracks. We will assume that is where he raced for now. As far as cars, I offered him several names of owners both from the mid west and the West coast but did not tell him where they were from. As we spoke of these men he did not respond to many of them but when I mentioned Warren Wickham he looked right at me and I could tell his brain was working!! He just stopped and then he was straining to recall things. He asked more about Warren. I told him Warren was indeed from California and he owned a Buick powered Sprint car from that period. I also said that he raced in the mid west during that time period. Norm then remembered the owner he drove for towed with a car and an enclosed trailer. He described the layout of the tandem axle trailer where the spare tires were and remembers spare front axles!! Well that bit was new to me. He said the owner did not use a truck as it was too stiff riding cross counrty and a car was better driving!! My question is if someone has a photo of Warren's sprint car or point me in a direction I might find this info? I believe it was called the Sunset Auto Supply Special. If no photo possibly a color of the car and a number she carried. With this info it may help Norm out more. He thanked me as we left and gave me a big hug! Thanks Don.
     
    tractorguy and loudbang like this.
  29. Jim Nise
    Joined: Oct 31, 2008
    Posts: 1,210

    Jim Nise
    Member

    Speedwrench and loudbang like this.
  30. Hi, I will sit him down and go thru these photos. Possibly jog a memory!! This is off topic for a sprint car thread but took him yesterday to meet up with 2 other guys from the past. Joe Missena and Jerry Townley. Joe ran stock cars ,midgets and a few sprinters in the day. Jerry just ran stock cars. Jerry and Joe are 89 so Norm was the baby at 80. They had a ball talking about the past. I wrote down all I could and compiling these memories they had. Took a few photos of them together. Spent about 4 years looking for a guy Norm had build a motor for his car. Got lucky from his info he shared and I found Joe who knew this guy well for several years. Located where the shop was this guy had his business at, took Norm there on the way home. The period this happened was late 1950's so Norm had most of this memory correct!! The guys name was Al ( pops) Green from Albany NY. He was a G.E. chief engineer and ran a garage with his son nights and weekends. Raced Hudson coupes with the big 6 cylinder 308 engines. Won quite a few races in his time around the Albany NY area. Joe also ran a Hudson coupe. He said the 308 was heavy but cubic inches was enough to get the job done over the Flathead Fords back then. O.K. Thanks for the update and will see where this info gets us!! Don.
     
    loudbang, s55mercury66 and tractorguy like this.

Share This Page

Register now to get rid of these ads!

Archive

Copyright © 1995-2021 The Jalopy Journal: Steal our stuff, we'll kick your teeth in. Terms of Service. Privacy Policy.

Atomic Industry
Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2014 XenForo Ltd.