Oddball 500

[slinger]

Recently there was a thread about the Mickey Thompson "pancake" cars.Several other oddities were mentioned as well.Naturally,that got my little one cylinder mind thinking about a whole field of cars that were,ah,shall we say different.I can think of at least three that had more than one engine,one that had more than four wheels and a whole slew of cars that virtually defied description.

For those who want to play,I suggest that you nominate three cars each.They don't have to have actually made the race but they had to be real entries that actually appeared at the track.If you know any good stories about your entries,by all means include them as well.

If we wind up with more than a full field of 33,we can vote on which ones to keep.Of course such a race will never happen but it might be fun to think about it.I'd pay to watch it,that's for sure.

Anybody game?

[ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: slinger ]

[Vitesse]

Okay, I'm game: let's start with the two-engined Fageol Twin Coach Special, the Pat Clancy Special 6-wheeler and of course Smokey Yunick's Hurst Floor Shifter Special, possibly the oddest of all oddballs.

[3-wide]

How about the Sumar Special from the late 50's with the attachable fenders and driver canopy. I want to see that coming down for the green with those things in place.

[Dick Ralstin]

Hey Slinger,

How about the Stein Twin Engine Porsche of 1966 with two Porshe automoblie engines furnishing the power.

One engine drove the rear wheels and the other was connected to the front wheels.

Bill Cheesbourgh drove the car in practive but couldn't get enough speed to makea qualifying attempt.

Then how about the Miller powered rear engine cars that Al Miller and Geroge Barringer drove in 1941, the so called Tucker Specials.

Remember on these brutes the stainless frame side rails doubled as fuel tanks.

Al managed tp qualify his car for the 14th starting spot but gave up trying to drive the ill-handling monster after 22 laps. He said the transmission "failed", others said the trouble came when Al's arms gave out.

George's car was destroyed in the race morning fire.

And of course who can forget Herbie Porter's beautiful little red roadster in 1966, the first roadster with a turbo charged Offy under the bonnet.

Bobby Grim had it running at better than 160 mph in practice. He finally put it in the show on the last qualifying day, after fighting mechanicals on the first three days.

However all the hard work and valiant efforts were wiped out in the crash as the starting field came out of four, heading for starter Pat Vidan's green flag to start the race.

[Racewriter]

OK, I'll play...

Ken Hamilton's 1982 American Eagle Flyer Indy car...didn't make the race. Looked like a long pencil with a wing at the front, and the drivetrain at the rear...in photos, it looked to be about 100 feet long.

Al Miller's turbine car of 1969...looked like a jet engine from a Korean War bomber, with wheels attached. Moon discs on the wheels didn't hurt the wierdness factor.

And, how 'bout the Mallard. Any year.

[Teej]

Wasn't there a six-wheeled roadster back in the 50's?

[grogg]

I'd have to think that the Grannitelli STP turbine belongs in this group. It was much different than anything on the rack in 1967.

The chopped up Brawner Hawk (Another Jack Adams Aircraft car)that Rick Muther qualified in 1971. It hardly resembled the pretty car that Mario drove or the refurbished one that Jim MacElreath drove.

The Anteries (sp) of 1972 that Roger McCluskey managed to put in the show and ran fairly respectably with.

[ August 06, 2001: Message edited by: grogg ]

[jolly]

How about the Yellow Submarine raced by Barney Oldfield.
http://vintageracecars.com/sub.htm

[irlgreg]

Any one of the ,"pancake cars",Maury Rose's 4 wheel drive,Blue Crown Spark Plug Special.I believe it won the race in '47.Hurtibuise' Mallars roadster,'71.And for good measure the '68 Lotus tubine for Joe Leonard...should have won the race that year...I believe it was a 4 wheel drive car as well.Oh,one more...Mike Mosely's Pepsi Challenger Eagle,with the Chevy stock block using not quite ground effects ground effects.Dan Gurney called it B.L.A.T. effects?

[Dick Ralstin]

Hey irlgreg,

The famous EZY board gave Mauri the win in 47 over Bill Holland, also driving a Lou Moore FRONT-WHEEL DRIVE twin to Rose's car, both owned by Lou Moore.


In 1948 Mauri won fair and square over Bill Holland, both stil driving the famous Blue Crowns.

For 1949 Bill Holland finally drove into Victory Lane after leading 146 of the 200 laps.

Rose never led a lap in '49 and finished a dismal 13th when a magneto strap broke, the only mechanical problem either Blue Crown suffered in three years at Indianapolis.

An amazing record three year record, three wins and two second places finishes, for two of the most beautiful races cars ever to compete at Tony Hulman's Palace of Speed.

[Railbird]

B.L.A.T.

boundry layer aero technology


A result of the studies AAR conducted on the first rolling plane wind tunnel.

Jolly, wasn't that the Golden Submarine?

I just got back from a no racing, no internet vacation..Give me a few minutes.

[ August 06, 2001: Message edited by: Railbird ]

[Railbird]

The Belond Streamliner of 55 with Jim Rathmann at the wheel is one of my early memories...Saw it running in practice during May, then it was parked in a driveway a few blocks from our home for most of the summer...Burned into the memory from then on..Beautiful piece that was no more than a rebodied KK500C..

How about Smokey's "Fiberglass spl." from 62 or 63?.. That thing was a frontengined offy with an independant front end and a frame with a left turn built into it...Good looking but strange nonetheless...

Jack Adam's turbine conversion on the Demlar 99 Epperly was ugly and scary all at once..

Once again though I have to defer to previous posters

Vittesse on the Twin Coach of '46 and Dick on the twin Porche of 66...

Russo actually put the twin Offy on the front row in 46! Crashed early, imagine that...The thing I remember the most about the twin Porsche (other that Cheeseburg's big ugly head bobbing around about a foot above the bar) was the fact that even though it was a four wheel drive with two engines, the only thing that tied the two ends together was the throttle linkage..

[irlgreg]

Thank you,Mr.Ralstin...you always come through with the goods.

[MM658]

Anyone care to try to explain B.L.A.T. effects in layman's terms???

I've always wondered exactly what those bizarre-looking Eagles were "doing."

Thanks in advance...

[Railbird]

blat works the same as ground effects tunnells only on a flat plane..

Look at those cars from the top and you will see they go from a narrow nose to a very wide tail..

When the rules still allowed skirts to seal the underbody you were pushing an expanding sealed surface along a plane which causes an acceleration of the air and thusly a low pressure area under the car..Just as a tunnell enlarges in hieght the blat area expanded in width..Just another way to create a low pressure area under a car..

[Professor Joe]

Originally posted by Railbird:
<STRONG>blat works the same as ground effects tunnells only on a flat plane..

Look at those cars from the top and you will see they go from a narrow nose to a very wide tail..

When the rules still allowed skirts to seal the underbody you were pushing an expanding sealed surface along a plane which causes an acceleration of the air and thusly a low pressure area under the car..Just as a tunnell enlarges in hieght the blat area expanded in width..Just another way to create a low pressure area under a car..</STRONG>

Gurney's cars were very competitive and a popular alternative as customer cars to the Marches available at the time. Their competitive lifespan was cut short by a cart rules change. At the time, cart allowed Goodyear to bring two tire compounds to the track. The Eagle used the softer of the two and the Marches and other more conventional ground effects cars used the harder compound. cart changed the rules to require only one tire compound for everyone, Goodyear went with the harder compound (more customers), and Gurney was left out in the cold. The chassis needed the extra mechanical grip from the softer tires and was never competitive after that.

As for my favorite interesting cars, what about Herb Porter's 8-ball roadster driven by Roger Ward? It had the motor mounted on the left side of the chassis, but angled so that the drive shaft connected to the rear end on the right. This let the driver sit on the left side of the chassis, too, so that most of the weight was on the left side.

From the Indy Roadsters book, it was fast on short ovals, but I don't think it ever did much at Indy.

For my other nomination, how about the VPJ cars with the canted wings (before they were changed to the more conventional wing configuration).



[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: Professor Joe ]

[jolly]

Jolly, wasn't that the Golden Submarine?

Right you are, Bird! Must have been the "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds".

[lajolla92037]

Originally posted by Railbird:
<STRONG>The Belond Streamliner of 55 with Jim Rathmann at the wheel is one of my early memories...Saw it running in practice during May, then it was parked in a driveway a few blocks from our home for most of the summer.....</STRONG>

This car showed up with a canopy just like the Sumar car, and just like the Sumar car, raced without it.

Okay, here are my three oddballs......
1) the 1965 Mickey Thompson Challenger...after the pancake disaster, Mickey went to front drive, front engine, but this was certianly no roadster..more like a slingshot dragster, driver Bob Mathouser sitting over the rear axle. It was powered by a double overhead cam aluminum small block Chevy. Cool looking car though!

2) the 1952 Cummins Diesel Special...nuff said.

3) the 1968 Shelby-Wallis Special...the underpowered, overweight, General Electric powered turbine, a product of Ken Wallis and Carroll Shelby, built for Cam-Am drivers Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme. Unfortunally, both cars were withdrawn before qualifying. Didn't have the power of the Pratt & Whitney.

[ August 09, 2001: Message edited by: lajolla92037 ]