Attachment 23003
Christmas quiz
Who are they? Two points for him, 88 points for her
What is it - specifically? Ten points
First to 100 - gentlemen, start your keyboards
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Attachment 23003
Christmas quiz
Who are they? Two points for him, 88 points for her
What is it - specifically? Ten points
First to 100 - gentlemen, start your keyboards
Could it be Howden Ganley and Lynn St James with the AJ Foyt 1961 Indy winning Bowes Seal Fast Special
you're on 90!!
Well done that man
is it the 1960 Kurtis Roadster
No...
Miller Bowes "Seal fast" Special
A.J. Foyt Bowes Seal Fast Kurtis / Offy 1960 Indianapolis 500 Carousel
The Bowes Seal Fast Special originally built by Frank Kurtis in 1959 as that designer's first 'laydown engine' design. Jud Larson drove the car at Indy in 1959, finishing 29th after becoming involved in Mike Magill's lap 45 crash.
For the 1960 season, Bignotti had Quin Epperly rework the car, designing new framework, front suspension and bodywork. This new Epperly/Kurtis was assigned to twenty-five year old A. J. Foyt. Foyt qualified 16th for the 1960 Indy 500, but went out of the race in 25th place with clutch failure.
Well done guys - why would anyone be surprised that on Christmas Eve, this was nailed in a matter of hours.
I would have got 12 points at best - the fact that GeeBee got Lyn St James is astonishingly good spotting.
The photo was taken a matter of a day or so ago at some Christmas function in the San Francisco 'bay area'.
Today is in fact Howden's 72nd birthday - he'll be here for the Ferrari Festival...and I suspect return the 2015 version.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Clark
As you say Michael, they nailed that quick, GeeBee in my quiz team.
aren't they neat looking cars, and seems there are a lot still around.
Amazing Howden is 72 gee times going by, he still looks like he could pull on the driver suit and go and play.
I'll pass it on Rod...
As I said in the opening post on this thread, there is something about these things...the owners were mostly nutjobs, the cars themselves were insane and the drivers - hell they must have been certifiable. Add to that the zany colour schemes and the dinosaur nature of the them, it was wacky racers in real life!
yep great cars and great engines 4 cylinders in a properly designed engine. even the later turbo ones retained the same basic design.
you have to love them
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Clark
yep they are in a world of their own, and as you say about drivers being 'Certifiable' that surely would be bonus.
Sorry to say that A J Watson has passed away - 4 days after his 90th birthday.
I wonder what sort of tribute they will have at the 500 in a few weeks time.
I was recently in the Los Angeles area and was reminded that during the 1950s that 80 % of the Indy roadsters were built by five car builders all within a 25 mile radius of each other and in 1958 the complete Indy 500 field of 33 cars was built by these five southern California chassis builders ; Quin Epperly, Frank Kurtis, Eddie Kuzma, Lujie Lesvosky and A.J. Watson.
These magnificent machines were built in the most modest buildings and some of these structures can still be seen today.
A.J. Watson's shop in Glendale.
Attachment 47332
Quin Epperly Racing Shop in Gardena. Ca.
Attachment 47333
Frank Kurtis's Kurtis Kraft building back in the day also in Glendale. Ca.
Attachment 47334
Attachment 47336
(Ken Hyndman photo. Laguna Seca 2007 )
That they produced cars like this from such humble workshops just amazes me and I think the only testing would be is when they arrived at Indianapolis a few weeks before the event. No computers or wind tunnels or much in safety equipment back then.
I think that instead of tours to see the homes of film stars in Hollywood they should have tours to see these old race shops plus Traco and Shelby etc. locations. Much more interesting in my opinion !
(Ken Hyndman )
I forgot to name these roadsters.
Attachment 47343
# 76 is a 1962 Watson. " Weinberger Homes Special".
# 35 is a 1948 Kurtis Indy Champ Car.
# 27 is a 1952 Stevens Indy Champ Car.
# 2 is a 1959 Watson Champ Car.
Next # 2 is a 1964 Watson Indy rear engine car.
The far car is # 17 a 1961 Sines Champ Car" Bell Lines Trucking" Special.
This 2007 collection of Indy roadsters was from the Tom Malloy Collection.
https://arch.smugmug.com/Cars/Tom-Malloy-Collection/
( Ken H)
Michael,Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Clark
You probably have the correct answer now after 4 years and Stu was close. But I liked this photo to show car # 43.
A 1957 Curtis "Roy Brady Special " at the Laguna Seca "Corkscrew" corner. 2010.
Attachment 47344
(Ken H)
This link is a few years ahead of what is going on but it is fun!
http://home.earthlink.net/~roygmisc1...tartoffy1.html
Last Sunday one of the most innovative builders of Indy cars, Rolla Vollstedt, passed away at the grand age of 99.
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/1...ead-at-age-99/
The Vollstedt Indy cars were well built as seen in this 1965 model which was a close copy of Colin Chapman's Lotus Indy car.
Attachment 47345
(Ken H )
It is indeed the correct colours and one of the most beautiful of all the roadsters.Quote:
Originally Posted by stubuchanan
It certainly was one of the most beautiful of all the roadsters.
Attachment 47360
Jim Hurtubise in the " Travelon Trailer Special" # 56. Indianapolis. 1960
With the recent passing of Rolla Volstedt it reminded me of how things happened between Rolla and A.J. Watson at the time of the 1964 Indianapolis 500. It is best described here from Oldracingcars.com.
" AJ Watson's first rear-engined car was an unashamed copy of the very quick late-1963 Vollstedt design. Rodger Ward qualified on the front row for the 1964 Indy 500 and finished in second place.
Since 1959, AJ Watson had been one part of the most successful Indycar racing team of that era. With team owner Bob Wilke and driver Rodger Ward, the "3 W's" had won the Indy 500 and the national championship in 1959 and again in 1962. But then the Lotus 29s had arrived and after seeing Jim Clark dominate the Milwaukee 200 in August in the Lotus, Ward had insisted Watson build him a rear-engined car for 1963. Although AJ Watson was the most successful builder of roadsters, his cars having already won the Indianapolis 500 six times, his skills would not necessarily transfer to the new rear-engined "funny cars". However, Watson was not the only American trying to build such a car and at an Indy tyre testing session late in 1963, Rolla Vollstedt arrived with an extremely effective car based on a Brabham design. To short-cut his project, Watson copied the Vollstedt and had two new cars ready for Indy the following April. They qualified and Vollstedt's didn't and Rolla's dismay was deepened when the Indy 500 organisers awarded Watson the 'Builder Of The Year' trophy for 'his' innovation. Years later, he handed over the trophy to a rather indignant Vollstedt.
Watson built two different versions of his new car, one with a traditional Offenhauser engine for Don Branson and one with the newly-available Ford V8 for Rodger Ward. Ward's worked best, qualifying on the front row at Indianapolis and finishing second three times that season, at Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Phoenix, but the car never actually won a race.
Both cars survived and have now been restored to the 1964 specification. "
Attachment 47367
1964 AJ Watson rear engine Indy Car # 2 at Laguna Seca on display. August 2010.
(Ken Hyndman photo )
The "Leader Card Special " Watson Champ Car in the photo above had quite a history to it as well and the Jimmy Bryan incident is recorded in photos on the web.
A conceptcarz.com summary; " In 1959 A.J. Watson built this champ dirt car for owner Ralph Wilke of Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Rodger Ward to drive. This car was the first to make a lap on the new Indy Raceway Park road course driven by Tony Bettenhausen. In April 1960 Rodger Ward drove the car to win a 100 mile at Trenton. Then Jimmy Bryan, a crew cut, cigar smoking giant dressed in Levi's and cowboy boots, drove the car at Langhorne Speedway. The car hooked a rut, leaped into the air and flipped, viciously killing Bryan. In 1964 Rodger Ward drove to 2nd in USAC National Championship. Texans Jud Larson and Johnny Rutherford drove the car in 1965 and Chuck Hulse drove in 1966. In 1967 Jim 'Herk'Hurtubise drove at Springfield only to have a wild tumbling spill, bouncing over the wall, through a catch fence and disappearing out of the track. He was scored in 5th at the time. In 1971, Snider pushed the 12 year-old car to the inaugural USAC National Dirt car title."
(Ken H)
A. J. Watson was a car builder and chief mechanic from 1949 through 1984 in the Indianapolis 500, winning the race six times as a car builder. Roger Ward won 18 races driving Watson cars. (Wikipedia)
I really like this photo from 1964 showing the Watson roadster against the Watson rear engine car at the Milwaukee Raceway.
A.J. Foyt in the roadster and Roger Ward in the rear engine car. The end of an era for the roadster was on the horizon.
Attachment 47438
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g2NcUCsOrA
(Ken Hyndman )
A fantastic roadster Ken, such neat looking machines, state of art engines for the day alsoQuote:
Originally Posted by khyndart in CA