Period RACE CAR Images to Relieve some of the Stress

[Steve Moskowitz]

[Gary_Ash]

Here is Russ Snowberger in 1930 with his Studebaker President straight-8 powered car.  It must have been a posed shot as he is wearing a tie and the radiator hose is not connected.

 

[AHa]

Interesting. I think in those times most men wore white shirts and ties while at work. Though I never met him or have no way to know but it was said of my great uncle that He could go under a car and work on it all day and come back out just as clean as he went under, all while wearing white pants and a white shirt.

[AHa]

Apolo,

 

Chadwick is attributed the use of the first supercharger. An early Chadwick is or has been put together and there is an effort to make a supercharger to install on the car. You can read about it on The Old Motor website. As to the name you referenced, I googled it and nothing comes up. Can you provide any other information?

 

Here is Peter Helck's painting of the supercharged Chadwick in 1908 on the Giant's Despair Hill Climb. The bulge in the hood, lower right, covers the supercharger developed by Lee Chadwick. Chadwick was looking for ways to boost horsepower from his 707 ci motor and copied the design of a blower from a forge blower in the foundry he frequented while getting parts made for his cars. (Information from The Old Motor.)

 

 

 

Willie Haupt in Chadwick Black Bess.

 

Edited December 24, 2020 by AHa
typo (see edit history)

[twin6]

Racing at the county fair?

[V16]

In 1915 Carl Fisher drove this custom Packard 3-38 roadster as the Pace car for the 1915 Indy 500 race. Here is the car at the start of the race , the next photo is the same car on the Indy track in 2016

[1937hd45]

Model T Ford based dirt car, Buffalo wire wheels, most likely a Fronty head, car behind it has a Model A axle so this it at the end of T based cars 1928 or so. Bob 

[keiser31]

8 hours ago, AHa said:

Apolo,

 

Chadwick is attributed the use of the first supercharger. An early Chadwick is or has been put together and there is an effort to make a supercharger to install on the car. You can read about it on The Old Motor website. As to the name you referenced, I googled it and nothing comes up. Can you provide any other information?

 

 

My honey's dad told us about a relative of his. Turned out to be Chadwick who originally started out making commercial, laundry machine mechanisms and graduated to stoves. Then got into cars and supercharged stuff.

Edited April 23, 2020 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Steve Moskowitz]

Having a ball looking through  our Library's files....these are gems!

[zepher]

All of these pictures and no one posted any Eddie Rickenbacker pictures?

He drove for Maxwell and Duesenberg, among others.

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by zepher (see edit history)

[zepher]

The Corona Speedway used Grand Ave as the track.

Side streets were closed off and they raced around Grand Ave, which was one giant circle.

It was one of the premier races in the US before the Great War.

Grand Ave is still configured the same way and most of the historic houses on the south end of Grand Ave are still there today.

[wayne sheldon]

Thank you zepher for posting that! I have seen that poster before on the internet, but did not have a good copy to post (and I am really not that good with computers!).

[1937hd45]

Round race tracks, reminds me of Langhorne, Pa.  "The Big Left Turn" Bob 

[zepher]

Capt Eddie raced at the Corona Speedway a few times so here is a post that combines the two.

 

 

[zepher]

And it looks like they had quite a large gathering to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Corona Road Races.

 

 

[1937hd45]

 

1923 INDY 500 winner Tommy Milton in the HCS Special. There were no Stutz parts in the car other than the signature on the check to Harry Miller. It won INDY with a standard MILLER radiator shell. The car is totally restored today. Bob 

[hddennis]

[zepher]

Capt Eddie had an amazing life.

He lived more in his one life than the average dozen people do in theirs.

 

I am very proud and honored to own one of his namesake cars, a signed copy of his autobiography and some memorabilia from his incredible life.

 

I own one of the finest automobiles ever produced in the world, but my avatar is in reverence to the man that was larger than life.

Edited April 24, 2020 by zepher (see edit history)

[hddennis]

19 minutes ago, zepher said:

Capt Eddie had an amazing life.

He lived more in his one life than the average dozen people do in theirs.

 

I am very proud and honored to own one of his namesake cars, a signed copy of his autobiography and some memorabilia from his incredible life.

 

I own one of the finest automobiles ever produced in the world, but my avatar is in reverence to the man that was larger than life.

 

 

 

Zepher, I'd like your opinion on this picture I bought off eBay years ago because it was Maxwell related. It shows drivers having what I assume was a post win toast. What is your opinion on the left hand driver being Eddie?

[zepher]

If that is Eddie, then he had to be really young in that picture.

Maybe too young to have been a driver for Maxwell at that time.

It just doesn't look like Capt Eddie enough to me.

Maybe the others could be cross referenced as being his mechanics at the time?

 

But what a great piece of racing history!

[hddennis]

40 minutes ago, zepher said:

If that is Eddie, then he had to be really young in that picture.

Maybe too young to have been a driver for Maxwell at that time.

It just doesn't look like Capt Eddie enough to me.

Maybe the others could be cross referenced as being his mechanics at the time?

 

But what a great piece of racing history!

 

He would have been 24-25 years old and this picture supposedly shows him before he drove for Maxwell.

[1937hd45]

Good stuff, now I have to go find the Maxwell racing stuff I have around here, some were. Bob 

[zepher]

In all due respects, Capt Eddie should have his own thread dedicated to his life, but here is but one article from the NY Times about his life.

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1008.html

[zepher]

19 minutes ago, hddennis said:

 

He would have been 24-25 years old and this picture supposedly shows him before he drove for Maxwell.

 

Capt Eddie is on the far left for those that are wondering.

[Steve Moskowitz]

[nzcarnerd]

On 4/21/2020 at 7:37 AM, Steve Moskowitz said:

Those helmets did a lot of good!  

 

My car is the Caleb Bragg third from the left. It is an S74 Fiat that won the American Grand Prix in 1912 in Milwaukie, Wisconsin  I have raced it for many years and it is a blast to drive with 180 hp and 750 foot pounds of torque.  (from George Wingard current owner ...the engine compartment must be seen to be believed!)

 

 

The Fiat S74 needed a tall hood because of the 200 mm engine stroke and the overhead camshaft.

 

 

[wayne sheldon]

It is fantastic to see era pictures of early cars and then find out that specific cars in the photos still exist! Restored and showing their "stuff" again and still.

Thank you for posting that engine photo!

[nzcarnerd]

27 minutes ago, wayne sheldon said:

It is fantastic to see era pictures of early cars and then find out that specific cars in the photos still exist! Restored and showing their "stuff" again and still.

Thank you for posting that engine photo!

 

I have seen it run, although it was about 30 years ago that it visited NZ. I recall them push starting it - it would light up in a cloud smoke, sort of like a big radial aircraft engine - but then clear and run strong. The car is chassis #1 the car that Caleb Bragg used to win the 1912(?) US GP. Not sure who drove it in European events.

[AHa]

I would love to hear the story of how the S74 Bragg car survived. I find it very curious why some cars are saved through time and others disappear completely. Sometimes the car is intentionally saved but other times the car gets saved because it is lost and forgotten and rediscovered. The Locomobile old 16 is an example of a car that was intentionally saved. On the other hand, the car Locomobile built one year earlier for Mr Harold Thomas, which placed third, remains lost. Both cars were huge works of mechanical engineering, and costing thousands of dollars to build. One would think after such a large outlay of cash to build the car, it would remain to this day.

[Terry Bond]

This has been a fantastic topic and I could look at the photos for hours.  In my own archives there are several that I would love to know more about.  This photo is what I believe to be an American Underslung but when? What race?  Who is the driver?   Another challenge for racing enthusiasts-

A few more early unidentified car/event photos coming later.

Terry

[AHa]

Here is another unique action shot. Notice the riding mechanic is holding the spare tire and appears to be bare holding on.

This car sure is smoking bad.

[1912Staver]

4 hours ago, AHa said:

I would love to hear the story of how the S74 Bragg car survived. I find it very curious why some cars are saved through time and others disappear completely. Sometimes the car is intentionally saved but other times the car gets saved because it is lost and forgotten and rediscovered. The Locomobile old 16 is an example of a car that was intentionally saved. On the other hand, the car Locomobile built one year earlier for Mr Harold Thomas, which placed third, remains lost. Both cars were huge works of mechanical engineering, and costing thousands of dollars to build. One would think after such a large outlay of cash to build the car, it would remain to this day.

 

The reality with race cars is that they become obsolete quickly. Particularly race cars that are not modified production cars. Parts rapidly become completely unavailable . And even if you could keep it running what would a person do with a 5 year old race car? No such thing as vintage racing up until the late 1970's.

A handful survived, and a further handful have been recreated either from a few fragments of a completely new construction. But 95% of them were crashed , engines blown up and never rebuilt, used up as spares, left derelict and ultimately scrapped, you name it. It is really only in the later 1970's and later that anything other than a few 

very significant early race cars were sought after. Once they were obsolete as a competitive race car they were just so much metal. And most ended up back in the furnace. 

It happens to this day. The real danger zone is when they are 5 - 20 years old. Non - competitive for what they were built for, and as likely to get parted out as to survive intact. Entry level class cars survive better, say Formula Ford. Because technology does not progress as quickly in the lower class ranks. And there are always new drivers wanting to get their feet wet in an older / cheaper car. But mid rank classes and higher the tech moves very quickly

and the costs are very high even for an older car. If you can afford racing at this level it only makes sense to use as up to date a car as possible. So a 5 year old car is a totally lost cause. Things were not any different 100 years ago. Salvage what you can from the 2 years ago car and put the money into this years car.

 

Greg in Canada

[1937hd45]

Thanks Greg, This looks like  an Alfa G.P. car past its prime on a dirt track some were, hope it is still out there Vintage racing some were. Bob 

Edited April 25, 2020 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[Walt G]

Really great to see all these wonderful race car photos, thanks everyone !

Walt

[A. Ballard 35R]

1 hour ago, 1912Staver said:

 

The reality with race cars is that they become obsolete quickly. Particularly race cars that are not modified production cars. Parts rapidly become completely unavailable . And even if you could keep it running what would a person do with a 5 year old race car? No such thing as vintage racing up until the late 1970's.

A handful survived, and a further handful have been recreated either from a few fragments of a completely new construction. But 95% of them were crashed , engines blown up and never rebuilt, used up as spares, left derelict and ultimately scrapped, you name it. It is really only in the later 1970's and later that anything other than a few 

very significant early race cars were sought after. Once they were obsolete as a competitive race car they were just so much metal. And most ended up back in the furnace. 

It happens to this day. The real danger zone is when they are 5 - 20 years old. Non - competitive for what they were built for, and as likely to get parted out as to survive intact. Entry level class cars survive better, say Formula Ford. Because technology does not progress as quickly in the lower class ranks. And there are always new drivers wanting to get their feet wet in an older / cheaper car. But mid rank classes and higher the tech moves very quickly

and the costs are very high even for an older car. If you can afford racing at this level it only makes sense to use as up to date a car as possible. So a 5 year old car is a totally lost cause. Things were not any different 100 years ago. Salvage what you can from the 2 years ago car and put the money into this years car.

 

Greg in Canada

 

Probably the best known collector of pre-WWI race cars was George Waterman, a founding member of the VMCCA, whose collection included, I believe, the S74  FIAT currently owned by George Wingard. As previously mentioned, race cars did not remain competitive for long and were usually scrapped. As interesting as the Thomas Locomobile certainly was, there would be very little reason to have kept it since it did not win any major races and was eclipsed by a later factory race car. The case of Old 16 is different since it was the first American car driven by Americans to win a major international race. In addition, the car was used extensively by the company to promote Locomobiles. We are very fortunate that Joe Sessions and Peter Helck were able to not only save it but to preserve it in its original condition. The car appeared at many events such as a New York Automobile show in the 1940's with George Robertson at the wheel, a Glidden Tour, and another appearance at Hershey in the 1980's plus Lime Rock.

Edited April 25, 2020 by A. Ballard 35R (see edit history)

[Dave Henderson]

A very poor copy of a copy of a picture taken in the yard of the Blake Brothers, Barry and Bob, of Arlington, Va. 
The white chain drive midget was said to be powered by a 4 cylinder Henderson motorcycle engine.  Note the model T front axle and the tow bar used for flat-towing to the track.

[AHa]

[AHa]

 

That airplane looks like an antique next to the Buick.

 

[JV Puleo]

On 4/25/2020 at 8:38 AM, AHa said:

I would love to hear the story of how the S74 Bragg car survived. I find it very curious why some cars are saved through time and others disappear completely. Sometimes the car is intentionally saved but other times the car gets saved because it is lost and forgotten and rediscovered. The Locomobile old 16 is an example of a car that was intentionally saved. On the other hand, the car Locomobile built one year earlier for Mr Harold Thomas, which placed third, remains lost. Both cars were huge works of mechanical engineering, and costing thousands of dollars to build. One would think after such a large outlay of cash to build the car, it would remain to this day.

 

Bragg kept the car until 1914 when he sold it to Vincent Astor who sold it to George Waterman in 1936. Around 1972 Mrs. Waterman gave my friend John Zangari and I a tour of the Waterman collection (the Watermans were neighbors of my aunt and uncle). I saw this FIAT then, displayed with the huge photo of it on it's side in a ditch. It was included in an exibition of the Waterman racing cars at the RI School of Design Museum titled "The Vingage Racing Machine" in 1970.

[1937hd45]

Just when did the Waterman collection start? When I got into the hobby there was a feature on the collection in Vol 1 #1 of Automobile Quarterly in 1961,and that FIAT was featured in a full page photo along with a half dozed other cars. Bob

Edited April 27, 2020 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)