I have seen a few similar cars in guys garages when I was helping out in the 80's. It would be fun to drive around but I don't want to slide on dirt with my skull be the highest point of the car. Even as a kid I would look in some of those old race cars from the 50-60's and think "How the hell did they live". Safety equipment short sleeve T-Shirt with Smoke rolled up in the sleeves and so called helmet not strapped to the chin.
My hat is off to anyone who raced them then, and even races the sprints of today. Were the cars dirt racers raced back then basically 4 wheels and an engine?
That's a lot of power for those little wheels. The drivers always shunned safety. They didn't want seat belts because they thought they were safer if they were thrown free of the car in a crash. Then they didn't want roll bars because they thought they could duck during a flip. When USAC made roll bars mandatory, a few guys would bring roll bars to the track, they'd take them off one car and put it on the next with bailing wire for time trials so they were allowed on the track. They called them "sissy bars", that's where the term "sissy bar" in the motorcycle world came from. They finally made full cage roll bars mandatory in the 70s after Aldo Andretti broke every bone in his face during a flip on a retaining wall. A relative of mine, Tommy Hinnershitz, raced midgets and sprints from 1930 to 1960. The chances of him surviving those years was about 1%, drivers were getting killed every week. He raced in 3 Indy 500s. In 1959 he was looking for a driver to take over his car and he saw a guy driving a 49 Hudson at Nazareth's 1/2 dirt track. He thought had some talent so he went into his pit after the race and asked him if he would be interested in driving some USAC sprint races. Of course he said yes (no driver would ever turn down the opportunity to move up). That driver went on to win the Indy car championship as a rookie in 1965, the Daytona 500 in 67, the Indy 500 in 69 and the Formula One championship in 78. Did you figure it out yet?? Mario Andretti. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Hinnershitz
Love the story philbquick. I have loved sprint cars since my youth, I have not been to a race in years but plan to this summer.
Love the story as well, I like hearing stories like this. Id also like hearing the full version of out running track security on a golf cart someday in the future LOL
