Hi again,
That'll be the John Zink turbine (an old Lotus?), one of the cars that Dan Gurney drove in 1962. I can't recall if anyone else drove it, as the helmet colour is confusing me if this is Dan?
By the way, I now believe the 2 drivers (in 1962) of the Studebakers in the photos you posted earlier are Luther Johnson in car 34, and Cliff Bergere in his original mount (car 22).
It may well be Earl Cooper driving the Stutz too, as he was at the Speedway that year.
At the risk of repeating myself thanks to an e-mail address found by Tim Murray, I wrote to Len Williams the man from Boeing who worked on the Trackburner a couple of days ago asking if he had any recollection of any Lotus content in the #52 Boeing 502 powered Trackburner shown in the photo above.
Here is the response he honoured me with just now :-
"As regards the chassis, I guess you could say it was a second derivative of a Frank Curtis chassis. It was constructed in it's entirety by Denny Moore with the big decisions (rear engine) by Jack Zink and engine installation details (engine mounts, instruments, fuel system, etc by myself. Denny's construction experience was with the Curtis roadster and the AJ Watson modifications of the Curtis roadster. He was of the "good old boys" school of design and not too enthused with gas turbine engines and rear engine race cars but he was a meticulous craftsman and did an excellent job on the "Trackburner".
The car was well underway when I arrived in Tulsa with the turbine engine. to the best of my knowlege, there were no Lotus components used in the car's construction. The suspension was Troutman Barnes.
We did considerable development at the Zink ranch ( spring rate, sway bar sizing, shock absorber settings, caster camber settings, both front and rear, along with the engine controls in a short period of time. Setting a car up for high speed left hand turns is quite different from setting it up for road racing."
In the light of these comments I presume all reference to Lotus with respect to the #52 Trackburner is merely a miss use of the manufacturers name to refer to rear engine vehicle.... unless anyone else any other evidence ?