8 replies to this topic

[antonvrs]

Some years ago the late Mark Dees owned an Offenhauser powered sprint car which originally ran a "318" Offy. I think it might have been known as the "Gardner Offy". Does anyone know anything about this car and/or the "318" Offy motors?
The car is now in Australia and its new owners are searching for history.
Mark ran this car at the Monterey Historics and at Bonneville in the early '90s.
Anton

[Cris]

I believe one of these engines (there were very few made, if I recall) powered the Kurtis Kraft-built Tommy Lee Special, which ran 148 at Bonneville (I think that was the dry lake it ran this speed at.)
I am not sure if the engine in Dees' car was from the Lee car or if it was one of the other motors.
My Offy book is at my parents' house right now...perhaps someone else could look the engine up in the Gordon White book

Cris

[fines]

Mostly from memory, so the usual disclaimers, but the Tommy Lee 318 was an 8-valve engine, and thus completely different from the Sprint Car engines which had 4 valves per cylinder, and were basically enlarged 270s: 4.5 inch blocks with 5 inch crankshafts.

There were very few made: Kelly Petillo had one at Indy in 1937, but I don't have any further record of that engine. It may have gone to Jimmie Wilburn, who had one in the last years before WW2 (and reputedly wrecked it, according to his chief wrench Barney Wimmer, although many reports post WW2 still credit him with that engine). Emory Collins used one in 1938 to (finally!) beat Gus Schrader for the IMCA title, and Gus answered with his own 318 the following year(s) - all in all, Collins is said to have had three of these engines, and Schrader two (although I have seen these numbers reversed). Hank O'Day and Fred Peters are also reputed to have had 318s at one time, but these claims can not be substantiated, afaik.

[fines]

I have neglected the chassis this morning because I was a little bit pressed for time. In "Miller Dynasty" there's a picture of it (p463) with the following caption:

The author at play in the 1993 Monterey Historic Auto Races held at the Laguna Seca road circuit. The engine is a 318 Offy with 5 inch stroke as rebuilt by Jud Phillips. Riley carbs were reclaimed from junk by Richard Simonek. The chassis is the former Joe Gardner IMSA/CSRA outlaw sprinter driven in the late 40s and early 50s by Cliff Griffith and Mike Walner. It has been modified for occasional pavement use with four wheel Bendix brakes, one of Bruce Johnston's two-speed close-ratio gearboxes, and a comforting roll bar.

The photo shows Mark going down Corkscrew ahead of an Alfa Romeo sports car, and the car appears to be a typical cross-spring rail job. A quick check of my database revealed nothing about Joe Gardner, however Griffith and Walner were well known and I'll try to dig up something contemporary.

[fines]

Well, to keep the story short since I don't seem to be able to find what I'm looking for (somebody ought to tell me to keep my things in order! , I believe the car has to be the one Cliff Griffith had himself build from the money won as MDTRA Champion in Hector Honore's car in 1947. It debuted in 1948 as #26 (I think), and as such there's a picture in Buzz Rose's book "The Rim Riders" (p160), and I believe (can't find the book right now) the same picture (else it is very similar) is in his "Kings of the Hills" (p64). The car is said to have been built by Joe Silnes, formerly the body man at Floyd Dreyer's shop.

Griffith apparently drove that car for two years, until he joined the AAA in 1950. He was 8th in CSRA points in 1948, and 5th a year later. Sorry, but I have no number of wins etc. and only a very few individual results for Griffith, which he may or may not have achieved in the car:
- 1948-04-25, Greenville, OH, 2nd
- 1948-05-23, Owosso, MI, 2nd
- 1948-05-31, Heidelberg, PA, 3rd
- 1948-08-14, Springfield, IL, 2nd

The car then may have been bought by Joe Gardner, and driven by Mike Walner - there's an undated picture of Walner in "Rim Riders" (p201) showing him in what could well be the same car, wearing #18 (Walner had been 18th in CSRA points in '49). I have no idea how long Walner would have driven the car, but he scored the following results over the next few years: 7th in CSRA points in 1951, and 2nd in 1952.
- 1951-10-14, Fort Wayne, IN, 1st
- 1952-04-20, Evansville, IN, 5th (Dizz Wilson/Ranger!)
- 1952-05-10 (?), Powell, OH, 1st (Wilson/Ranger!)
- 1952-05-18 (?), South Bend, IN, 1st
- 1952-06-08, Detroit, MI, 1st
- 1952-06-15, Greenville, OH, 1st (Gardner/Offenhauser!!!) - why didn't I find it first time though?
- 1952-08-05, Sharon (Hartford), OH, 2nd
- 1952-08-23, Springfield, IL, 3rd
- 1952-10-12, Greenville, OH, ret (Offenhauser)
- 1952-10-18, Fort Wayne, IN, 1st (described as his 2nd Fort Wayne win of the year)
(the last race was sanctioned by the Northeastern Indiana Racing Association, all others CSRA = Central States Racing Association)

[antonvrs]

Thank you, Michael, and Cris for all of that information. You and TNF in general are an amazing resource.
Anton

[fines]

Trying to clarify I find myself digging deeper and deeper... in mud!

First of all, the #18 Mike Walner car tentatively identified as the Griffith/Gardner car definitely isn't the same as the Griffith - I found another, better pic of it in "Rim Riders" (p187). I still believe, though, that the Gardner was originally the 1948 Griffith, but I can't seem to find a period photo of it to make a valid comparison.

One thing I did find was another pic in "Rim Riders" (P146) showing another car, actually labeled "Gardner Special" and sporting... #18!! It may, of course, be a coincidence, and I can't even say for sure it's the same (Joe) Gardner, as it is clearly a pre-war car and there were quite a few car owners by that name around: Chet Gardner, Fanny Gardner (Chet's wife/widdow), Ray Gardner (Chet's brother), Fay Gardner (unrelated), William Gardner and who knows else.

Anton, can you post a few pics of the car in its current guise?

[cabianca]

I can add little to Fines report on the 318s. Tommy Lee had one of the 318s for his sports special which he ran on the lakes as well as using it for a street car. As Michael says, Schrader three, Collins two and Wilburn's entrant, Frank Morgan, one. If the Petillo 1937 Indy engine was not one of the above, we have a total of 7, 6 if the Petillo engine was sold on to one of the IMCA contestants.

These engines made quite an impression on race fans in the American midwest and central south. They dominated the IMCA fairgrounds races. The IMCA impresario, J. Alex Sloan was a real showman, and the races were often hippodromed. The traveling IMCA stars, Schrader, Collins and Wilburn would take on the locals but there was also usually a "grudge race" between Schrader and Collins, who were on Sloan's payroll. This was the big money race of the meeting. Their experience and the power of their oversized Offys simple blew any local competition away. Just to make sure his boys triumphed, Sloan's contract with the local promoter called for the track to be prepped by plowing it deeply, so only the powerful Offys had an advantage on the heavy dirt under wheel. The locals were in typical fairgrounds racers of the day - Model T based cars powered by Model As with Riley or Crager heads or Fronty Ts. It would have been interesting to see how the IMCA heros would have performed on a slick track like Ascot.

Sloan's publicity machine and the real skill of Schrader, Collins and Wilburn had the midwest convinced that these were the fastest cars in the world. The fact that they were the fastest cars in US dirt oval racing is somewhat substantiated by their times on differing track lengths. The word even reached a very young Carroll Shelby in Texas pre-World War II, and he has told me that he made the journey north to see the IMCA circus on more than one occasion, once on a small displacement motorcycle.

[fines]

Found out a few bits more...

The "Gardner Special" #18 was indeed a Joe Gardner car, a pre-war Fronty SV bought in 1946 from Ted Wright and driven (amongst others I'm sure) by Fred Hawes and George Lynch. However, this is not the car in question, but Gardner probably ran this car until he bought the Offy.

The Griffith car, meanwhile, was owned by one Dick Poiry in 1950, it seems, and driven by George Tichenor (and others?), but unfortunately I still have no confirmation that it is the same car as the Gardner Offy.

About Hank O'Day also having a 318, I neglected the fact that this car was driven by Ben Musick/"Bill Morris" in IMCA events during the 1941/6 time frame, and may well have run a big engine in those races. After the war, Peaches Campbell owned it and ran it in AAA events with Walt Ader (early 1947), so by that time the 318 must have been pulled.

Interestingly, Campbell also bought the 1937 Schrader about this time from Deb Snyder, but Snyder is said to have kept the 318 from this car (although there must've been more than one engine coming with it!). Later in 1947, Campbell ran both the O'Day and the Schrader in IMCA events again (Rabbit Musick and Red Hodges driving), perhaps both with a big 'un?

Finally, about Fred Peters also having a 318, I have found the info that Peters owned the O'Day between Hank and Peaches (!), although I cannot imagine what he would have done with it in the war years!? Perhaps, and this is pure speculation, he ran the car in 1942 for Chitwood in IMCA and CSRA events (I don't have much info on that year)?