38 replies to this topic

[fines]

Tampa in Florida has a rich history of open wheel racing, starting in the twenties, and perhaps still ongoing? Most historic site of all has to be Plant Field, the site of the South Florida Fairgrounds, it was a mainstay of IMCA Big Car racing for more than half a century!

Following a query in another thread, I propose discussing Tampa's racing history here, and I hope Don Yates is still following this forum! If so, perhaps he could outline the amount of research he's already done, and what he's still after. The info I can provide is scattered around several books and a few of my databases, so I don't want to exhaust my (currently rather feeble) energies if it's not really needed!

[Doug Nye]

I remember going to watch a sprint car race at Tampa in 1972, which I presume would have been at Plant Field. The hero that day seemed to be a guy named Chuck Amati - whose name I recall thinking was 'Chucker' Marty until I read the script on his car. America, Florida, sprint car racing and Tampa itself were all very confusing to a country boy from the Surrey/Hampshire border...

DCN

[fines]

Did you enjoy the experience, Doug?

[Hugewally]

The old Plant Field was downtown at what is now the University of Tampa (not to be confused with the University of South Florida on the north side of town or the Florida State Fairgrounds on the NE side of town).

The Tampa Tribune had an article about Plant Field last Oct - http://www.tbo.com/l...GB29OJJF7F.html

Doug, you probably watched the races out at the State Fairgrounds which use to have a dirt oval where the outdoor Ford Amphitheater is now...

[Doug Nye]

Yes Michael I did enjoy the experience but it was the kind of inconsequential, agricultural, roundy-roundy racing which was fun to see once but didn't make me want to follow it regularly. The production-based engines - for a start - were boring as hell. I viewed it as 'So-what Racing', in fact. I can imagine that if it was the only kind of open-wheeler racing available to you, one would see it differently....? Somewhere I have some photographs I took that day. Fuzzyvision of course.

DCN

[fines]

Uhuh, so I can imagine. There's probably some truth in the saying that with the Offenhauser, something more than the spirit of Harry Miller left the dirt tracks...

[Don Yates]

Hello eveyone! I'm a Tampa native and am doing research on 2 dirt ovals and 1 paved oval from Tampa's past.Plant Field-Speedway Park and Phillips Field. Plant Field was built for horse racing to entertain the guests at Henry Plant's Hotel ( now Univ of Tampa) in the 1920s.It was a flat 1/2 mile dirt track. With the gaining popularity of the automobile it soon was used for car racing. Many times horses ran on the same day as cars. The State Fair was always staged in Feb to take advantage of the mild winter climate. Auto racers needed a winter series so it was a natural fit. Many other sporting events took place there. Pro baseball teams trained there and Pro football teams played exhibition games on the infield turf. Year round racing took place in the late 30s'40s and 50s but revereted back to racing during the fair. The Track was closed in the mid70s. The area is now sports fields for U.T.
Phillips Field was built as the football stadium for Univ. of Tampa in the late 30s.It was located about 200 yards north of Plant field. As with most football fields it had a 1/4 mile cinder running track around it. A wiley promoter came up with idea to run midget race cars on the 1/4 mile. The track was paved and racing commenced. WWII came and went and midget racing fell out of favor. After the war the jalopy/stockcar era started and a promoter brought them to Phillips field. Racing lasted till the early 60s and moved out to Golden Gate speedway near the Univ of South Florida.
Speedway Park was constructed in the late 40s and lasted only till the mid 50s. It was a 1/2 mile clay oval built for car raving. A 1/4 mile track was later added that used a part of the front streach and the infield. The track was built as a protest over engine size rules set at Plant Field. Pop Hukle the builder had several sprint cars powered by Ranger airplane engines and lived by the old addage "run what you brung". His cars won a lot so trouble soon followed. FYI the HISSO another aircraft engine also found its way to open wheel cars. In addition to sprintcars, big cars and midgets Speedway Park hosted motorcycle races,stock cars and jalopies. The area is now an industrial park.
I realise I'm on a F1/GP BB and appreciate your indulgence. I wanted to respond to any guestions and enjoy reading about anyone's experiences at these tracks
Thanks Don

[MCS]

IMSA produced a "road" course at the Florida State Fairgrounds in the late 1980s and early 1990s - maybe for only two or three seasons.

I can remember one of the GTP races was won by Price Cobb in the works Jaguar, although I could be mistaken. Was it Jan Lammers?

So was this the circuit that was north east of Tampa - I could have sworn it was south...

[Hugewally]

IMSA ran three years at the State Fairgrounds -

28 Nov 1988
GTE World Challenge of Tampa (GTP/Grp C) - 360km/117Lp
Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship Grand Sports Race - 3hrs
Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship Sports & Touring Race - 3hrs
American Challenge Series Race (AC) - 40min

01 Oct 1989
GTE World Challenge of Tampa (GTP/Grp C) - 360km/117Lp
Kash N' Karry Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship Grand Sports Race - 4hrs
Kash N' Karry Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship Sports & Touring Race - 4hrs
Barber SAAB Pro Series Race - 100km/33Lp
Carteret Savings Bank Vintage & Historics Races

30 Sep 1990
Nissan World Challenge of Tampa (GTP/GTPL) - 360km/117Lp
LüK Clutch Challenge (IS) -
Barber SAAB Pro Series Race - 100km/33Lp
SISAPA Pro S2000 Series Race -

[URY914]

I too am a Tampa native and spent many a day watching the sprint cars at Plant Field. We actually lived on South Boulevard and the fairgrounds were up on North Boulevard. My dad and I would walk up to the fair to watch the races because there was no place to park the car. The track had tall walls made of sheet metal to keep the clay from flying onto the people outside the track. Even with the tall walls some clay would come showering down. The sound of 30 sprint cars heading into turn one was incredible!. The grandstands were wooden and covered and that sound would just make you deaf. I believe the last race was in 1976 as the fair moved out to the new US 301 site in 1977. The week before the weekend races I used to ride my bike around and see all the cars on the open trailers parked at the local hotel and boarding houses. They would come from all over the Midwest. IMCA was the sectioning body.

I remember Jan Oppenhimer started dead last in one of the heats and ended up winning the race. He passed people high and low. The races were held at the new fairgrounds track for a few years but nothing was better than that old track. They also moved out to the East Bay Raceway track

I remember watching Joey Chitwood and his Thrill Show also at the track. Jumping, weaving, wreaking, spinning and driving on two wheels in a Camaro.

Those were the good old days...

Paul

[HDonaldCapps]

Originally posted by Don Yates
I realise I'm on a F1/GP BB and appreciate your indulgence.

While this is the perception, I don't think this is necessarily the case, especially since you will find quite a variety of topics being discussed that certainly fall outside the expected F1/GP myopia.

Personally, I have always been very curious about racing at places such as Tampa and other venues in the Southeast during the 1920s & 1930s, particularly since there is very little available concerning this activity. I remember finding material on racing at Plant Field, but not that much. Plus, I had completely forgotten about Phillips Field.

As an aside, our son has been accepted to grad school at USF so we will be rolling down to Tampa at some point this summer.

[Lotus11Register]

This is the kind of mechanical beast that once raced at Plant Field. Jack Sheppard and Larry Beckett built this car around 1930. Jack Sheppard has been mentioned often in the TNF thread about his son, Joe Sheppard, aka, the Tampa Hotshoe. Joe is the little boy pictured in the drivers's seat with his sister Maxine standing behind.

In an interview from 1961, Jack Sheppard recalled that "you not only had to try to win a race in those days, you had to fight for your survival." This was a natural part of the competition for a $100 purse, a sum of money hard to come by then. Sheppard had raced at Plant Field as early as 1925, when his first "patchwork" racing machine was built with another friend. That car went out of control during a trial run and crashed into a retaining wall. However, his second racer, the one in the photo, was a source of lasting pride.

"She was a beauty. All chrome plated parts -- it took us a year to complete her."

In 1933, during a big event at Winchester, Ohio, Beckett, piloting the car, broke a track record with the then blazing speed of 98 miles per hour. "Racing was a really popular sport in those days," Sheppard said. "So was parimutual betting. After a while, though, the gambling game faded away."

In that period, Jack had one notably hair-raising moment driving the car at Plant Field. "It was on about the second lap. I had just hit the straightaway when suddenly a team of horses pulling a beer wagon appeared at the far turn. I had a choice of crashing through a retaining wall or going straight ahead. I prayed and continued straight ahead. I passed right under the heads of the horses, but never even brushed one of them. "

Jack was asked to compare the racing of his youth with the conditions his son was then racing under. He replied that the drivers of old had to be a lot tougher but that car preparation was actually similar. "Basically the cost and upkeep of an old racing machine and, say, a Maserati of today, are about the same."

There were also fewer potholes in the tracks in 1961. In the 1930s potholes were as much a part of the race tracks as the turns.

Photo and information from the Joe Sheppard collection. Thanks again to Don Yates.

[fines]

So Jack Sheppard was the father of that sporty car guy there in the other thread? Will have to have another look at that one, then...;)

One thing, though: 98 mph on a half mile wasn't possible even at Winchester in 1933! That computes to something like 18.3" when Troy Ruttman, I believe, was the first to break 20" in 1949!

Edit: a tiny bit of research revealed that Ira Hall was the first to lap Winchester at 75 mph in 1930, while Bob Carey reached 79.7 mph in 1932. Other record holders in the "80s" included Spider Webb (82.6 mph in 1938), Jimmie Wilburn (82.8 mph in 1939), Duke Nalon (84 mph in 1941) and Ted Horn (86 mph in 1948), then Troy 89.5 mph on Sep 18 in 1949, with Duane Carter doing 91 mph on July 30 in 1950! Before that, however, Troy had cracked the barrier at Salem on October 9 in 1949, but the first had been Johnny Mantz at Carrell Speedway on January 30! Winchester records continue with Ruttman (92 mph in 1952), Bob Sweikert (94 mph in 1953), Pat O'Connor (96 mph in 1953) and finally Johnny White (99 mph in 1962). Thirty years is a long time in racing! Oh, and by the way, Winchester is halfway between Indianapolis and the Ohio stateline, but still in Indiana!;)

[bpratt]

A few years ago I was given a couple dozen issues of Cavalcade of Auto Racing from the mid-1970s. Most issues had historical articles from various writers "who were there" or "nearly there" (my quotation marks).

Guys like Vern "Flip" Fritch, John Sawyer, Buddy Hankinson (a lot of stuff on Ralph Hankinson -- making Buddy his son?), Marshall "Shorty" Pritzbur, and Len Milde amongst others. Fritch and Milde were contributors to publications like National Speed Sport News back into the 1940s. Sawyer became well known for his work in Open Wheel.

Cavalcade is an interesting magazine. Mix of eastern (and some midwest and western) oval stuff. Even some sports car stuff. Lousy paper quality which make some of the photos (thumbnail size) a bit difficult to look at. Wish I had the 8 X 10 glossies of a few of them. Came out of Mass. (You think I'm going to try to spell that?)

The Feb.-March 1975 issue has a special section dedicated to the IMCA Winter National Sprints at the Florida State Fair Tampa 1921-1975. I'll scan and do the image shack thing over the weekend. At least that's what I hope I'll do.

[URY914]

I'd like to see that article.

[bpratt]

Here's the article (second attempt). I'm very self conscious right now concerning copyright. If there's a problem I'll delete the photos from Imageshack.

This is just the pages Vern "Flip" Fritch had. John Sawyer had a couple articles which I'd be even more worried about posting here. (Now I might post them elsewhere.)

From the Feb/Mar 1975 issue of Cavalcade of Auto Racing:











As they say this is just for research purposes.
bp

[bpratt]

Eddie Roche's book "Florida Motorsport Retrospective Pictorial" (Eddie Roche, 1997) has a couple pages on the Tampa Fairgrounds with winners from 1921 to 1975.

Don't know if it's still available or an ebay item these days.
bp

[bpratt]

I seem to be a thread killer.

Here's a list of Winter national sprint car winners from the Eddie Roche book mentioned last post. Work done by Allen E. Brown of The History of America's Speedways fame.

Winternational Sprint champions
and race winners by year:

1921 Charlie Roe
1924 Sig Haugdahl
1925 Haugdahl; Bob Green (2nd race)
1926 Burr Lampkin; (2nd race winner unknown)
1935 Gus Schrader (won both races)
1936 Doc Shanebrook (won both races)
1937 Larry Beckett
1938 Buddy Callaway,Miami (won 2 races); Everett Saylor (won other 2 races)
1939 Tony Willman (won 3 of 4 races); AAA sanctioned
1940 Jimmy Wilburn and Ben Shaw won; (champion unknown)
1941 Wilburn (won both races)
1942 Shaw, Joie Chitwood, Ben Musick won races; (champ unknown)
1946 Al Flemmings won 10 lapper; Frank Pop won other 10 lapper; (champ unknown)
1947 Emory Collins and Deb Snyder won
1948 Eddie Adams; Snyder; Harry King, Adams won races
1949 Snyder; Frank Luptow (won 2); Snyder (won 2, including final night)
1950 Luptow
1951 Luptow
1952 Snyder (won final night)
1953 Pete Folse (won final night)
1954 Homer Claytor (won final night)
1955 Bobby Grim (won final night)
1956 Grim (won both 20 lappers)
1957 Grim (won 25 lapper) Feb. 9 last date
1958 Don Carr (won 25 lapper) Feb. 15 last date
1959 Johnny Poulesen (Feb. 14 last date)
1960 Folse; Buzz Barton (won 25 lapper)
1961 Folse (also won 30 lapper)
1962 Folse; Jerry Richert (won 20 lapper); Hershel Wagner and Folse won races: Folse (won 25 lapper)
1963 Folse
1964 Richert (won 30 lapper)
1965 Jim McCune; Greg Weld (won 50 lapper)
1966 Richert (won 4 of 5 races)
1967 Scratch Daniels (won last 3 races, including 50 lapper)
1968 Richert; Bobby Adamson (won 50 lapper)
1969 Darl Harrison; Adamson (won 50 lapper)
1970 Jerry Blundy
1971 Blundy; Bobby Kinser (won 50 lapper)
1972 Blundy; Billy Cassella (won both 50 lappers)
1973 Greg Weld; Adamson (won final night)
1974 Jan Opperman; Lee Osborne (won 50 lapper)
1975 Opperman (won 50 lapper)


And an ad from Illustrated Speedway News, January 7, 1964 for that year's Winter nationals. The race reports have a few rainouts noted and the schedule redone. As far as I can figure out for 1964 it is as follows:

Wednesday Feb. 5 -- rained out
Saturday Feb. 8 -- rained out
Sunday Feb. 9 -- Jerry Richert won the feature
Wednesday Feb. 12 -- Jerry Richert
Saturday Feb. 15 -- Pete Folse
Sunday Feb. 16 -- Jerry Richert

The points for the IMCA as reported in the Feb. 25, 1964 Illustrated Speedway News was:

Jerry Richert, 530
Pete Folse, 296
Harold Leep, 250
Jerry Blundy, 230
Jim McGuire, 220
Jerry Daniels, 190
Carl Williams, 166
Al Unser, 160
Walt McWhorter, 156
Buzz Barton, 110
Dick Carter, 104
Darl Harrison, 80
Jim McCune, 80
Al Murie, 78
Jim Moughan, 76



Apologies for any mistakes I might have made in the transcriptions.
squinting,
bp

[fines]

Great, Brian! I have bits and pieces, and now I have a framework to put them on! Will take me a bit of time, though...

[fines]

Originally posted by bpratt
1936 Doc Shanebrook (won both races)
1937 Larry Beckett
1938 Buddy Callaway,Miami (won 2 races); Everett Saylor (won other 2 races)
1939 Tony Willman (won 3 of 4 races); AAA sanctioned
1940 Jimmy Wilburn and Ben Shaw won; (champion unknown)
1941 Wilburn (won both races)
1942 Shaw, Joie Chitwood, Ben Musick won races; (champ unknown)
1946 Al Flemmings won 10 lapper; Frank Pop won other 10 lapper; (champ unknown)
1947 Emory Collins and Deb Snyder won
1948 Eddie Adams; Snyder; Harry King, Adams won races
1949 Snyder; Frank Luptow (won 2); Snyder (won 2, including final night)
1950 Luptow
1951 Luptow
1952 Snyder (won final night)
1953 Pete Folse (won final night)
1954 Homer Claytor (won final night)
1955 Bobby Grim (won final night)
1956 Grim (won both 20 lappers)
1957 Grim (won 25 lapper) Feb. 9 last date
1958 Don Carr (won 25 lapper) Feb. 15 last date
1959 Johnny Poulesen (Feb. 14 last date)
1960 Folse; Buzz Barton (won 25 lapper)
1961 Folse (also won 30 lapper)
1962 Folse; Jerry Richert (won 20 lapper); Hershel Wagner and Folse won races: Folse (won 25 lapper)
1963 Folse
1964 Richert (won 30 lapper)
1965 Jim McCune; Greg Weld (won 50 lapper)

- to start with, I have an additional 1936 AAA race (Apr 19), with top four finishers... except for the winner! : For the record: 2nd Floyd Davis (Ambler/Hisso), 3rd John Moretti (Green), 4th Bob Sall (Sall/McDowell).
- the 1939 races I have with CSRA sanction, and Ralph Hankinson promotion. CSRA and AAA cooperated during late '38/early '39, though... one of the races (the first?) was on Jan 31
- in late 1949 there two additional AAA races, won by Bill Schindler (Malamud/Offenhauser, 10 miles on Dec 4) and Bill Holland (Nyquist = Matthews/Offenhauser, 7 ½ miles on Dec 11).
- the same in 1951: Tommy Hinnershitz (Hinnershitz = Hillegass/Offenhauser, 15 miles on Nov 25) and Bill Schindler (Beal/Offenhauser, 15 miles on Dec 9).
- I have four races in 1956, race distances unknown: Feb 1, 4 and 11 all won by Bobby Grim (Honore = Hillegass/Offenhauser), and Feb 8 won by Bert Hellmueller (presumably in his 4wd Hellmueller/Ranger)
- in 1965 I have a Feb 7 race won by Buzz Barton (Thomas/Offenhauser) - I believe it was the last IMCA win for an "Offy"!?

[URY914]

I remember Al Sweeney being the promoter.

Motorcycle races were also held at the track. They wore a steel plate on thier left foot so they could keep it on the dirt as they rounded the corners. I remember one day when I was a kid I rode my bike around back to the back gate and the old guy working the gate left me in the infield for free. Cool!

[bpratt]

I know that the year by year information has holes. Contacting Allen E. Brown (Michigan) might help. I have a couple old Racing History emails (hard copies, lost the digital versions long ago) where Brown gave as much info as he had on the 1915 and 1916 seasons as well as Minnesota State Fair history as he had to that point (early 2001?). Some of that had holes as well but he's definitely a good starting point. He's still at:
http://www.speedwaysonline.com/

Some 1965 info from the Illustrated Speedway News that's online. Unfortunately the scans weren't all that good, unreadable in some places.











Apologize for the size of some of the Shack sh*t. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean it will read better but there's always hope it'll help.

Appears that Jim McCune was the point leader at the end of the series.
bp

[fines]

Brian, good to know those sh***y scans aren't yours, where did you find'em?

[fines]

Interesting to go through the reports, you find a lot of familiar names. Guys like Buzz Barton (nearing fifty!) and Red Amick were enjoying their "career autumns" in slightly less competitive surroundings, while others such as Larry Dickson, Wally Dallenbach, Tom Bigelow and Greg Weld were "cutting their teeth"! Carl Williams, Sam Sessions and Larry Cannon would also enjoy some "notoriety" in Sprint & Indy Car circles, with Wib Spalding and Gordon Woolley on the fringes of stardom. Actually, I think Woolley had all the ingredients to become a real great, except maybe for the fact that he was already in his forties - he would, however, along with Jerry Blundy, become a "blueprint" for "outlaws" of the Jan Opperman/Rick Ferkel mould later in the seventies.

[Jim Thurman]

First, someone needs to get Stu to make the correction of the title to Florida.

Brian, thank you Always interesting stuff from you.

Let me also ask, despite the quality, where did you find those Speedway Illustrated Scans?

Looks like someone had the settings off (my scans came out pretty good, didn't they?). I tried to sacrifice a bit of picture quality in favor of more readable text.

Re: Cavalcade of Auto Racing. I picked up a few of their "annuals" at Cajon Speedway when I was a kid. It was neat seeing even black & white photos of what was being raced around the country. Just photos in those. Later, I picked up a few of Cavalcade's quarterly or "regular" issues, which had some nice historical articles, race reports and columns updating the current season's going ons at various tracks.

I preferred picking up issues of Racing WHEELS newspaper, which were cheaper and I could get more often.

[bpratt]

The scans were/are available in pdf form at:
http://www.newspaper...com/Browse.aspx
Go to New York state and then under Illustrated Speedway News. (It'll cost some money to look.)

They were put up by Gordon White a couple years ago, and made free for a month. I suppose they are exact duplicates of the original microfilm work done for Gordon.

I worked pretty hard getting them copied. (I think I had pneumonia at the time, so I had some free time. : )

Anyway, that's the quality available. I've got some NSSN/NARN microfilm reels and sometimes the same sort of quality problems arise. Then again same can be said of many newspapers on film from all over the world. It is frustrating but it's not like I'd want to do that sort of brain numbing work myself. (I've got my own brain numbing things to do. )

All I've done is crop the pdf section I wanted, pasted it onto paint, and saved it as a jpeg.

[Darren Galpin]

I'll admit to having downloaded the lot from newspaperarchives.com. One more thing on the long list of things I have to work through.....

[silvermist350]

I remember going to Phillips Field before Frank Derry opened Golden Gate Speedway and i still remember Larry Brazils circle 6 and Dave Scarboroughs 5D having grudge matches and my Dad owned the #36 Buffalo Auto Parts Special and i grew up around Pancho Alvarez and Buzz Barton. We lived on Alfred Street across from Johnny Hicks the starter and i also still remember the house fire that took him away . the neat thing about Phillips Field was if you missed turn 1 you went into the Hillsborough River Phillips Field was a flat track . I have been trying to find any pictures or other information but no luck also i remember the fairgroungs downtown and at i4 and 301 but those were the good old days . I enjoyed Golden Gate also and was a Bernard McElwain and Reutimann fan and cant forget the tooterville trolley #1 Kip Pierce who stole the show and some one would do a protest but he was legal also Willard Smiths B1 powered Buick - we always had a good time and history was great and Gordon Solie was a greatest anouncer but the whole track was shocked and mourned the Death of the Great Emil and his son Dale Reutimann who was killed by a drunk driver on US 301 on their way to the track . Golden Gate was built out by itself away from a lot of people but when people moved close by they complained about noise and now it is history but i still miss watching Will Cagle, Buzz Barton, Pete Folse, Jimmy Riddle, Pancho Alverez, Dick Hope and my favorites Buzzie and Wayne Reutimann also Bernard McElwain with the Class - B six cylinder inline motors ---- Great Memories

[URY914]

silvermist,

There is a old Florida racing website that has a lot of Golden Gate photos, go here

http://floridaracingmemories.com/

[Michael Ferner]

A bit more on the prewar years (mainly dates), using Brian's original post with additions in green:

Here's a list of Winter national sprint car winners from the Eddie Roche book mentioned last post. Work done by Allen E. Brown of The History of America's Speedways fame.

Winternational Sprint champions
and race winners by year:

1921 Charlie Roe
1924 Sig Haugdahl (Feb 9)
1925 Haugdahl Bud Putman (Feb 3); Bob Green (Feb 14)
1926 Burr Lampkin; (2nd race winner unknown)
1927* John de Palma/Shorty Gingrich (Feb 1); Ray Claypool/Shorty Gingrich (Feb 12)
1928* Fred Horey/Bob Green (Jan 31); Sam Hoffman (Feb 11)
1929 Sig Haugdahl (Jan 29); Swan Peterson (Feb 9)
1930 Shorty Gingrich (Jan 28); Sam Purvis (Feb 8)
1931 Archie Powell (Feb 3); Sig Haugdahl (Feb 14)
1932 Sig Haugdahl (Feb 2); Archie Powell (Feb 13)
1933 Sig Haugdahl (Jan 31); Gus Schrader (Feb 4/pp to 8 & 11)
1934 Gus Schrader??
1935 Gus Schrader (Feb 5 &9??)
1936 Doc Shanebrook (Feb 4 & 15/pp to Mar 1)
1937 Buddy Callaway (Jan 26); Larry Beckett (Feb 14)
1938 Buddy Callaway,Miami (Jan 25? & ??); Everett Saylor (won other 2 races)
1939 Tony Willman (Jan 31, Feb 7 & 11); Bud Henderson (Feb 18); AAA sanctioned
1940 Jimmy Wilburn (Jan 30); Ben Shaw (Feb 3?); (champion unknown)
1941 Wilburn (Feb 4 & 15); Ben Shaw (Feb 8)??)
1942 Shaw (Feb 3), Joie Chitwood (Feb 7?), Ben Musick (Feb 14?); (champ unknown)

A few notes: the term "Winternationals" is a relatively recent one, probably invented in the seventies. Originally, those races were called simply the Tampa Fair races, or later Florida State Fair races (before 1934, it was just the South Florida Flair - the State Fair was still held in Jacksonville, afaik). As such, there was no overall champion, although beginning in the fifties, I think, they started naming a State Fair Champion, using IMCA points - it was the traditional opener of the IMCA National Championships.

I wasn't able to find any info on a number of years, presumably because the relevant issues were missing in the run of the newspapers that were available to me (mostly Tampa Tribune), but generally I found an enormous wealth of very detailed info. A few explanations are due, e.g. about 1925: Haugdahl was, indeed, mentioned as the winner of the opening day's events in the headlines, but when reading through the detailed accounts of the day, it was found that he had "merely" won a heat and a couple of match races; he didn't even start the main event! In the late twenties, it was sometimes difficult to find out what the main event was, though. In 1927, e.g., there were basically two sets of races each day, one for professional out-of-state racers, and one for semi-professional locals. None of the professionals started in one of the races for locals, and vice versa! Additionally, the professional races were possibly run on a points basis, but the overall results were not declared. Some papers named Fred Horey the winner because he had the best results in the heats, but de Palma won the last and longest race. Confusing? You betcha!

Also, I found a number of still dates run at the fairgrounds, which I omitted in order to stay on topic. For the record, those were:

1920 ? (Apr 3)
1923 ? (Apr 6)
1924 W. H. Smith (Mar 24)
1928 Sam Purvis (May 30)
1936 Vern Orenduff (Apr 19); AAA sanctioned

One other thing: about every race report I've found mentioned something along the lines of "the times were not fast, but good considering the state of the track", meaning the track was generally awfully AWFUL - terribly TERRIBLE - disastrously BAD! Dust was always a big problem (as on any track in those days), but the surface was also very uneven, with ruts and large holes, and therefore races were generally very SHORT! When the AAA boys first came to Tampa, they staged a 15-miler, which was about the norm for a AAA event - but about four or five times as long as the average IMCA main event, and three times as long as the longest race held on the track since 1924! No wonder, it took them three years to come back, and then with 5-mile main events!

Edited by Michael Ferner, 28 June 2012 - 19:14.

[Michael Ferner]

It's that time of the year again!

 

Tomorrow night will be the finals of the 42nd Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, a mere ten miles from the old fairgrounds in downtown Tampa, going east on Selmon Expressway and then south on US-41. East Bay sort-of took over when the fairgrounds moved away from Plant Field in 1976, to carry on a tradition of almost a century of dirt track racing in Tampa, which is a bit of a story in itself - it wasn't that straightforward, suffice it to say! Maybe there'll be time to address that, too, later on, but first let's take a look at the history of racing at the Tampa Bay Race Track/South Florida Fairgrounds/Florida State Fairgrounds/Plant Field/Plant Park, all those names refering to the same old, tough half-mile dirt track on the West Riverfront, which traditionally opened the dirt track racing season in the East. Today, East Bay's Winternationals take place during the better part of four weeks, a big meeting catering for all sorts of cars from Sprints to Late Model Stockers, but the beginnings were much more humble. Through the archives of not one, but two Tampa newspapers I was able to clear most questions regarding these events, and all along I found fascinating titbits of information about sundry events and institutions, learned about subtle changes in the IMCA point scoring system, and found out about two legendary dirt track super stars making the shortest of comebacks years after official retirement, in both cases lasting just the length of time trials at Plant Field. But first, let's start with busting one super myth about Plant Field, and find out when it really opened for auto racing!

 

The old story that has been trotted out hundreds of times, maybe thousands, is that the first auto race at Plant Field took place on February 3 in 1921, promoted by Alex Sloan and sanctioned by the IMCA. It actually wasn't that difficult to find out that the story was baloney, so I wondered where it came from, and began looking through back issues of the Tampa newspapers to find its origin. The earliest reference to the 1921 origin of the race that I could find was from January 1951, when The Tampa Tribune ran an article about the "30th Anniversary Auto Race". In it, it said that "P. T. (Pa) Streider, veteran fair manager, recalled the colorful chapter in automobile racing written by the Florida Fair in the 30 years since J. Alex Sloan presented the first speed event here in 1921" - Bingo!

 

Paul T. Strieder (also often spelt Streider), born 1876 Jan 22 in Fort Wayne/IN, and died 1960 Dec 14, was the general manager of the Tampa Fair for 35 years, and already 75 years old when he made that statement. In his obituary it said that he began his "career" in 1893 at the age of 17 with Chicago's Columbian Exposition, so it was a lifelong "carnie" with about six decades of experience in embellishment and bullshitting who gave the world a piece of his "memories", and EVERYBODY copied off him!! In fact, Al Sweeney and Gaylord White, the 1951 promoters of the Florida State Fair races, had little alternative but to believe what Strieder said - though by 1951, the IMCA had long begun to aspire to being a respectful sanctioning body (which was the main point about honouring the "anniversary" in the first place), that same organization had paid scant attention to things such as record keeping, or history at large, for the first twenty or thirty years of its existence - there simply wasn't anyone within this most ahistorical group who would have had any way of finding out details like these by themselves!

 

The amazing thing is, actually, that not everything about that 1921 race was baloney. True, it wasn't the first auto race at the Tampa fairgrounds, it wasn't sanctioned by the IMCA, and it wasn't promoted by Alex Sloan - all that, as well as the accompanying story about how the Plant Field track record evolved over the years, were nothing but wild fantasies. But the actual date of the "race", and the name of the "racing drivers" competing that day were all true. Why the quotation marks? Well, it wasn't really a "race" more than a speed exhibition, and the drivers weren't really "race drivers": Charlie Rowe, the "winner", was actually a professional golfer! And I. J. Watkins, the "first track record holder"? Why, he was a professional animal trainer, and presented his acts at circuses and fairs all over the US for four decades!! It was actually Watkins who promoted the 1921 races at the Tampa Fair, just another carnie idea from just another professional carnie, a far cry even from the orchestrated IMCA shows of professional drivers, this was more akin to a Thursday afternoon circus number. Even the cars were nondescript, "miniature racing automobiles brought to Tampa by I. J. Watkins", which "promise to be a big amusement feature of the fair". Hardly the start of a long racing tradition - and it wasn't the beginning, anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Strieder and I. J. Watkins (in 1948)

 

 

 

EDIT Ahhh, don't you just love this new software... When you want a big pic, it makes it small, and when you want a small one, it makes it big!      

Edited by Michael Ferner, 16 February 2018 - 19:51.

[Michael Ferner]

How Strieder, who by all accounts came to Florida in 1918, took on his first job at the Tampa Fair the following year and was appointed as general manger the very next, managed to "overlook" the truly professional races held during two days of the 1920 Fair, is quite beyond me. Maybe his new job demanded all his mental capacities, but then again, one would think that the auto races, listed on the official program of the Fair, WERE part of his job description that year? Even then, he should have been aware of the auto races that took place just one week after the exhibiton, following on the big success of the fair races, or indeed of the AAA races one month later, the first ever of the premier US racing club on Florida's west coast, when even a racing car from the starting field of the 1914 Indy 500 was entered, though apparently it did not appear. Most likely, Strieder was aware of these events at the time they were happening, but thirty years later his memory became confused - proof, if ever it was needed, that oral history can be very misleading, especially once it enters the realm of the written record without proper fact checking!

 

So, having established that there were at least four race meetings in 1920, are we now closer to the real auto racing inaugural at Tampa's Plant Field? Well, only if we accept a "smart aleck" answer! Technically, the 1920 races look to have been the first auto races at Plant Field, but the same track already saw auto racing before it was named "Plant Field"  Incidentally, though the track was known both by "Plant Field" and "Plant Park", technically it was across the street from the former City Park, renamed on September 9 of 1913 in honour of Henry Bradley Plant, on a property formerly known as Armstrong Park, purchased in April of 1913 by H. B. Plant's son, Morton S. Plant, and renamed "Plant Field". It was then, as it is now again, mainly a baseball field with a little grandstand, though the dirt track already existed well before, at least fifteen years, and lo and behold, an auto race meeting was held there as early as April 29 in 1909! Of the seven events advertized that day (including one for motor cycles), only three were run off due to a short entry (eight cars in toto), and the main event shortened from 20 miles to ten, won by a 30hp Cadillac at the impressive speed (if true) of 39 mph.

 

Interestingly, the report of the events in the next day's Tampa Tribune opened with the words: "What proved to be the most successful automobile racing card ever pulled off in Tampa was that yesterday afternoon at the Tampa Bay track..." Well, those words ARE true (if somewhat meaningless) even if it was the first ever race, and in any case I haven't found evidence of earlier races at the fairgrounds, or anywhere else in Tampa for that matter. So, for the moment at least, 1909 April 29 should replace 1921 February 3 as the opening event in Plant Field's motor sport history.

Edited by Michael Ferner, 16 February 2018 - 21:15.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Fines
.....A few notes: the term "Winternationals" is a relatively recent one, probably invented in the seventies.....

I'm not sure whether or not you mean in an overall sense, Michael...

But the NHRA were running 'Winternationals' events at least as far back as 1963.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Great stuff. I had no idea that Tampa has such a rich racing history. My own experiences started with the short tracks in Hialeah and Homestead.

[Michael Ferner]

I'm sure Fines won't mind me answering for him  , but you're probably right, Ray. The name Winternationals (or Winter Nationals) was first used for the Tampa sprints in February of 1967. Perhaps they took a leaf from the NHRA book.. .

 

Here now an annotated list of all (Big) car racing events I found for Tampa's Fairgrounds track "Plant Field":

 

1909-04-29 (Thu): 10m (20 laps), 15'08.0", 1 W. F. Ferman (Cadillac), 2 Thonet (Buick), 3 Nelson (Buick), Time Trials ??, Heat winners: 10m (20 laps), 17'26.0", Thonet (Buick) , 10m (20 laps), 18'42.0", Roy Hinson (White steamer), three other heats and one motorcycle event cancelled

 

​Organized by the Tampa AC, this was baiscally an unsanctioned meet for local cars and drivers, none of which appear elsewhere in my records. It is not clear whether prize money was on offer, but admission was charged for the events. In the run-up to the races, the AC announced plans to build a five-mile permanent auto racing track in Tampa, in order to take away "the racing laurels from Savannah and the east coast of the state", i.e. Daytona/Ormond Beach, which was never mentioned in name - some form of inferiority complex?  Like so many of those plans, nothing ever came of it.

 

 

​1920-02-19 (Thu)/rs 02-20 (Fri): 10m (20 laps), 15'31.0", 1 Harold Roller (Roller/Roof?), 2 C. A. Chapman (Chapman/Buick), 3 Dave Koetzla (Norman/Buick), Time Trials (2 laps): 1'15.5", Roller, H1 (10 laps): 7'11.25", Roller, H2 (10 laps): 7'23.5", Roller, H3 cancelled

​1920-02-21 (Sat): 10m (20), 15'47.0", 1 Harold Roller (Roller/Roof?), 2 Hendricks (Chapman/Buick), 3 Dave Koetzla (Norman/Buick), TT (2): 1'15.25", Roller, H1 (10): 7'17.5", Roller, H2 (10) 7'07.0", Roller, H3 cancelled

 

​These were fully professional races, part of the South Florida Fair program, with $750 advertized for each day. The first day's races were rescheduled not because of rain on the day, but because the horse races rained out on Wednesday were held that day, showing that the bangtails were still boss. Harold Stanley Roller (b. 1893-03-27d. 1964-10-05) from Kansas was the promoter, and a highly successful independent racing driver in many Midwestern states. His car was described as a "revamped Ford", and from other events it appears to have been a very early 16-valve conversion by Roof, or possibly a Rajo. He would eventually move to Tampa in 1926, open a garage and run his racing car out of it, also for other drivers after retiring from active competition in 1929. Since he won every event here in 1920, one is tempted to think of the races as "hippodromes", but that is actually not very likely, the competition being all local. The only name driver in the field, apart from Roller, was Dave Koetzla from Michigan or Illinois, a successful IMCA driver who had just moved to Florida, and was driving a local car here. It is, in fact, not very clear whether the other Buick special was driven by Chapman or Hendricks, and it was likely the latter who took second on the first day, too.

 

​1920-02-28 (Sat): 5m (10), n/a, 1 Harold Roller (Roller/Roof?), 2 Dave Koetzla (Norman/Buick), no other starters, TT ??, H1 (10): n/a, Koetzla, H2 (10): n/a, Roller, H3 (6): n/a, Johnny Marsicano (Marsicano/Ford?)

 

​Following the success at the Fair, a match race "two out of three" between Roller and Koetzla was carded for the following Saturday, with an advertized purse of $1,500 and a short race for locals on the side.

 

​1920-04-03 (Sat): 5m (10), 7'45.0", 1 Jay Davidson (Davidson/Stutz), 2 Harold Alexander (Alexander/Duesenberg), no other finishers, TT: 38.0" Alexander, H1 (6): 4'13.0", Alexander, H2 (4): 2'43.2", Alexander, H3 (2): 1'29.8", Davidson, H4 (6): 4'14.0", Alexander

 

​Finally, the AAA came to town, with a race promoted by Harold F. Alexander of New Jersey, who was touring the South with a group of fellow Northeastern racers, and sometimes did business under the name of New York Auto Racing Association. After stops at Goldsboro/NC on January 1, Gainesville/FL (Jan 22), Daytona Beach (Feb 7), Ocala (Feb 28) and Saint Petersburg (Mar 13/pp 18), Tampa was their final destination before heading back north to tracks such as Olympic Park/NJ, Bluefield/WV, Middletown/NY, Richmond/VA, Elsmere/DE, Benning/DC, Allentown/PA or Danbury/CT. Star exhibit of the Alexander troupe was the Beaver Bullet, a car built for the 1914 Indy 500 by Charles F. Keene of Beaver Falls/PA. Keene had disposed of the car in 1915 to fellow Beaver Falls resident George B. Gardner, who in turn sold to Irving C. Barber of Washington/DC in 1916, then to Charles E. Dagnett of Washington/DC in 1917 and finally to veteran driver Don Moore of Washington/DC in 1918. Of all the drivers entered at Plant Field in 1920, Moore had been active the longest (at least six years), yet he was still racing in 1949!! However, he appears to have damaged the car during the races at Daytona Beach, and apparently never made it to Western Florida. Alexander won all the races except for the main event, which was declared a dead heat between the Duesenberg and the Stutz. An extra race over two laps was added as a "tie breaker", and promptly won by Jay Davidson!

 

 

​1921-02-03 (Thu): 3m (6), 4'40", 1 Charlie Rowe ("Red Devil" #16), 2 I. J. Watkins (white #8), 3 Earl Mallott (#7)

 

​As mentioned, basically a circus act on the opening day of the Fair, to be repeated on all eight remaining days but no further info availbale, and probably called off. Repeated references to "diminutive cars" or "baby racers" suggest a competition for Midgets/Cycle cars/Voiturettes.

 

 

​1922-01-02 (Mon): 3m (6), 4'32.5", 1 Speedy Bower (?/Ford), 2 Al Fisher (?/Ford), no other finishers, H (?) n/a, Fisher

 

​A poorly supported race for Ford specials in conjunction with several motor cycle races, plus a match race between a Ford and a Dodge. Local promoters Jeff Legler and Johnny Marsicano teamed with Ray Creviston of Indiana to attract 1,000 spectators, all three of them mainly connected with the bike racing, though Creviston would go back to Indiana and race cars for the next three or four years.

 

 

​1923-04-05 (Thu)/06 (Fri): 15m (30), 19'21.4", 1 Carl Dixon (Dixon/Dodge), 2 Russell White (Daniels/Hudson), 3 Percy Gonzalez (?/Hudson), TT 1'07.0", Dixon, H1 (10), 6'17.0", Bob Robinson (Robinson/Dodge), H2 (10), 6'05.0", Dixon, H3 (6), n/a, Dixon

 

​1st Tampa Police Benefit Race, promoted by Ralph Hankinson, and sanctioned by the National Motor Contest Board. The NMCB was a break-away group of the IMCA, and this may have been the very first meeting sanctioned by this club. Heats were run on the Thursday, additional heats on Friday were apparently cancelled.

 

 

​1924-02-09 (Sat): 2½m (5), 3'09.8", 1 Sig Haugdahl (Haugdahl/Fiat), 2 Putty Hoffman (Horey/Fiat), 3 Larry Stone (Disbrow/Simplex) or Cleo Sarles (Sarles/Frontenac), H1 (5), 3'17.6", Sarles, H2 (5), 3'02.2", Haugdahl, AP (7), 4'22.0", Haugdahl, Exh (2) 1'06.0", Haugdahl (Haugdahl/Wisconsin)

 

Closing day of South Florida Fair, first race for both the IMCA and promoter Alex Sloan.

 

1924-03-20 (Thu)/pp 03-21 (Fri)/03-24 (Mon): 15m (30), n/a, 1 Walt Smith (Smith/Chevrolet), 2 Grady Garner (Garner/Dodge), 3 John Kelly (Daniels/Hudson), TT (2) 1'10.0", Bob Robinson (Robinson/Dodge), H1 (6), 3'47.0", Robinson, H2 (6), 4'09.4", Sam Purvis (?/Nash), H3 (6), 3'42.4", Robinson, TT (2), 1'09.8", Smith

 

2nd Tampa Police Benefit Race, again NMCB-sanctioned and promoted by Hankinson. Originally scheduled for March 20/21, but rain on the first day forced the heats to be run off on Friday, and the main event to be postponed to Monday due to ball games on the Saturday and "blue laws". A second set of time trials were run off on Monday to try for a new track record.

 

 

1925-02-03 (Tue), 3½m (7), 4'29.4", 1 Bud Putman (Disbrow/Simplex), 2 Bob Green (Green/Frontenac), 3 Larry Stone (?/Fiat), H1 (5), 3'21.2", Sig Haugdahl (Sloan/Miller), H2 (5), 3'43.8", Putman, H3 (4), 2'14.6", Haugdahl, H4 (?), n/a, Haugdahl

1925-02-14 (Sat), 2½m (5), 3'06.8", 1 Bob Green (Green/Frontenac), 2 Sig Haugdahl (Sloan/Miller), 3 Dave Koetzla (Koetzla/Peugeot), H1 (7), 4'33.6", Bud Putman (Disbrow/Simplex), H2 (7), n/a, Haugdahl, SH (5), 3'45.8", Koetzla

 

The first year of the regular IMCA Opening Day/Closing Day schedule at the South Florida Fair. Haugdahl brought his new Miller (actually, a 1922 engine in a '23 chassis), but the main wins went to the positively ancient Simplex special and a humble Fronty-Ford! Ouch... "SH", by the way, stands for Straw-Hat Derby, a race were drivers were obliged to wear a straw hat and finish the race without it being blown off... "AP" is for Australian Pursuit, "WC" for Wheel Changing race.

 

 

1926-02-02 (Tue), 2½m (5), 3'05.0", 1 Ray Lampkin (Elliott?/Miller), 2 Bob Green (Green/Frontenac), 3 Shorty Gingrich (Gingrich/Frontenac), TT 33.2"/TR, Lampkin, H1 (5), 3'28.4", Lampkin, Ex (1), 36.8", Joan La Costa (NDS/Frontenac), H2 (4), 2'32.4", Green, H3 (3), 2'00.2", Arch Powell (Yale/Duesenberg?)

1926-02-13 (Sat), cancelled/rain (?)

1926-05-08 (Sat), n/a, n/a, 1 Tubby Burton (Ferman/Dodge), 2 John Kelly (Kelly/Frontenac), 3 n/a, TT 32"/TR, Shorty Gingrich (Gingrich/Frontenac), H1 (?), n/a, Gingrich, H2 (?), n/a, n/a

1926-06-05 (Sat), 10m (20), 11'30.0", 1 Shorty Gingrich (Gingrich/Frontenac), 2 John Kelly (Kelly/Frontenac), 3 Ernest Gutierrez (?/Frontenac), H1 (6), 3'20.4", Gingrich, H2 (6), 3'35.4", John Perry (Scootis/Chevrolet), H3 (10), 6'10.0", Gingrich

1926-08-26 (Thu), 25m (50), 28'20"?, 1 Shorty Gingrich (Gingrich/Frontenac), 2 Tim Raspbury (Raspbury/Chevrolet), 3 John Kelly (Kelly/Frontenac), TT 33.2", Gingrich, H1 (10?), n/a, Gingrich, H2 (10?), n/a, Tubby Burton (Ferman/Dodge), H3 (20?), cancelled?

1926-12-04 (Sat), 10m (20), 13'30.0", 1 Howard Miller (Miller/Frontenac), no other finishers, TT 34.8", Jim Angel (n/a), H1 (10), 6'36.0", Barney Sullivan (Ferman/Dodge), H2 (10), 6'16.6", Miller, H3 (20?), cancelled?

 

The Fair races were IMCA-sanctioned, as usual, and Lampkin did better with the other IMCA Miller straight 8 (though I can't be sure - a picture would've been nice!  ). Also, I couldn't find results for the Closing Day races, but at the same time I couldn't find any notice that the races had been called off - frustrating! The other four meetings are interesting, as they were an attempt to establish a local racing club: the May and June races were sanctioned by the Florida State Auto Racing Association, which apparently went under in no time at all, because basically the same cars and drivers then appeared under the banner of the American-Latin Auto Racing Association for the August and December dates. Both clubs apparently also raced at Daytona/Ormond Beach, but apart from previews I have no info.

 

 

1927-02-01 (Tue), 3½m (7), 4'10.0", 1 John de Palma (Duesenberg), 2 Fred Horey (Sloan/Hall-Scott), 3 Ray Claypool (Peugeot), H1 (5), 3'02.0", Claypool, H2 (6), 3'32.0", Harold Roller (Roller/Frontenac), H3 (5), 3'02.4", Horey, H4 (6), 3'30.8", Shorty Gingrich (Gingrich/Frontenac), H5 (6?), n/a, Gingrich

1927-02-12 (Sat), 2½m (5), 2'54.8", 1 Shorty Gingrich (Gingrich/Frontenac), 2 Hayden Smith (?/Chevrolet), 3 Howard Miller (Miller/Frontenac), H1 (?), n/a, Ray Claypool (Peugeot), H2 (5), 4'41.4", Smith, H3 (?), n/a, Claypool, H4 (6), n/a, Gingrich, H5 (?), n/a, Miller

 

This was the year when there were two sets of races, one "All-Star" event for the imported IMCA professionals, and one "State Championship" race for locals, with no interaction. There were, however, only four cars in the "All-Star" category, and during the Closing Day races all but one broke down in the heats, so that the final was cancelled and substituted with a match race for locals. The reporting was also very poor in both papers.

 

 

1928-01-31 (Tue), 2½m (5), 2'55.0", 1 Bob Green (Young/Frontenac), 2 Sam Hoffman (Scootis/Chevrolet), 3 Ed Hughes (?/Dodge), H1 (5), 3'02.2", Fred Horey (Elliott/Miller), H2 (5), 3'04.6", Hoffman, H3 (5), 3'04.0", Horey, H4 (5), 3'05.0", Green, H5 (3), 1'50.4", Curley Young (Young/Frontenac)

1928-02-11 (Sat), 2½m (5), 2'51.6", 1 Sam Hoffman (Morosco/Frontenac), 2 Fred Horey (Elliott/Miller), 3 Swan Peterson (Peterson/Frontenac), H1 (5), 3'01.0", Horey, H2 (5), 2'54.0", Sam Purvis (Scootis/Chevrolet), H3 (5), 3'00.0", Bob Green (Young/Frontenac), H4 (5), 3'02.2", Horey

1928-05-30 (Wed), 5m (10), 5'47". 1 Sam Purvis (Scootis/Chevrolet), 2 Shorty Gingrich (Gingrich/Frontenac), 3 n/a, TT 33.0", Purvis, H1 (5), 2'50", Gingrich, H2 (5), 3'05", Hayden Smith (?/Oldsmobile), H3 (5), 3'18", Joe Duff (?/Frontenac)

 

The Memorial Day races were again locally sanctioned, the name apparently Florida Racing Association - this group also raced at Pompano Beach on the East coast.

 

 

1929-01-29 (Tue), 2½m (5), 2'46.0", 1 Sig Haugdahl (Elliott/Miller), 2 Swan Peterson (Powell/Roof), 3 Sam Purvis (Scootis/Chevrolet), H1 (5), 2'51.6", Peterson (Peterson/Frontenac), H2 (5), 2'53.2", Purvis, H3 (5), 2'58.4", Haugdahl, H4 (5), 3'01.4", Bob Green (Sheppard/Frontenac), H5 (7), 3'58.0", Purvis

1929-02-09 (Sat), 2½m (5), 2'57.2", 1 Swan Peterson (Peterson/Frontenac), 2 Arch Powell (Powell/Roof), 3 Ray Price (n/a), H1 (5), 2'52.6", Peterson, H2 (5), 2'58.6", Sam Purvis (Scootis/Chevrolet), H3 (5), 3'01.0", Shorty Gingrich (Gingrich/Frontenac), H4 (5), 2'51.8", Gingrich, H5 (5), 2'55.2", Powell, H6 (6), 3'27.0", Gingrich, H7 (5), 2'57.6", Bob Green (Sheppard/Frontenac)

Edited by Michael Ferner, 19 February 2018 - 21:24.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Fee-nes
.....(Thu)/rs 02-20 (Fri): 10m (20 laps), 15'31.0", 1 Harold Roller (Roller/Roof?).....

Should the question mark be for the "Roof" part of that, Roof was a 4-valve per cylinder ohv conversion made for T-model engines in 'The puncture-proof city,' Anderson Indiana.

[Michael Ferner]

Ray, I think I mentioned it somewhere in the notes, in period the engine was only ever described as a "16-valve Ford". Historian Bob Lawrence believes it was a Roof head, but the car ran in 1917 already, and I feel that's a bit early for Roof, maybe it was a Rajo instead, hence the question mark. I shall be looking into this question once again some time in the future, but at the moment, I can't really say when exactly the first Roof 16-valve head was developed, and sold.

Ideally, I want to be able to identify all car and engine types correctly, but there's a lot of guesswork involved, I'll readily admit. To be totally honest, many of these questions are almost impossible to answer after such a long time, but I'll give it a try anyway.

[Ray Bell]

A long time ago I posted a pic of an advertisement for the Roof head...

It was from a 1919 Pears Cyclopedia. I don't know if that helps. I know the 'puncture proof city' bit had me baffled.

[Michael Ferner]

Ray, I think this really needs its own thread, and I'm thinking about starting one.

A quick and dirty newspaper research reveals that Roof did, apparently, begin building and selling 16-valve Fords before Rajo did. 1917 seems to be the watershed year, in which 16-valve Fords first began to appear in appreciable numbers. Manufacturers are practically never mentioned, but I gather that Roof and, possibly, Craig-Hunt were (among) the first to sell them. For some reason, I always believed Rajo to have been the first commercially successful Ford-based racing engine, but they do not appear to have done business before 1919, and then possibly with an OHV 8-valve head first.