Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Most people don't know this or even care but the Zinc Batmobile was I think the 1956 Indy 500 winner with Pat Flaherty aboard. It was really a Lightweight Kurtis clone because AJ Watson felt it was easier to build a whole new car than it was to modify a Kurtis to find an edge. This car started the Watson era at Indy and I believe has always been owned by the Zinks. In the late '60s apparently Buddy Cagle and Denny Moore decided to turn this old dinosaur into a super to run at Tulsa. It's ironic that a car [now restored] that has now got to be worth 100s of thousands of dollars on the right auction block, once ran with jalopies, and our idea of the supermodifieds. Look up Joe Scalzo's story on this one. Then go to Bob Mays book on the supers.

Is this the car that Mr Zink would let people sit in out at his ranch/muesum?

Nice collection of cars/

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Actually (not to split hairs)...The car that Flaherty drove to the '56 win was a Watson. The '55 car was the Kurtis. I have been lucky enough to sit in both of them (Duane is correct).

As far as the "Batmobile" goeas, it seems like it may have been a modified version of one of the '60's indy cars, but I doubt it was the Watson or Kurtis. I did get to see it make it's only apperance at Tulsa Speedway when Jackie Howerton came back for a "homecoming" after his splash in USAC. Jackie and Emmett finished 1 - 2...

Member of this message board since 1997

You were there, I wasn't. I would like to know which car this was. Denny Moore built a roadster or two as well. In High Plains Thunder there is a shot of Buddy Cagle [1967?] in a low cg car that I was under the impression to be an old roadster. In Scalzo's book on roadsters he claimed that the '56 winner ended up as a super. I do find that hard to beleive but in the late '60s an Indy roadster was a good donor car for a sprinter, super etc. I would like to get this straight though.

Brian, the pic above is of the actual Batmobile in the race that I was talking about. Though I have no doubt that there were many Indy roadsters that ended up as supers, I don't know if this is one. I doubt that it is though because judging from the picture, it appears to be a "springer" car, which they didn't run at Indy.

There are 4 people alive today that could probably verify this. Emmett, Buddy, Denny or Jackie.

I watched Buddy run through the ;ate 60's and the 70's and I don't recall seeing a low CG car from him. But, he was the first in NE Oklahome to run a super, that looked like a sprinter.

Member of this message board since 1997