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

I really enjoy finding interesting articles about historic "one-off" races or different types of cars being used in sprint car races. I stumbled upon this article describing Rodger Ward using a midget at Lime Rock Park in 1959 to compete against formula cars/sports cars/mods/supermods/stock cars/etc. as part of a Formula Libre (a true run what you brung type race) event.

http://si.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1070851/index.htm

http://www.barcboys.com/LimeRock%20TheRace.htm

From the article it sounds like a fun race and I find it interesting that the midget was able to take on all of these different cars. Upon further research I found that Rodger Ward also ran a midget in some other races such as the second US Grand Prix at Sebring toward the end of 59.

Does anyone know of any other instances of a midget or sprint car being used on a road course? I think it'd be interesting to see a car from the current day take on a road course.

Ask Frank

The second oldest motor sports race in America: the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

See also: Unsers Hill, the Race to the Clouds.

I think it was in late 1940 S a track that ran midgets made a dirt road race track off of 1 corner.  I saw a video of it.

Yes there was a track that had a S in the middle of the back stretch. I can not remember the name of it, but Jack Fox spoke about it in the book "The Mighty Midgets". It has been like 20 years since I read that but I remember that he included that track in the work. I am pretty sure it was that book anyway.

Never hit stationary objects!

Jungle Park was quite unique though not a road course. Some very neat stories from there.

Oh of course! I forgot about Pikes Peak and the use of sprinters in that competition!

Ask Frank

Very cool photos.

On the topic of Pikes Peak, I've done some reading recently on the rear-engine sprint car such as the one that Tom Sneva used to some success in 1973 before it was outlawed by USAC. It seems these cars kind of evolved into the majority of the cars seen in todays Pikes Peak Open Wheel division.

Am I right in assuming that these types of race cars (http://pikespeak.zenfolio.com/p753338251) are essentially a rear-engine sprint car or am I completely off base?

This link (http://motorcaster.com/rear-engine-sprint-car) seems to imply so, but I was wondering if someone with more knowledge of the Pikes Peak Internation Hill Climb might be able to shed some more light on the topic.

Ask Frank

Not completely off base...but not tagged up either...haha

Those things actually have less in common with a sprintcar than they do a late model or an Indycar....independent suspension/no solid axles front and rear, driver offset , etc etc.

I would have to say that if you want to make a rear engine comparison to something that is more common to open wheel racing you would have to say they are basically a rear engine supermodified with ride height adjustments to make them compatible for both surfaces... appearance and suspension wise they are closer to the few rear engine supers that were built in the late 80s or so than they are anything else you could see at a short track anywhere.

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.