Tag Archives: Michigan

NASCAR’s Oldest Survivor – #87 Oldsmobile Rocket 88

As another NASCAR season winds up I thought it would be fun to look at some survivors from the series glorious past.

Oldsmobile Rocket 88, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Today’s featured #87 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 is believed to be the oldest existing ‘original’ NASCAR racing vehicle,
the 1949 model is distinguishable by it’s split front screen.

Oldsmobile Rocket 88, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The Rocket V8 303 cui engine makes the car a true ancestor of the light body/chassis big engine “muscle car’. This motor, produced in Lancing, Michigan, was the first post war overhead valve V8 from General Motors and remained in production in the 303 size until 1953, the 1949 version of this engine produced 135 horse power, against the contemporary flat head Ford V8 which produced just 100 hp.

Oldsmobile Rocket 88, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Oldsmobile Rocket 88’s won half of the first 60 NASCAR Late Model races between 1949 and 1950. Buck Baker first drove the #87 Oldsmobile at Darlington on Sept 4th, 1950 coming in 69th (of 75 !) after qualifying 28th.

Oldsmobile Rocket 88, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Elzie Wylie (Buck) Baker 1919 – 2002 took part in his first race at Greenville, SC blew a tyre and posted a DNF, he entered the first two NASCAR races in 1949 in the #87 Kaiser.
His first of 49 NASCAR wins came at Columbia on April 12th 1952 driving the #89 Hudson.

Oldsmobile Rocket 88, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Bucks greatest achievement was wining titles in 1956 driving Ford, Chrysler and Dodge models and again in 1957 driving the #87 Chevy, he did not run full (56 race) schedules in either year, but still became the first winner of consecutive NASCAR titles.

Oldsmobile Rocket 88, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

His last win was recorded at Darlington driving the #3 Dodge in 1964 Buck retired in 1976 on October 10th at Charlotte after he came in 24th from a 38th place start in the #59 Chevrolet.

In 1980 Buck founded the Buck Baker Racing school which list graduates, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart who between them have won seven Cup Titles.

Apart from Buck drivers of this particular Oldsmobile in the Sportsman / Modified division from 1951 to 1961 include, Gene Darragh, Paul Goldsmith, Darel Dieringer and Lee Petty who raced the vehicle at Daytona International Speedway, along way from its first race on dirt track at Charlotte.

Thanks for joining me on this “NASCAR’s Oldest Survivor” Edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

An Ocean Of Crown Vics – Ford LTD Crown Victoria

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The saying in the li’l ol’ England was that everything in the USA and indeed North America was bigger than anything ever seen in Europe and to a greater or lesser extent that was verified on my first trip to North America in 1988, the buildings the cars and even the average height and build of the people seemed to dwarf anything I was exposed to on a regular basis in London or anywhere else in Europe.

Ford LTD Crown Victoria, Indiana State Police, Indianapolis Motor Speedway

What I was not expecting on my 24 hour trip from Toronto to Indianapolis for the Indy 500 was the overwhelming number of race fans camped out in every suburban nook and cranny surrounding Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In Europe most race tracks don’t attract even half of the 250,000 fans IMS can hold and even then the fans are usually spread out over several miles of country side and so never approach the kind of concentration seen at Indy.

I had expected a pretty wild, read friendly if a little drunk, crowd and was not disappointed, though I am glad I did not take my girl friend with me, I think she may have felt just a little intimidated by the rowdy vibe. Soon after getting into the IMS infield just after dawn on race day I found an apparent ocean of Indiana State Police pre’88 face lift Ford LTD Crown Victoria’s and was so impressed with the scale of the law enforcement presence I took the photo above.

The pre ’88 face lift Ford LTD Crown Victoria, also known as the Crown Vic was launched in 1983, from what I have been able to discern police package Crown Vic’s were available either 160 hp 5 litre / 302 cui EFI V8’s or 180 hp 5.7 litre / 351 cui HO V8’s driving through four speed AOD (Automatic Overdrive) transmissions around 1987, never enough to beat the Chevrolet Caprice in the Michigan State Police tests run at Michigan International Speedway, but close enough to keep the order books open until the introduction of the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor in 1992.

These cars were particularly popular with law enforcement agencies because they were rear wheel drive, RWD, having a perceived more predictable handling and because they featured a separate chassis onto which the body was attached offering the advantage of lower repair costs because the chassis was less likely to get damaged in inevitable collisions which law enforcement work would expose these vehicles to.

Thanks for joining me on this “A Field Full Of Crown Vics” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Fair Weather ‘Vette – Chevrolet Corvette C1

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In 1953 Harley Earls EX 122 sport car concept was so well received at the 1953 GM Motorama held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City that GM executives had a makeshift assembly line installed at an old truck plant in Flint Michigan to capitalise on the interest shown in New York.

During 1953 the first year of production just 300 Corvettes were built all Polo White with red interiors, just ike this 1954 example seen at Summer Classics in Easter Compton earlier this year, the cars were virtually hand built while a new production facility was prepared in St Louis, Missouri.

One easy way to give any vehicle instant competition credibility, aside from sports stripes, is to fit stone guards for the headlights, this feature would disappear with the first C1 rebody in 1956.

One of the more interesting technical features of the Corvette was that it’s body was, indeed has been on every Corvette since, made of fiberglass.

Power for the initial ’53 and ’54 Corvettes came from a 3.9 litre / 235 cui Blue Flame in line six which was uniquely equipped with triple carburetors to boost the power to 155 hp.

Other standard Chevrolet components fitted to the Corvette included the drum brakes…

and the two speed “Powerglide” transmission which with the motor added to at best a lack luster performance that underwhelmed it’s intended market.

Along with a lack luster performance the original Corvette’s had a terrible reputation for leaking in the rain due to the poor panel fit of the fiberglass panels.

If it had not been for the arrival of Chevrolet’s fabled 195hp small block V8, the enthusiasm of the recently hired GM engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov and the appearance of a rival to the Corvette in the form of the Ford Thunderbird, Chevrolet might have let the Corvette die with less than 4000 unit’s sold, however as we shall see next week things started to improve for the original American sports car in 1956.

Thanks for joining me on this “Fair Weather ‘Vette” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !