Through subsequent owners the V was replaced with a Offenhauser engine. Dan Ewing was commissioned to fabricate the one off nose and grill. In it was sold to Louis Snook of Charlotte, Texas. He aggressively campaigned the car to the top of the sport until Some of the best and hottest drivers in the business were put into the cockpit by Snook. Drivers included A.
Long before he became famous for designing and building Indianapolis racers that won the mile race five times, Los Angeles fabricator Frank Kurtis made a considerable reputation building the best midget race cars in the world. Beginning in the late s, his company, Kurtis Kraft, churned out over 1, midgets, in ready-to-race form and kits. The Midget has extensive racing history in the s and 60s on both oval and road courses, including a last-to-first win at Willow Springs against a field of 83 entries comprised of Jaguars, Aston Martins, Ferraris and others. The win was so convincing, that the Midget was barred from future competition in that class. I think it may have been at Lime Rock? The result was the same.
Hemmings Find of the Day – 1946 Kurtis-Kraft midget racer
Hiram Hillegass began building race cars in while working at Mack in Allentown, Pennsylvania. By the time he died in , at the age of 65, he was recognized as one of the foremost builders of single seat race cars in the United States. Following the war, both car builders and racers looked for an alternative to the recycled production car frames that had been the basis of many pre-war cars.
It was raced by Dunham with various car numbers in Indiana, St. Louis, Missouri, and southern California to many significant wins! Some USAC numbers were 55,47, 48 Larry Dunham owned the car from to the early s.