1956/1957 Racecar Can you identify?

[Joseph T.]

Can anyone identify this 1956/1957 racecar at Riverside in Nov.1957?

Checkout the headrest fin!

Maybe someone has race records from Riverside that would help.

Joe

[Loren L.]

This picture appeared in a Riverside

program as an illustration of Eb Rose, who was scheduled to appear. It was taken elsewhere, at another track, but where? I have Rose racing under # 44, 45, 46, 48, 65, 145 and 271 (SR-2), but no 71.

[Joseph T.]

Is this the John Fitch 56 SR car repainted?

LL

When I asked Eb about this car..he referred to the Bill Mitchell SR2...but I think he was mistaken ( 2 separate cars? ). He did own the Bill Mitchell SR2..and that is him sitting in this car with his typical flying horse emblem.

From the headlight bezels it looks like a 56...

I am very curious about the headrest tailfin. How many of these would have been available back in 56/57? Maybe this is a repainted 56 SR car from the 1956 Daytona Speedweeks as pictured below.

My guess is someone has other pictures of it! Maybe DB...or...JB

LL..it is also interesting that Eb's SCCA #'s in the 40's are similar to the #'s used on the real SEDCO blackwidow cars.

Eb..told me he also raced the full size Chevies.

JT

[Loren L.]

Re: Is this the John Fitch 56 SR car repainted?

The Fitch car ended up back with Dick Doane in Palatine IL. Jim Jeffords raced it for the 1st time in Milwaukee in May and then drove it again the the Big/Bore//Modified class at the June sprints. The tail had been removed by then.
It is my BELIEF - without being able to prove it - that this tail (which screws on) was part of the package that John Neas obtained from Frank Buck when he purchased the #7 Sebring car and the SR car.
Did Eb keep any sort of a log book that might inidcate those races that he ran under the #71?

[Joseph T.]

Re: Is this the John Fitch 56 SR car repainted?

I asked Eb about log books and he said he did not have any. He was very cooperative at the time but who knows.

[Joseph T.]

Dick Doane / Pallatine,Ill.

LL

You say Dick Doane in Pallatine,Ill. That is interesting! I think his dealership was in Dundee,Ill however..the Roy C. Ingersoll ( Borg Warner ) Research and Development Center built in 1956 was in Pallatine,Ill.

I think this research center was used for 4 spd development and testing.

JT

[Bill H.]

Re: Dick Doane / Pallatine,Ill.

Notice that your first pic is of a headrest but appears to not have a fin. (Take a look at the guy by the panel truck on the right.) That's not the fin I saw on the "SR-2 clone" (the only real 56 Corvette that raced at Sebring) when I photographed it in 1982 while still owned by Rick Carroll. That car had a "meduim"headrest fin that had never been attached.

Also, there is no indication of SR-1/Sebring side scoops or Halibrands. I can't tell from the pic if the car has painted headlamp rings or not.

My SR-1 was one of four at Dick Doane Chevrolet (the white one - see CN Vol 1-3). Doane got four; I don't know where the other two went.

[Joseph T.]

Re: Dick Doane...SR1?

Bill

I think the Eb Rose car is facinating because the head rest is different. I am curious if it was supplied by Chevrolet or fabricated. D-Jags and other european racecars also had similar headrests.

I wonder how many small and large headrest tailfins were made by Chevrolet? Maybe this was done through Frank Burell. I wonder if DB would Know? Where were the scoops fabricated?

Also..take a look at the 56 Daytona Speedweeks John Fitch tail fin car. No side scoops like the Sebring SR1 cars.

So many unanswered questions.

I wonder which one is pictured below?

[Joe R.]

Re: Dick Doane...SR1?

Fellas,

So many questions and so few answers! Wish Mike Pilsbury were still with us. He would have the answers! RIP

JR

[Bill H.]

Re: Dick Doane...SR1?

Thats's one of the "stock" Sebring cars (#s 5,6 or 7) taken at another race after finishing Sebring duty. With a little detective work you could identify the car by the fender light configuration. It is not the #1 car as there never were top fender scoops on it. The #1 car had a 55 Corvette body whith pre-production 56 body parts cobbled on to make it look like a 56.

The Daytona Speed Weeks cars did not have any scoops. They were not necessary for the sprints there. The scoops were installed (probably at Smokey's shop) shortly afterwards.

[Loren L.]

Car # 1 used the prototype '56 Styling body

as Bill suggests and never had scoops on the top of the fenders. Cars 5 & 6 did have scoops as they were ordered as BODIES ONLY from St Louis and were built without windows in the doors, windshields, heaters, etc. These bodies were then placed on the late 1955 chassis that had been prepared by Engineering. Car # 7 was the only ACTUAL 1956, having been Purchased Back from the Miami Chevrolet dealer. The private entry #3 would also turn out to be Chevy Engineering working somewhat "under the table"; it was entered by a gentleman from Illinois who was a good friend of Dick Doane, who entered the other cars at Sebring. Some 20 years later, an enlargement of the Illinois license plate on this car (4346 - the EXACT cc displacement of a 265 cu in, by the way) and a query of the Illinois Secretary of State revealed that this car was also titled as a 1955! Some 30 years later a 1955 car bearing this serial # also received a Duntov award from NCRS.
Mr Cole and his lietenants (Sanders, Rosenberger, et al) could Get It Done.
Also in 1956, ....but we digress.....

[Joseph T.]

Re: Car # 1 used the prototype '56 Styling body

Bill / LL

Who was in charge of the 56 and 57 Speedweeks?

Rathmann, Piggins, Burell, Smokey

Were the cars prepped at Smokey's?

Can you identify the location of the picture below?

SEDCO, Smokeys Garage, Sebring garage, Warren Engineering...and can you identify the cars! How about that ignition shielding?

Looks like a full size Chevy in the background.

[Loren L.]

Well, it's 1957 somewhere by the FI

air cleaner; could be Nassau, Sebring or ????Walt Mackenzie and Fitch were in charge in 1956 and you can rest assured that MacKenzie was involved in 1957. Zora might have staged a comeback for '57, after advising Cole NOT to go in '56 - all that got him was a "Stay the hell out of the way" from Cole. Changeover in 1956 from Daytona to Sebring trim was done at Smokey's.

[Bill H.]

Re: Well, it's 1957 somewhere by the FI

Interesting picture. Looks to be a 57 from the FI in the foreground and the chrome headlight ring on the next car back. Notice the Halibrand wheel on the third Corvette along with the "soft" tonneau cover for the passenger side. Either there's no windshield on that car or it's got a small windscreen. No blue stripes on anything but I'm leaning towards a 56 for that one. The car in the foreground has it's windshield and a hardtop. Maybe Ken Kayser could tell ya something about the FI unit.

[Bill H.]

Re: Well, it's 1957 somewhere by the FI

Also just noted - no roll bar in the Halibrand-equipped car. If I recall they were mandated for 57.