Despite the rain (lots and lots of rain), the 2021 Put-in-Bay Road Race Reunion was a big success. The events, from the car show and tour of the original road course on Tuesday, to the races on Thursday and Friday, were well attended. And the organizers did a great job of setting things up -- then changing them on the fly when the weather was less than cooperative.
Five HMODs attended the events -- four to race, and a fifth to show.
More descriptions and photos will be in later posts -- but the video above shows a couple of the Crosley-powered HMODs on the airport course on Thursday. The first car is a Jabro MkI, and the second is the Voigt/Crosley Special.
Four small-bore racers are expected to be stand-outs at this year’s Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races. They are H-Modifieds, meeting the SCCA specifications for this class (500-750cc engines, two seats, room for a spare wheel, and a door). H-Mods were a popular racing class in the 50s and 60s, often drawing 12-15 cars to events. (Put-in-Bay hosted an all-HMOD race in 1956, and in later years the event typically drew 8-12 HMODs.) Many of the entries, like the car pictured above, were designed and built by individual enthusiasts who saw the H-Mod class as their way into racing.
The Voigt Crosley LRC was built in the late 50s/early 60s by Eugene Voigt of Defiance Ohio. While its design incorporates many of the elements of the Jabros described in earlier postings, it is a true "one-off" race car. The car's engine, drivetrain, and suspension are all Crosley – but the frame is built-up tubing, and the body is a combination of fiberglass and aluminum. Gene spent a couple of years working on the car – with a break when he briefly moved from Ohio to Florida, then back again. It's unclear whether the car was ever raced, but the photo below (taken by Rick Yocum) shows Jim Ehlinger piloting the car in a gymkhana (we call them autocrosses now) in the mid 60s. It was probably an event sponsored by the Fort Defiance Sports Car Club.
The car was sold in the early 1970s and dropped out of sight. Somewhere along the way it was acquired by Ray Heppenstall, an accomplished race car driver and designer. It changed hands a few more times, until it was restored for vintage racing and made its track debut in 2012. The Voigt Crosley LRC has since raced at Lime Rock Park, the Hershey Hillclimb, and Thompson Speedway. Put-in-Bay will be the car's first opportunity to race in its home state of Ohio...a long time since Gene Voigt first sat in the car in his backyard in Defiance.
Oh...as for the LRC. That stands for "Little Red Car."
Some cars have to be seen, and others lead to auditory sensory overload. For those of you who speak “Boston,” this two-stroke, Saab-powered, H-Mod is wicked loud! And it’s wicked fast! Over 150 cars are expected at this year's Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races. Everything from Jaguars to a Berkeley. To make your life simpler, we'll be sharing information on some cars that you won't want to miss. Why are they not to be missed you ask...? Because they are some of the smallest among the small-bore racers. The HMODs.
Not surprisingly, there was a Quantum One before the Quantum Two. Both (and the three cars that followed the Quantum Two) were designed by Walter Kern, an engineer who trained as a nuclear physicist at MIT. Kern took high science into the design of his race cars – working in his spare time with Al Conrod of Itek Corporation and Jack Soumala of the MIT Instruments Lab on an IBM computer to design a chassis with neutral steering. Designed as a pure racer, the Quantum Two wears only the most basic aluminum bodywork, and is powered by a water-cooled, three-cylinder Saab two-stroke engine. (Yes…that’s what you hear.) The Saab components came from Bob Wehman (who was General Manager of Service and Spare Parts for Saab Motors, Inc.) and Ralph Millet who was President of Saab Motors. Russell Blank of Eugene Engineering Corp. built the chassis. The suspension was believed to be a standard Saab setup.
Over 150 cars are expected at this year's Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races. Everything from Jaguars to a Berkeley. To make your life simpler, we'll be sharing information on some cars that you won't want to miss. Why are they not to be missed you ask...? Because they are some of the smallest among the small-bore racers. The HMODs. And yes...that Berkeley too. Jabros (like the Mk.I pictured above) were the brainchild of James Broadwell. Taking advantage of the success of the H-Modified class, and recognizing a need in the market, Broadwell turned an interest in cars and racing into a cottage industry. He designed and built a small racer -- using Crosley running gear -- and named it the Jabro (JAmes BROadwell) Junior. From this first creation he went on to design the Jabro Mk.I and Mk.II in 1957. The more streamlined Jabro Mk.III and IV were developed and marketed later -- often being described as looking like mini Maserati Birdcages. Broadwell offered complete cars, bodies, frames, components, or simply plans to prospective racers. While it's not known how many Jabros were built, enough still exist to warrant the creation of a Jabro Owner's Registry.
Among the approximately 150 cars expected at this year’s Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races are five mini-racers. Four are H-Modifieds, meeting the SCCA specifications for this class (500-750cc engines, two seats, room for a spare wheel, and a door), and the fifth is a Berkeley, a car whose 492cc engine would allow it to run as an I-Modified, an even smaller racing class. The car featured is a Jabro Mk III. James Broadwell built several versions of Jabros in St. Louis, MO. Customers could choose anything from plans to a finished car. The versions, Mk I, Mk II, and Mk III were popular among H-Mod racers, but it’s unclear just how many cars were built. The Mk III (pictured above) is often described as a “mini Birdcage Maserati,” with a lightweight mini-tube space frame with a fiberglass body. Cars were built with a variety of engines, from Crosley to Saab. The green and white #99 car that will be at Put-in-Bay is powered by a 2-stroke, 3-cylinder Saab engine – and has the sound and speed to prove it.
While it's true that most racers (vintage or otherwise) are men, racing can be gender neutral. And there have been plenty of women who can compete with, and often beat, men in the sport. We've all heard of Denise McCluggage, Donna Mae Mims, and Pat Moss. But I'd be willing to bet that most of you don't know Prudence Baxter.
Pru raced on the west coast in the 50s and 60s, and she was as good as anyone on the track -- and better than most. The site, "Racing Sports Cars," shows Pru with 41 events from 1958 through 1968. She finished first in 11 races and was on the podium 25 times. Her most notable accomplishment was winning the Pacific Coast Championship for H-Modified in 1963. (While some of the conflicts between various California car clubs had been settled by 1962, there were still two big championships run in 1963. Bill Greer won the SCCA National HM Championship in his DKW-powered Zink Petite Mk II, while Pru Baxter took the Pacific Coast Championship in her OSCA-powered Lotus XI.)
And in the days of amateur racing, it wasn't unusual for the drivers/car owners to mingle with high society (or to be a part of high society). Pru and her husband, Scott Baxter were photographed as part of a Sports Illustrated fashion piece -- long before the days of Sports Illustrated's swim suit issues. If you're interested, Scott is sporting a Madras Plaid Jacket ($85, Sigel). It's made of breeze-weight eight-ounce Shetland. And they are watching a Sunday regatta at Belvedere's own backyard lagoon. (Belvedere is a tony neighborhood across Richardson Bay from Sausalito.)
