Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

A couple of weeks ago I bought the book "Lone Wolf" and I'm enjoying the book.

I kind of just open it to any page and just start reading and laughing and enjoying
it.

Then I shut it and just open it randomly to another page and get another insight....
kind of confusing and bewildering. Sprint car racing isn't all it's cracked up to be,
but the book is insightful. Goin' down the road and living with somebody 24 hours a day for weeks at a time can get old...'real old'...lol!

The best part I liked is that Doug Wolfgang thought he was given a "God Given
Talent" of being able to see everything in 'slow motion' when he was traveling
very fast down the speedway. I thought that was the best part of the book!
I always like to think about what a driver is thinking when he's driving a sprint car.
Been in one, so I kind of know what he's talking about...lol!

I was also kind of intriqued that he said he manufacturers about 18-20 Wolf Weld
Sprint Car Chassis a year.

Anybody buy one? Wasn't sure if they were 4 bars or coil cars? Kind of curious what people think of them.

He did say one of his joys was just helping a kid set one up (Wolf/Weld) chassis
even though the kid bought it second hand. He talked to the kid over the phone.

I guess if you want to put it in perspective, don't ever think you're goin' to "INDY" if you drive a front wheel car, but I guess you might have a chance if your Dad has
a lot of money or if you got some talent or are just Lucky..lol!

Larry "O":applaud:

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

They are a 4 bar. He also built a few non winged cars for Bret Mellenberndt in 2008. http://www.bretmellenberndtracing.com/ The book is an excellent read.

Dave Boy

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

Thanks a bunch "Da Boy",

That is just what I was looking for. I don't know who designed this chassis,
but I got a feeling the guy was really smart......like that front sway bar. That
is perfect! If even looks like the tube for the sway bar is integral to the frame
and it's in the pefect position/location and the pickups to the axel are just great!

If I were goin' to design a front sway bar, that's how I would do it...lol!

This is a neat frame and it seems to twist from the photos. I even like the rear
radius bar pickups. Looks like you can pickup old school or new school/engine plate/
location.

I once went all the way to Florida to meet Smokey Yunick. Couldn't get past
his gate or his dobermans, but I did see him leave his complex and I met his daughter and the guy that ran his office...lol!

It would be neat to drive to South Dakata or whereever Doug lives and try to say hello to him..lol! And thanks again. That driver seems familiar. Won a few championships in his area right? Mellenberndt(?)

Sincerely,

Larry Otani

P.S. If Doug was so kind to let me look into his shop. I would just say I wanted
to look at one of his chassis. And from his book, you would be looking
at where he place the motor mounts in the frame, the thickness of the tubes
and how they were welded for "Twist" and maybe the tube heights if you
were old school. Looks like a really neat chassis. I would order one and buy
one sight unseen. And all you would have to do is call him each week tell him
what the car was doin' and he would hook you up...lol!:applaud:

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

Someone warn Doug Wolfgang!

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

When I was at Manzy for the Western I heard that Smoke had flown Doug to AZ and was talking about using Wolfweld cars for his teams. Anyone else hear anything about this?

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

One difference I've noticed about the non-wing Wolfweld cars (from looking at Mellenberndt's) is that the downtubes are a separate piece of tubing from the rollcage.

Nearly any car you look at today, the piece that begins at the rear torsion tube comprises the back of the cage upright, curves forward to create the top of the cage, then continues to the front of the chassis as a downtube. On the Wolfwelds, that piece simply makes another 90-degree or so downturn at the front of the cage and drops down, creating the front edge of the cage. The downtubes are welded on as separate pieces.

Seems to me like that would allow a Wolfweld car to twist and flex a little more like the non-downtube cars of old. And the cars must be safe, too. I know most of us have seen Mellenberndt's epic Hagerstown trip out of the ballpark.

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

That's a good spot, Fisher79. I looked through some of the pictures on his site and found one that really showed what you were talking about. I also noticed that the front end is different, too. The bottom frame rail curves up to almost straight up and down before it meets the downtube, bumper, etc. Most cars have the frame rail go up at more of an angle...

Just one other minor thing that I noticed...:rolleyes:

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

One of our TQ midgets was that way with the cage. I always wondered if the downtubes had been added at some time but there was never any evidence of a midtube etc and the car wasn't very old. Def. a different way of building one

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

One reason for the down tubes welded to the cage versus one complete piece is it makes it easier to put a front clip on. :idea:

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

Wolfgang probably knows more about chassis construction than any builder today. He obviously paid attention to Maxwell, Singer and Trostle, and Stanton. A Sprint Car MUST transfer weight from front to rear under acceleration. The frame must flex or twist to a point. He understands. These cars built today are much too stiff. Plus the fact he can lay a weld like nobody else. Why have a DRC or whatever like everyone else? Isn't having something different/better an advantage? As for the book...he does tell it like it is. A true legend. Ask Steve Kinser sometime who the best he's raced against. No hesitation.

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

Swindell had/has the most tech experience and knowhow to be very fast. His non downtube challengers were scorching fast.

Kinser, All and all the biggest balls in racing, can and does manhandle a car that isn't performing to wins. Watched him win a race once by racing off the track while everyone else was spinning on the dry slick.

Wolfgang was/is a thinker and made his living running lines nobody would take, waiting for mistakes and knowing how to exploit them. He knows his cars and he knew how to drive them.

I always thought that downtube cars were too stiff, Theres still a few non tube cars around and some that are competitive. Is it totally safety driven? I've seen a few accidents where the tubes probably helped. I've also seen a couple that it caused more damage than would have had without em.

Is it possible to design a sprintcar under current usac rules that could have no cage and be relativley safe? Or have a much lower profile cage? I also loved Beseckers Plexiglass cockpit.

Chuck, not asking a stupid question, Just wondering. Cars that go twice as fast don't have em, yet those classes don't typically flip into, over and with other cars like sprinters.

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

We have a local car owner that has owned Wolf Weld chassis for many years. Mark Burch Motorsports has had a lot of success with the winged version. It is a 360 winged sprint car. Terry McCarl drives the car when he can and usually wins with it. I'm not very technical so I can't get into bars and stuff but I can tell you that when the #1m machine enters the pits, it is usually one of the favorites for the night.

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

I'm sure the downtube cars are a little stiffer than non-downtube cars. Also, with a non-downtube winged car, you are a little limited on wing positioning-you can only put the spuds for the posts so far forward. On a downtube winged car, the post spuds are roughly 4" ahead of the cage upright. With the tires & motors being so good now and the cars so locked down, I would expect a winged non-downtube car to be hard to keep the front end down and not dancing around. Even if you angle the wing posts forward so their tops were in the same place as they would be on a downtube car, the downforce acts further back on the car. That 4" or so makes a lot of difference in how the car gets the downforce put on it.

Safety-wise, there's no question downtube cars are a lot safer. All you have to do is google the Sammy video from several years ago. A push truck pulled on the track just as Sammy was qualifying, coming out of turn 4 at Lernerville wide open. He ran right under the back of the truck, busting his hands, and wiping off the entire top of the engine. The push truck's rearend was knocked completely loose, shoving the truck clear into turn 1. This was with a downtube car-the tubes were bent to nearly vertical right in front of the front cage uprights. Without downtubes, that could have very well have killed him.

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

I read his book also and could not put it down till I was done. I used to race and I once watch Doug run Knoxville and in doing so changed the wa I drove. In the next 2 seasons I won back to back championships. Smooth is fast and Doug was one of the best.

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

Hands down the best book ever written about a driver and about sprint car racing ! Hopefully the next two from Dave will be Kinser and Haudenschild ! The Wolf Weld is a well thought out car and probably the safest car out there and they work really well
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Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

Dave Ely ran an older non-downtube wolfweld car in URC and has since gone back to 410's at port and the grove with a couple new wolfweld non-downtube cars.
so far this season, he has had some bad luck and wrecked one pretty good but he also won at port so it appears the cars hold together and are fast. i really dont know if i would expect anything less.

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

It took me about a year and a half to read the book. Just finding the time to read it was my problem. I loved the book it had every emotion that a racer can have. I could see some of myself in the way he thought.


In the book he talked about the fans and such and how he treated them. I remember a WoO race at StateFair Speedway here in Oklahoma City. My father and I were walking out of the pits at the end of a Sunday afternoon race. Wolfgang was in his RV with his wife and kids. As we were walking by the RV he waved at my dad and I. I thought it was cool that he did that. He did not know me and my dad from Adam but he took just that one instance and waved at us as to say thank you. After that I became a huge Wolgang fan.

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

i did-- in a sprint car NORMAN bubby JONES in a wing car wolife not bad company either way

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

LarryO,
Doug has a very cool sense of humor. I guess it cold be called a 'dry ' sense of humor,but very good hearted. Typical Midwest values is what Doug is about. Doug made racing a career without his dad,pushing him or giving him $$ to get started. I always wonder how many actual drivers of today's generation would last very long without daddys pocket book getting them a good start,and keeping them going? Never seen anyone any smoother in lapped traffic as Doug was. It was almost as if he had a walkie talkie with the car he was setting up to pass and would tell the 'to-be-lapped' car to pull over. Didn't make any diff if the passing was on a 1/4 mile or 1/2 mile. Never seen anything as magical as when Doug and Bob Trostle hit the track in '77 at Knoxville with trostle's car. At the time it looked almost like a midget with the low cage profile, compared to the current day sprint cars of that time. Doug doesn't 'toot his own horn' and I would guess that is why not many people other than upper midwest people buy his chassis. Doug does not even have a website to try and peddle his wares . His daughter Allie said "Dad does not do the email thing". So there ya go:).. As for the construction of his chassis I'm sure Doug has lived and breathed sprint car racing enough to know what 'will work', period. BTW: Don't know if you knew Brian Shcnee/Schnee Chassis is Dougs bro-in law as well. Bottom line, Doug's son Robbie that started racing sprint cars last season is a very mannerly young man,so I'm sure Doug and his wife have always had their priorites straight.
Thought; IF you decide to go up and check out Dougs race shop.pick with week of Sturgis,and you could just drive a little father west after visiting Doug's shop, and go hit the "Stugis Rally' all in one trip. Do you think you could survive it?,,,:)
Take Care
BC

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

LarryO,
Here are a couple links to pictures and story on how Doug got started into racing. You may enjoy looking through these.

http://www.iowabowl.com/JCUSBCBA/arn...ll_of_fame.htm

http://www.iowabowl.com/JCUSBCBA/arn...g/Wolfgang.htm

Take Care

Re: Doug Wolfgang/Wolf Weld Sprint Car?
 

Ely got fourth last night at The Grove against the Outlaws in a Wolfweld.