Originally Posted by Dusty Goggles:
Stay tuned for updates on this car. It is going to be recreated as you see it in this photo. Denny Jamison of HammerArt in Gasline Alley will be recreating the car for Don Smith from Terre Haute.
What was left of the original car was restored in the configuration of the car as it ran at Daytona when Marshal Teague was killed in it. That car is now in the museum in Daytona. There were a lot of modifcations done to the car after the B&W photo was taken at the speedway in 1955. Jimmy Daywalt drove the highly modified car to a 9th place finish that year. It looked nothing like the photo you see here.
This car should be one of the most outstanding recreations done to date. Can't wait to see it done.
DG
The original car was built using a new Kurtis 500D chassis. When finished it was one of the most beautiful cars ever at the speedway. Unfortunately, as it actually raced, it was one of the ugliest cars ever. The driver, Daywalt, complained about the canopy and complained about the fenders, so the car was dismantled to the point that the driver was happy. Frankly, Daywalt wasn't that great of a driver and, if I was the owner, Chapman Root, I would have told Daywalt to "take a hike" and run the car "as designed" with a top road racer, familiar with driving full bodied cars.
We will never know how it would have run. I may have been the greatest thing ever or, considering the murky knowledge of race car aero in those days, it could have gone airborn at speed..... possibly what happened to Teague at Daytona.
Maybe Daywalt was right. We'll never know. the car remains an enigma.
Denny's car will be first rate and a great addition to the vintage car world.
Don Smith doesn't actually run any of the cars, in his collection, on the track so, unfortunately, this car will probably remain a silent, motionless display piece in Don's garage...... Wouldn't it be beautiful to see this car run some laps at Raceway Park or Winchester or, even, the Speedway when its finished?????
