Progress on the Arizona Hard Chrome midget! 

If you are regular visitor to this site, you have been able to follow progress of the restoration of Bud Trainor’s 'Arizona Hard Chrome Special' midget that was driven through the years by drivers that included Bobby and Al Unser, and Paul Jones.

We are honored that Ron and the car’s owner Dan Ricehouse has allowed The Checkered Past to show off progress of the restoration. If you are a first time visitor, please check the archive for previous stories.  When we last left Ron Trainor (Bud’s son) the restoration of the V-4 midget engine was completed and ready for installation in the restored chassis.

  

Here is the latest update from Ron:

“I also sent these pictures to the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque.  About two hours after I sent the email, I received a call from Al Unser.  He said when he looked at the pictures he got a tear in his eye. He also said we were doing a great job on the restoration and that he would love to have the car in their museum for one month or ten years -as long as we want and promised they would manage it and take care of it. 

If the car was mine that’s where I would leave it, but since my friend Dan Ricehouse is the owner of the car, it’s up to him.  He says he has offers from three other museums that also want to display the car. So it looks like we may have to split time between all the interested museums. “

Keep up the great work on the restoration, Ron I'm sure your Dad would be proud. Thanks again for sharing!   

More of Roy Morris' list of great drivers 

Roy Morris in front of the Dallara 

factory in Speedway Indiana

photo by Wayne Kimbell

In today’s installment, we return to contributor Roy Morris’ list of great drivers that he saw perform which dates back to the first race Roy attended in October 1945. Many of the drivers on today’s list are best remembered primarily as midget drivers. 

Jerry Piper

Andy and Gilbert Guthrie   

George Amick

Paul Russo

George Lynch

Henry Banks

Troy Ruttman

Karl Young

Jimmy Bryan

Jack McGrath

Andy Linden

Jack Tate

Perry Grim

Bill Mackey

Chuck Hulse

Johnny McDowell

Tony Bettenhausen

Cecil Green

Gib Lilly

Sam Hanks

Norm Holtkamp

Wayne Dickerson

Don Cameron

Bob Kelsey

'Racer' Roy Morris remembers Ray Crawford 

Ray Crawford's official Speedway photo

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Scholarship

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

One of the names on  Roy Morris's list of great drivers that he saw race is that of Ray Crawford, who was a P-38 fighter ace in the World War 2 African theater and jet fighter plane test pilot. Crawford raced midgets following World War 2,  won the stock car class of the Mexican Road Race in 1954, and competed in the Indianapolis '500' three times, All his accomplishments came in addition to his day time job running his family's Southern California supermarkets. 

Ray befriended a young race fan, Roy Morris, who shares with us his memories of Ray Crawford:

“I knew Ray fairly well back when he first started midget racing. I was born in 1933 and saw my first midget race at the Los Angeles Coliseum in October of 1945 and have been a race fan and part time participant ever since. 

Around 1948, I was hitchhiking my way to a midget race at Culver City Stadium. I was on the corner of Washington Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles when a brand new red Ford convertible with white leather upholstery stopped to pick me up. It was Ray Crawford! He took me all the way to the track at Culver City and then drove me home after the race. He did this many times back in those days and even called my house to make arrangements.

I remember how Ray used to qualify at Gilmore when he first started driving. The outer crash wall at Gilmore was more of a rounded rectangle while the track was itself an oval shape with short straight-aways. Ray would follow the crash wall line while pitching the car sideways violently as he entered and exited the turns. He was almost too brave for that time and place! 

Usually, Ray wore brown flying coveralls over his business clothes (usually a suit and tie) when he raced. I taped his wrists at Gilmore one night to keep out the dust and dirt. I remember when he finished the Gilmore Grand Prix near the front and I was proud of him (Ray finished fifth in the 150-lap Grand Prix in 1949).”  

One thing I will never forget about Ray was something he said to me as we were driving back to my house from a race in Culver City around 1950. Ray said to me that he would not be doing any racing for a while and I asked why. 

He said very nonchalantly, "We're building a new store in El Monte and I need to me there. I can't afford to get hurt right now." It did not dawn on me at first, but Ray was acknowledging the risks he took while driving a race car- to me, this was the ultimate in confronting the risks!”

I lost track of Ray after he went to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Years later, I went to his store (Crawford’s Village Market) in El Monte to look him up. Outside in the parking lot, I found an old Indy car painted a cream color with red highlights, had no engine or transmission with Edgar Elder's name listed on the side as Chief Mechanic. 

I went into the store and asked for Ray, but he was out of town that day.  The last time I saw Ray was at Ascot in 1988 - he was dressed to the "nines" as usual in sport coat and slacks. 

I took my collection of pictures to one of the last Gilmore reunions at the Gilmore Adobe. Johnny Boyd was there and wanted to see them. Boyd was engrossed looking at them when he came across the pictures of Ray, he laughed and said Ray was not much of a driver but was brave as could be.

In all the time I spent with Ray, he never once mentioned his WW II flying experiences. It was only recently that I began to understand his contribution to the war effort. I now know that he flew P-38's in Europe and shot down at least five German aircraft, qualifying him as an Ace. 

After the war, Ray was assigned as one of the test pilots on the first jet fighter, the Lockheed P-80. He and Richard Bong, one of the most successful fighter pilots of WW II, alternated test flights out of Burbank in the P-80. 

One day, Ray had a mechanical problem before takeoff and returned to the hanger. After the problem was corrected, it was Bong's turn. He took off but immediately ran into trouble, crashed and was killed. Ray never mentioned any of this while he was with me.”

Thanks for sharing your memories of a true American hero, Roy 

The Arizona Hard Chrome V-4 engine completed! 

As regular visitor you have followed and seen the photos of the restoration of Bud Trainor’s Arizona Hard Chrome midget that was driven through the years by drivers that included Bobby and Al Unser, and Paul Jones. If you are a first time visitor, please check the archive for previous stories.  

When we last left Ron Trainor (Bud’s son) on the restoration of the V-4 midget engine he had to order new injector stacks, finish little things such as fittings and hoses, breathers, and mount the oil filter.

We are honored that Ron has allowed The Checkered Past to show off the latest photos of the completed engine ready for installation in the car. Compare the completed restoration to the black & white photo of the engine when the car first debuted. Ron and his crew at Arizona Hard Chrome did a great job! 

A thank you from a race fan! 

Recently my friend Roy Morris of San Juan Capistrano, California told me that for years he wanted to take out an advertisement in National Speed Sport News to in his words “thank all the drivers that I was privileged to watch through the years” but never got around to it. Roy sent me his list of drivers, and I am proud to share the first quarter of Roy’s list of legendary drivers with our readers.  

Ed Haddad

Rex Mays

Jack Habermehl

Bobby Ball

Frank Brewer

Edgar Elder

Danny Oakes

Swede Lindskog

Gordon Reid

Bill Homeier

Johnny Moorhouse

Bill Zaring

Mack Hellings

Johnny McFadden

Johnnie Parsons

Johnnie Tolan

Duane Carter

Bill Cantrell

Bob Cortner

Don Edmunds

Walt Faulkner

Bill Vukovich

Thank you Roy for sharing these great names and memories with our readers and I will transcribe more names and post them on the site in the next few days.   

An update on the restoration of the Arizona Hard Chrome midget- almost ready to roar. 

Ron Trainor has provided an update on the restoration of the Arizona Hard Chrome V-4 midget engine:

"We are just about done.   Took the injectors apart to machine flats and to make the water tubes.  He jumped on them right away and I got the injectors back and back together.  Found out I had to order new injector stacks.  Don’t ask me how I got 1/16 of an inch too small.  I should have had a machinist to measure them for me before I had them chromed, but we have new ones on the way.   Just little things to finish up now such as fittings and hoses, breathers and mount the oil filter. " 

Thanks for the update Ron! - Editor

The story of the Arizona Hard Chrome Twister

Recently, the Editor came across this Richard Cordsen photo of Gene “Tiger” Brown in a sprint car and based on the sponsor name on the hood, contacted Ron Trainor at Arizona Hard Chrome to see if he knew more. Here is Ron’s story:

“That is the original Hank Arnold “Twister,” also known as the “Arizona Hard Chrome Twister”. Hank was a good friend of my dad’s and a super nice guy. My dad, Glenn, gave him free crankshafts and was surprised when Hank put our name on the side of the hood. 

photo of 'the Twister'  courtesy of Jim Carmichael 

(this may be from the July 1963 issue of Hot Rod magazine)

The name “Twister” came from the fact that Hank who was always trying something new; he tried using a GMC blower on a circle track car. (A 301 cubic inch Chevrolet engine equipped with a GMC 4-71 supercharger) The car was a huge crowd favorite but not always successful. 

There were many blown engines, but when Hank finished a race, he won, and when he won, he won big. It was not a particularly good handling car even though it was the first car I ever knew of to have a Watts link on the right rear. But it really did not matter how it handled in the corners because it was so darn fast on the straightaways.

I can still remember the sound of those “zoomie” pipes with the engine cranking out of the chassis coming off turn four and the left front wheel in the air for as long as Hank had his foot in it. 

Hank Arnold in the "Twister" inside Jerry Coons Sr. at Tuscon

photo courtesy of Bill Van Dyke 

After Hank ran the "Twister" for a few years, he met some guy that wanted to finance a newer experiment for Hank to try. Hank sold the Twister and built a conventional sprint car with a 427 Ford for power. It was also an ill-handling car because of the torque curve and the heavy weight of the engine. In June 1967, Hank was killed in an accident at Manzanita Speedway in the new car.  

Meanwhile he had sold the "Twister" to the Gibson family, another bunch of nice people to whom we also gave free crankshaft work. They kept the 'Arizona Hard Chrome' name on the side of the hood and continued with Gene Brown as the driver. 

It was not long before they built a good powerful engine and got rid of the blower. The car was never the same, but it did become more consistent, they won many races and were the Manzanita Speedway champions.  

In those days, they called the racing cars “Open House Modifieds” and they all started with T buckets or coupes but as time went by they became nothing but sprint cars with T bucket bodies. When the California guys from CRA (California Racing Association) would come to town with their fully chromed, trick painted, sleek sprint cars it would drive them nuts to get beat by a local modified, which Gene Brown did regularly with the Gibson car. 

Eventually the CRA guys passed a rule that all cars must have a sprint car tail section. They all thought that would finally put an end to the reign of the old "Twister." After all, it had a complete roll cage and it was built extra wide for the T bucket body, so there was no way a sprint car tail would fit. 

But when the rule changed two weeks before the big Manzanita CRA race, ‘Skeet’ Gibson, the dad, said “Hey, I’ll tell you what, I’ll be damned if a damn rule change is going to keep us from winning their damn race, and hey, I mean it.” The Gibson family had owned a welding shop in the North West corner of the parking lot of Manzanita Speedway since the nineteen fifties, so they were familiar with what it took to fabricate and fix race cars. 

Richard Cordsen photo

This picture is after two weeks’ worth of work the Gibson’s did to make the 'Twister' into a sprint car. Not the most graceful design, but you can guess who won the race. I do not know everyone in the picture, but from the second from left is younger son Billy Gibson, next to Billy is son in-law Gene Gilles, next is driver Gene Brown, in the center is father ‘Skeet’ Gibson. Second from the right is the oldest brother, crew chief, and engine builder Bobby Gibson, whom I still enjoy seeing on occasion. 

Hank Arnold, Gene Brown, Bobby Gibson, and his father, ‘Skeet’ Gibson are all members of the Arizona Motorsports Hall Of Fame.” 

Thank you Ron!

If you love auto racing history, the next time you visit the Phoenix area, plan to visit the Arizona Motorsports Open Wheel Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. Their website is terrific too!

http://www.azracingmuseum.org/