Clair Reuter's Bandini/Devin trailered by Earl Carlson's Bosley Mk I at Wilmot, Wisconsin racetrack in 1959. The Bosley was on of the most beautiful American specials of the 1950s, built by Richard Bosley. Carlson is in the white shirt, back to camera, and Bud DuVall is seated on the ground.
OK, this is the most exotic tow car I've ever seen. The Bosley is an absolute one off and Earl Carlson is it's second owner. I guess you could say that it has enough power with its early Hemi engine.
I have always been amazed at some people's choice of a tow vehicle. One of my favorites was a gent racing an older Formula Ford who towed it with a mid 30's Rolls Royce hearse. Actually, it was very practical as well as classy. After all, the hearse had a lovely mahogany load floor with built in rollers and tie downs. Tools, spares, and cooler rolled into place beautifully.
More like the Bosley, was Hardy Prentice from California who won the national championship with a TR3 after owning the car for 25 years. Actually, the TR3 was his only car for many years. Prentice flat towed the TR3 to all the races, including the tow across the country from California to Atlanta, with a Jag E Type tow vehicle. Tools and some spares went inside the Jag. The spare engine and other spares went in the race car. Race tires were mounted on the tow bar. I don't know how many years he did this, but I can remember 6 or 8 times I've seen this get up. Wish I taken a picture.
Jac,
ReplyDeleteI heard about this race car nut who long ago pulled his race car trailer with one of those '80s vintage VW Rabbit pickup trucks! Now it's bad enough that the Rabbit pick up was a gutless wonder but it only had leg room, even with the seat all the way back, for a midget and the racer nutcase was about 6ft 5in tall. I can only guess what it was like to drive miles and miles to a race with knees jambed up under the chin. Race car people do odd things sometimes.
;-)
Doug
Doug,
ReplyDeleteI heard about that guy too. He must have been nuts! Although, in my memory of the story, when he was towing the racecar, the race track was only about 10 miles from home. The really stupid thing he did was use that rig to tow his race trailer with a Sprite on it from Michigan to California. The rumor is that they didn't get the pickup into high gear from the Mississippi River to the Continental Divide in Utah. Apparently, they even had to drop down to 3rd gear for miles. Talk about gutless.