80 replies to this topic

[Martin]

These are signed, at least the one without the motor is and the chassis with motor, has part of a signature. 

 

Any guesses on who the builder was?

 

 

[slotcarone]

I am guessing Bob Emott!!

[Martin]

Sorry, not Bob Emott.

[Pablo]

Uh, Windmill?

[Martin]

Oh, your too kind, but no sorry. This builder/racer is one of the best pros of the times. I was just a follower of fashion. 

[MSwiss]

Wild guess, Mike Steube.

 

That drop arm on the bottom chassis is really something.

 

I don't remember seeing a "constructed" one like that before.

[Pablo]

John "The Jet" Cukras. And I'll tell you why:

 

- he was never afraid to experiment with new designs.

- he didn't obsess with absolute visual perfection.

- put lots of careful thought into special details.

- first car looks like it has an early Mura can and John was a Mura guy in those days.

 

I'm just guessing. 

[Martin]

Dam good guess, Paul. But no, they are Mike Steube's. Well done, Mike Swiss.

 

I am assuming the BE engraved is the remains of the STEUBE after someone cut the drop arm hole bigger. Or maybe it had no hole to begin with?

 

Love the '60s style bubble letters.

 

 

[Martin]

I would really like to find out who raced these cars.

 

They came with a card that was carried in their race box. It had about 20 of the top pro drivers names and phone numbers. They were well-connected for sure who ever they were. I will find the card and post. With your help and a process of elimination, well maybe we can figure it out.

 

Let me know if you think this is worth doing?

[Bill from NH]

Is it worth doing, that I don't know. But if you can find some tangible history for these two cars and maybe the others for who raced what, where, when, it will be interesting..

[Martin]

Thanks for your interest, Bill.

 

It's actually three cars. This signed Emott chassis was owned by the same mystery racer. So he had the very best equipment.

 

 

 

[Bill from NH]

Somebody at BPR must know how to contact Mike Steube. Pehaps they would sent him the photos of the two Steube cars or provide you his contact information.

 

Of course, it's possible that Mike would have no recollection of them, but the bubble engraving might ring a bell. If you showed all three chassis to Bryan Warmack and John Cukras, there is an outside chance they might have seen them before. There may be other elders at BPR whose names escape me. It should be a fun trip.

[Martin]

Good stuff, Bill. I have to find the contact card that was with these cars. I think I know where it is I will look tomorrow.

 

I like the history hunt. Yes, a fun trip.

[tonyp]

Looking at the Emott chassis again, I am positive the drop arm was cut later on and not original. There appears to be corresponding marks on the cross brace that look like they may have been made with a file or Dremel while cutting it out.

[Martin]

You are correct, sir, I am not sure why I did not see those nicks before. They are so obvious now. So were there tracks that ran no glue or limited glue?(I agree with your theory on that).  

 

What was this situation regarding glue? At my local raceway I do not remember a specific rule but we applied it direct to the tires and would not be so bold as to apply it to the track (this was '68-70 in England).

 

I for one would love to here a bit of history of how that all went down. When was it first used and how did it effect chassis design, etc.?  

 

There was also a brief moment early in my discovery of slots where I was sold on silicones or maybe I should say they were sold to me by the raceway salesman, they worked fine when they were clean, but the treadled glue was coming like the primeval ooze it was. My old slot box is still sticky with it.

[tonyp]

By the time of the Emott chassis gluing all the way around the turns was the status quo. Mostly with Champion MCD and later on with Stick-It. There were no limited, spray, or no glue racing. It was the start of the glue era which just got thicker and thicker.

[tonyp]

The more glue, the stiffer and heavier the cars got. Tuning was done more with glue than the chassis itself.

[Bill from NH]

Well, after the heavy glue period, I recall running on track(s) with glue zones, but I can't recall where or what track layouts. It might have been in Maine, it might have been at the Lowell "Y."

Essentially, glue zones limited where on a track glue could be placed down. Af course, any glue I ever had used to track.

[tonyp]

Bob Emott and I changed the USRA East to glue zones from full glue. Not sure the year but it was after the Western States race PDL won which was the worst glue race I ever attended.

[tonyp]

The San Francisco guys had their own glue and built cars with narrow rear tires so they could control the race with a glue bottle. LOL.

[Martin]

The more glue, the stiffer and heavier the cars got. Tuning was done more with glue than the chassis itself.

I get the stiffer part because you have more traction but I was thinking the cars would be getting lighter. Was air downforce being developed in parallel with glue? I am intrigued by the pro slot car devolved from '67 to '72. What a wild ride that must have been at your level?

Love to see a date line on incremental developments; someone should write a book (please).

[tonyp]

Air dams and glue kinda progressed together. The tracks had so much glue you needed a heavy car to plow through it. We would use a half to a full bottles of Stick-It to glue for a 40 minute main.

[gc4895]

Racing in the slot-car backwater of St Louis in '68-69 I remember the breaks between lane changes were a mad race to glue your lane exactly the way you wanted it. Generally it was twoman teams to get all the lanes covered.

And yes, 1/16" clearance front and rear to start the race. The only air dams there during that period were kids running Cox Chaparrals with operating wings. It was glue, glue, and more glue.

[Martin]

Glue in the pursuit of speed. I am actually surprised there was not any pushback from track owners and racers or was there?

If we could re-write history and glue had been banned from the start what would have changed? Would it have changed the competition negatively or would the fast guys still be fast? Would tire development progressed in a different way? Speeds would be down, I get that, but would they find another improvement and get those speed back in some way?     

What is the glue situation in Retro racing at this time?

[Half Fast]

There isn't any glue allowed in Retro racing at all. Thankfully.
 
The track is spray glued before racing starts and that's it.
 
Cheers.