Tomorrow some of the world’s best drivers will get in some of the world’s best race cars and do something that men have been doing for more than 100 years. They are going to race. Like the men before them, today’s drivers rely on cutting edge science and engineering to give them an edge over the competition. Believe it or not, the vehicle you see in the video below represents all of that as it was in the early 1950s when Frank Kurtis built this car. Bill Aiken is the man who was responsible for restoring a piece of racing history and he did such a good job this car has won its class at Pebble Beach TWICE. Bill also comes to the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion every year with one of his restorations and this year it was the Bardahl Special.
This car had a best performance of third at the Brickyard more than a half century ago and that’s pretty awesome. It would be about another decade before the drastic and sudden switch from the classic front engine roadsters like this one were replaced with the more lithe and capable rear engined cars developed by companies like Lotus. This is a car from before the era of the lay down style engines that reduced the frontal profile of the machines and allowed them higher top speeds and better performance.
When this machine was competitive in the middle 1950s, the average racing speed of a car at the Indy 500 was 126mph but qualifying speeds topped 140. Look at the tire on this thing, the complete lack of anything resembling modern suspension technology, and then think about muscling it around for 500mph on a hot day in May. Pretty daunting stuff.
The guys at Holley always crush these documentaries and this is another example of their coolness. Bill Aiken is amazingly cool as well. Just listen to him tell the story here –
