The 2012 PRI show is in full swing at the massive Orlando Convention Center and there’s LOTS of great iron to oogle on the show floor, in various booths, and even in the lobby of the building. Unlike the SEMA show, you’re not going to find a lot of stuff that is just blinged out for the sake of being blinged out. The vast majority of cars here are full tilt racing machines, be they mod boggers, stream liners, drag cars, stock cars, sprint cars, multi-engine pulling tractors, or even high zoot boats.
Hit the link below to take a virtual walk around the PRI show floor to see what we’re talking about. There’s not a weak sister in the bunch!
PRI 2012 GALLERY: 
Great set of pics. Really cool cars. But the one that I was really interested is was the Indy roadster. Id like a little more info on that one.
Actually, the car at the show is a brand new car built specially for Bonneville. I designed & built the car here in INDY during the spring /early summer this year for the Johnston-Carbone-Wendt group in Miami Fl.
The car has many aero tweeks including lowered nose, inboard suspension & steering and aero wheel covers. It is powered by a 270 OFFY “thumper”
The rolling chassis,including chssis & bodywork , front & rear axles, steering and suspension, was delivered to the Johnston-Carbone-Wendt team in early June. They took the car to their Miami Fl shop for installation of the engine & driveline, safety stuff, brake- fuel-electrical-cooling systems, chrome & paint and final assembly.
It is finished off with a classic 1959 #5 Roger Ward / Leader Card paint job and some, very cool, Halibrand wheel graphics on the aero wheel covers.
The Johnston-Carbone-Wendt team had a purty good first year at Bonneville with a final run of 181 MPH.
During the build of the car, A.J. Watson, himself visited my shop to offer his comments,
suggestions and support of the project. He was very pleased with the finished car and signed his name to the car.
Indy roadsters are way cool !! Bonneville streamliners are way cool !! Buliding them both into one car is way, way cool !! I am very proud of the part I had in building this car.
The real car is owned by Brad and Buzz Calkins in Denver. A good recreation is owned by Tom Malloy in Corona Ca.
mac miller in INDY
Hey Robert, I can’t offer too much tech info on the #5 Rodger Ward/A.J. Watson, but here’s some history from Johnson’s Indy 500 website: 1959: Leader Card Watson/Offy Roadster (Rodger Ward)
Car was sold to Doug Stearley for the 1961 race. It is the same car that Tony Bettenhausen, Sr. was killed in at the Speedway. The car was in fact, repaired after the crash, and was presented for technical inspection later the following week. The car was restored by A.J. Watson himself, and it remained in his shop for several years. He sold it to Bob Rubin from Long Island, it then passed to a dealer, and then on to the Patrick Ryan collection. It appeared at Pebble Beach, and the Goodwood Festival. Currently, the car is owned by former Indy driver Buzz Calkins and his father Bradly Caulkins. It was acquired by him for $750,000 from the Patrick Ryan collection. It is known to have several new parts, including a different, but correct, 255 motor. In the spring of 2011 the car was included in the 100th Anniversary display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
I met Rodger and sat in this car immediately after they won the 1959 Milwaukee 200 and one week after they’d won the 500. We lived in Milwaukee and my Dad took my older brother and me to the race. I was 6 and my brother was 13. Even at that age he (my brother) was the consummate con man. I still don’t know how he set it up but, no shit, within 15 minutes of the end of the race there I was meeting my hero and sitting in his hot, smoking race car. I still remember the combined smells of gasoline, hot rubber and sweat. I was in heaven and have been a total gearhead ever since. More of a spectator than a participant, but I have thrown together a few decent street cars and Harleys in my time.
Just thinking about this gives me chills and I want to thank Brian and Chad for all they do to keep this hobby/lifestyle/compulsion of ours alive and in our faces on a daily basis. You guys fuckin’ rock!!
As a side note, a few weeks later Dad took me to County Stadium to see the Braves play the L.A. Dodgers featuring another of my heroes, Don Drysdale. Don served up a fat one to Hank Aaron and he drove it into the outfield bleachers where it hit a guy 2 rows in front of us right in the nose, coldcocking him. I’m serious, they carried the guy out on a stretcher. Two months later Dad (a civil engineer) got a job helping to design and build interstate highway bridges in, of all places, Indianapolis, IN. It’s been my home ever since and allowed me a lifetime of seeing the all time greats of motorsports during numerous trips to the Indy 500 and the U.S. Nationals. Sorry for getting so long winded, but this is primo stuff, (no stems, no seeds, RIP John “Tarzan” Austin) for an aging gearhead. Thanks again for the memories.
thank you for the pics of our car “VICIOUS VEGA”