Norm Smith and I had been running supers for a few years back in the very early sixties. He had been driving for a team called Albright and Hess. They had purchased the first super built by Gary Myles and were fairly successful with it. However, Hess had developed some health problems and dropped out. I had been running a Chrysler powered super with Ed Weisman driving and we had our ups and downs with the cars' engine. So much so that it created dissension with the team members. The car was sold and I was out of a car to crew on.

Norm's wife was afraid he was going to get hurt and asked me (through my wife) to help out. Norm and I got along great and we did a lot of racing and winning, including the last race on the dirt at Lorain County Speedway.

Over the winter, Lorain was paved and to be competitive we built an offset upright sprinter type super. We won the opener at the County beating Dick Good and Joy Fair even though they had a hundred cubic inches more than we did.

Money was tight and we really needed a good rear end in the car as we kept breaking axles. So when the rear end's ring and pinion finally went for good,Albright, retired and sold the car to Don Albritton who I understand did a great job with it after putting a truck unit in!

Norm drove a few other good cars while I kicked around the idea of a rear engine super. I had always been fascinated with the pre-war Auto Union grand prix cars and had even run a RE Chrysler powered dragster for a few years before Don Garlits did. Actually we built two RE dragsters one in 1950 and another in 1958.We had learned how to go straight, now we had to learn how to make it turn corners. When Brabham showed up and did so well at Indy with the Cooper that settled it.It was time to get going!

I took measurements of Norm sitting comfortably on my living room floor and drew up a set of frame plans to go with the suspension geometry that I had worked on for months. We scraped together enough money to buy the tubing and I got Joe Schubeck at Lakewood Chassis (now Lakewood Industries) to do the heli-arc welding on it. Joe owed me some favors as I had given him his first ride in a Chrysler powered dragster. Since Lakewood was also making clutch blast sheilds for drag racers, he also supplied us with a special shallow hydroformed adaptor to mate the Ford engine to the Halibrand passenger car quick change center section.

Back in those days, remember this is thirty five years ago,  things were either not available or they cost too much for the little guys.Things like the rear shifter quick changes were not yet available, so I drew up a unit that replaced the rear cover on to the quick change. We could  slide the lower gear in and out and eliminated the normal in-out box.The high school where I was teaching made both the wood pattern and the aluminum casting for me.Gary Myles did the machining on it as a favor. With these two pieces we were able to keep the wheelbase at 96 inches and still have the drivers legs behind the front wheel centers.  We also used a limited slip differential and Corvette axles and hubs.

Race car steering gears were always a problem and we used one from a Renault with  some chain and sprockets to speed it up. Even without power assist it worked well and never gave us a problem.

Once the main frame was laid up, Don Yovis, a race photographer,  let me use his garage to do some of the work until I got my own home and finished it up in the back yard garage.

Bill Port, then co-owner of Midwest Auto Racing Specialties,  gave Norm and I a deal on a complete injected 289 Ford that he had been using in drag racing and we were ready to go in the spring of 1965.Norm made his share of the bucks porting heads for Gary Myles while I was doing wheel alignments part time for a tire shop.  We had so little money that Norm conned Earl Scheib into painting the body panels.

Since I had been away from the tracks for awhile, I asked Joe Martincic, an ex-drag racer buddie who had turned to circle tracks and was doing well,  about tires.He recommended the Racemaster 260.So we bought three and a passenger car tire for the left front. We didn't even have a spare tire for the track.

We hit the track weighing 1280 pounds with fuel, oil and coolant.  Crowds were so thick around the car that I had trouble getting close to work on it.The very first night, the push truck ran over the top of us and ended up sitting on top of the roll bar.The push truck driver slid down the seat and broke his wrist when he hit the passenger side door.  Our exhaust had also melted the parking lights on the next push truck.

We survived all that and then went on to a season of one disappointment after another.  We broke parts and we had handling problems. We always replaced a broken part with one that was stronger.  Like 5/8ths Heims replaced 1/2 inch ones. The car never went out set up the same way twice.Although we got plenty of help like "Why don't you move the engine forward", we had to do it all the diagnosis ourselves because we were the only rear-engine car with four wheel independent suspension. Information on set-ups just wasn't available. We raised roll centers, changed springs and changed cams.  In fact we changed everything except the tires and the driver and I was starting to wonder about him.

It was getting near the end of the season and we weren't any closer than we had been all year. After a bad qualifying time and heat race,  my brother came over and said "Why don't you try another tire"?  Disgustedly I said "I wouldn't spend another dime on the damned car."

Fifteen minutes later he comes back with a brand new recap for the right rear and says "Try this."

We worked like crazy to get it mounted up and sent Norm out early for the feature so he could get some hot laps in.  He pulled up by the pit entrance and asked "You got enough fuel in this thing for the feature?  This SOB runs!"

Well we didn't win, but at least they knew we were there. After that,we did win a couple of heats and had some close top finishes. 

I grooved thoseridiculous Racmaster 260s into dirt blocks and they ended up years later on my Corvair powered dune buggy.One day Norm scared the hell out me when he took it and me into a corner about a hundred miles an hour and laughing all the way! 

Over the winter of 1966, Norm decided to quit racing because of domestic problems and we split the car.He took the engine, as it was more salable, and I kept the chassis.

I hooked up with Bill Meder who had an obsolete sprinter,  but a good 283 Chevy engine.  Although it was physically bigger and heavier,  we put the engine in without a lot of trouble and then looked for a driver.We picked up a motorcycle racer by the name of George Stein.  He hadvery little experience in cars and I figured he didn't have enough time to learn any bad habits. There weren't any drivers around that had RE experience.

George was a good kid but never was really competitive.  As the season was winding down and we hadn't really done very well, we thought it was time for a change or quit.

Dick Seymour, who had been racing for years in the area came by and more or less begged for the opportunity to drive.Now I had seen Dick run a lot of different cars on a lot of different tracks and he never really impressed me.  But after talking to him and seeing how interested he was, we decided to give him a chance.

Dick was easy to work with and we did work out some problems.  So much so that after a few nights in the car,  he was leading the feature with Todd Gibson trailing him for a bunch of laps.Joe Martincic came up behind them and got in too close to Dick and gave him a little nudge.This while going through the fourth turn with the checkered flag in sight.  Dick got out of shape and both Joe and Todd went by him.  Naturally we were disappointed but, later Todd came over and said "There was no need for that, Dick was more than I could handle."  It still cost us our first feature race.

For the last race of the season we went to the fast banked half mile of New Bremen Speedway. We had been there before and was working well when a crash had red flagged the race so we were anxious to give it another go.

We qualified well and ran good in the heat race but our 283 was up against some big cubes and some big bucks, like Wayne Maguire and Baldy Baker.  After practice, Baker came over to me and said "That thing is faster through the corners than I am down the straightaway!"

Feature time came and I was in the infield and watched as they all got through turns one and two and figured we were OK.

Going through turn three, somebody blew an engine and Dick hit the oil and spun into the outer wall without any damage.  He was facing traffic about midway through the turn and tight against the outside wall.He was looking down to unfasten his safety belt, when George Friend, who had started scratch, hit the same oil and came up the track backwards and hit Dick in the left front wheel.  The impact spun him around, tore off the wheel assembly, ruptured the side fuel tank and sent the car another fifty feet down the track with twenty gallons of fuel pouring out of it. Friends' exhaust ignited the fuel.

Dick struggled to get out but was overcome by the heat and fumes and collapsed back into the seat.There was no smoke, but Lou Paulker seeing Dick in the predicament, spun his car, jumped out and pulled Dick from the wreck.  He carried him some twenty-five feet down the track,  laid him down and helped put out the flames.  Lou should have gotten a medal for that as there was a lot of fuel burning.

I had been in the middle of the infield, ran and jumped the four foot fence and was the second one to Dick, who was just regaining conscious.   The lower part of his uniform was gone,  his legs were burned from the waist down and his face was blistered.  He looked up at me and said "I'm OK how's my face."

Now this was in the days before fuel cells and flame proof driving suits.  Later his wife told me she usually soaked his uniform in boric acid, but she was out of it so she used salt water.

The fuel tanks on the car were made from aluminum and were covered with fiberglas, which had shattered from the impact.

The safety crew arrived and put out the fire with dry chemicals.  Then the ambulance pulls up and those guys were going to put a wool blanket on Dick until I protested.  Then they used a plain white cotton sheet and carted him off to St.Marys hospital.

Bill and I loaded up the wreck and drove to the hospital where they said he going to be there for awhile.We drove almost all the way home to Cleveland in complete silence.

Dick stayed at St. Marys' for three days while his wife fought to get him air lifted to Cleveland Clinic. Once at the Clinic, they began three months of treatment which included skin grafts to his legs. Then there was some seven months of recovery. His wife said had he not been transferred, he might surely have died. Dick told me "I'm glad I was in your car, I might not have been as lucky in someone else's!".  Seymour never raced again.

Sometime later a court case came up about Speedway negligence as there was inadequate fire equipment.Don Yovis, who is a racing photographer, and Bill and I , as owners were subpoenaed to testify.

During my few minutes on the witness stand,  they questioned me about the race car and why was it rear engine when no one else was using that configuration.  Bill was only questioned about his activities on race day.  Don was only asked to verifiy that he had taken the pictures that showed there was no dedicated fire equipment on the premises.

Frank Dicke, the track owner who was also the mayor of  New Bremen, met Yovis in the hall outside the courtroom and barred him from ever taking pictures at his race track.  The case was thrown out of court after five days of testimony and the judge told Seymour "You knew what you were doing when you got in that race car!"

Although I did build another rear engine car, because of the fuel situation, that day at New Bremen has always been in my mind.

It appears that everyone that helped or were in some way connected  with that car was so impressed that they went on to own or compete in one.

The next  rear engine car was built using some of the wrecks parts and  with some monetary help of Bill Port.   We put Bobbie Hayduk in the car and ran it several times including a run on dirt at Buckeye Speedway.  Dirt clogged up the brake calipers and locked  a front wheel.

We had  fast time at Canfield Speedway, but broke an axle and the wheel sailed out into the parking lot and hit a parked car.  At Midvale, we were running for the lead as Bobbie went in between two cars and they closed up on him.  He ran over their front tires and sailed down the track with the throttle wide open.When he landed the whole rear section of the quick change containing the change gears and the pinion broke offand was thrown out on the track.

I sold the second car to Port and he put a Champ car rear end in it.. He also put a wing on it and ran it at several races including the last one ever atHeidleburg, Pa. There he met Bill Hite.He saw Hites' four wheel drive RE car and promptly ordered one. In fact, over the years, he bought several more from Hite and did an excellent job with them with Lou Paulker, Warren Coniam or Armand Holley driving.  He even tried one without any suspension with Gene Lee Gibson in the seat! He quit when his cars were outlawed.

Norm Smith has since moved to Florida and now has a replica GT40 rear engine car in his garage today.Joe Martincic also built and ran a rear engine car. He later sold his to Jim Shirey.He then  moved to Florida. to manufacture and market Fiberfab replica cars kits. Included in his invenntory were several rear engine type cars.  Shirey won the Lorain County point championship as a rookie in Joes' original rear engine car.  Todd Gibson, also built and ran a  few RE cars, including a try at Indianapolis.  Gary Myles bought a RE Indy car but couldn't spend the time away from his engine building business. Joe Schubeck eventually drove the dual (front and rear) engined Hurst Oldsmobile drag car.

Even Jim "Mr Supermodified" Shampine built and ran a rear engine super.  When Oswego outlawed rear engine cars, he just about quit racing.

Unfortunately, all the opposition from racing associations, race tracks and some drivers has kept the RE car out of local short track competition.  This opposition is coming back to bite them as now American drivers are not being given the chance at the big time in RE cars.  At Indy, IRL and CART races,  which are all RE, race attendance is falling off because there are no local drivers in them. If sprints and Silver Crown would allow RE cars, local drivers,crews and builders could be getting rear engine experience and would not have to go to NASCAR to be big time.