{"id":19009,"date":"2015-10-01T08:28:01","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T15:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=19009"},"modified":"2015-10-01T08:28:01","modified_gmt":"2015-10-01T15:28:01","slug":"tbt-barn-find-board-track-racer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/tbt-barn-find-board-track-racer\/","title":{"rendered":"TBT – Barn Find Board Track Racer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pyper\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Checking out Carl Pyper’s 1914 board track racer is like going to a\u00a0100th<\/sup> birthday party. \u00a0You’ve probably never done it before and you may not get another chance. \u00a0Few people make it to 100 years old and even fewer racing cars ever hit the century mark.<\/p>\n

Pyper describes his scratched up antique racer as “an original, hand-made board track car.” \u00a0He has no intentions of ever restoring it. \u00a0“I keep it the way it was when I got it,” he told RacingJunk. \u00a0“I even kept the original dirt on it.”<\/p>\n

The car came out of Muncie, Ind., and Pyper brought it to Evansville, Wis. \u00a0He is the third owner. \u00a0A man named Brown built the car before he went off to fight in Germany during World War II. \u00a0He was injured on the battlefield and never raced the car again.<\/p>\n

History on the car is sketchy. \u00a0From what Pyper was told, it was raced on 40-45-degree board tracks from 1914 until 1918. \u00a0It raced at Elgin, at Chicago Speedway in Maywood, Ill., at the Des Moines Speedway in Iowa, at the Altoona Silodome and at a circle track in Nebraska. \u00a0The little car ran at speeds up to 60 mph, which must have been a little scary.<\/p>\n

Pyper has an old sepia-toned photo of a dashing young man sitting in the car with “No. 10” on its side. \u00a0Another photo depicts a race the car was in and the grandstand is stuffed with spectators. \u00a0There is also a photo of the car racing by itself (maybe it ran away from the rest of the pack).<\/p>\n

Under the hood is an Indian motorcycle engine. \u00a0The 61-cid power plant probably came from an Indian made before the car was built. \u00a0Pyper says the motor mounts were probably set up for an Indian of older vintage than the cart.<\/p>\n

Pyper hasn’t done much to the car. \u00a0He made a stand for it and he added a little piece of glass to the windshield. \u00a0Otherwise he left it alone. \u00a0“That’s how I like it,” Pyper said. \u00a0He’ll never completely restore the barn find racer. \u00a0He likes it just the way it is.<\/p>\n