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My H&R stadium car reappeared!
http://www.pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17590		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Superlite_Don [ Sat Sep 02, 2017 8:59 pm ]
Post subject:  My H&R stadium car reappeared!
So I got the craziest email this morning thanks to this forum. Someone (a great guy) bought it and found my contact information on this site. He bought it for a STEAL. Basically my long time friend that had it passed away, and from what I can guess, the car was in a storage unit that someone bought. And the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) still runs! He plans on restoring it and detuning it some so it will run on pump gas. It is rusted because the frame was never painted when we built it. But it is in sound shape. And the full carbon fiber body is complete, and he say the Works Performance shocks are still decent. Someday I hope to see it again. But it is alive and (becoming) well in Oklahoma. l will try to get the guy to post progress here on the forum. As a note, still missing is crate with a spare Leckich motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) in it, along with other spares. And also my FL250 flat track car. My friend had all of this stuff, but the guy that bought my superlite only saw the car for sale. There is another bare H&R fab frame there that he did not buy. I doubt it is worth much as it was an early version with no a-arms or anything else.

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Author:  canadian oddy [ Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
That's a cool story. Some more history on this machine and you would be a good read if you want to share.
I remember seeing these machines wayyyyyyyy back in the day in dirt bike magazines. Man I wanted one bad. I was into road racing at the time.
Author:  go oddy [ Sun Sep 03, 2017 8:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Superlite_Don wrote:
So I got the craziest email this morning thanks to this forum. Someone (a great guy) bought it and found my contact information on this site. He bought it for a STEAL. Basically my long time friend that had it passed away, and from what I can guess, the car was in a storage unit that someone bought. And the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) still runs! He plans on restoring it and detuning it some so it will run on pump gas. It is rusted because the frame was never painted when we built it. But it is in sound shape. And the full carbon fiber body is complete, and he say the Works Performance shocks are still decent. Someday I hope to see it again. But it is alive and (becoming) well in Oklahoma. l will try to get the guy to post progress here on the forum. As a note, still missing is crate with a spare Leckich motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) in it, along with other spares. And also my FL250 flat track car. My friend had all of this stuff, but the guy that bought my superlite only saw the car for sale. There is another bare H&R fab frame there that he did not buy. I doubt it is worth much as it was an early version with no a-arms or anything else.


Regards on the passing of your friend. Glad to see the car still alive, I also have a love of the old cars, many times I woke clutching a magazine article that I fell asleep starring at about these beautities.
I was just a kid ripping around on my Kx 80 man what I would have done to have a buggy.
:-)
Author:  John l [ Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Yes! So sorry about your friend. It is indeed awesome to see these machines still around.
Author:  Superlite_Don [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
So here are a few pix of this car back in the day. Yep, it was one of my favorites. Light, fast, and this one had a much improved weight distribution. I made a full hand laid carbon fiber body for it. (I worked in the composites industry). A unique thing with the H&R cars was that we ran differentials in them instead of a spool. So they were awesome on fast tracks, but on some tight tracks they could push the front end. We originally wanted to run turning brakes, but other teams that did not have diffs complained that is was an unfair advantage and they were quickly outlawed. Such is the life of innovation in racing. The gray was in its first race at Jack Murphy Stadium (Charger Stadium) The others are later in the year or the next year. Sadly the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG) was getting into financial trouble just as we built it. They messed with the rules some over the next couple of years and the Superlites class died. There were some other organizations that let them run after that, but the high times for the sport were over. The MTEG series was doomed as soon as the NASCAR truck series was born. The factory backed sport trucks pulled out to fight the NASCAR battles, and that left MTEG without the anchor class. As the class was dying, I only raced this specific car on the west coast tracks. Eventually hitting some local tracks like Glen Helen (really fun place). Then my job moved me to the East Coast so I stashed it with Bob Curtis (a friend and fellow Superlite driver) until I could get it sold. That sale never happened and I never saw the car again.

Bob was a great guy. He never did very well, but he had a great time traveling and racing. He helped me in a lot of ways and he will be missed. I talked to Randy Smalley (the owner of H&R Fabrication) today. We spent an hour bench racing and reliving the best ten years of my life. Another great guy that pushed the sport on several levels and never really got the respect that he deserved in the shadow of the very aggressive Briggsbuilt teams. Fun times. Great people. I am glad the car is getting restored and will live on in a new life.

The new owner has already torn it down to bare frame and has started the resto. I will post update pictures as he sends them to me.

D

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Author:  bullnerd [ Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Great stuff Don, glad the car is still around.

I think I asked you this in the past, but where are you on the east coast now?

Is Randy involved in any form of racing anymore? Does he still own a Fab business?
Author:  Superlite_Don [ Sat Sep 30, 2017 5:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
So the guy that got the car is restoring it and sent me a few pictures. Powder coated the frame and some kind of ceramic coating on the other stuff. Looks like he is doing a great job. I will post some other shots as he sends them to me. I wish I was there to put it back together!

To answer the other questions, I live in NC now and am an engineer. Randy no longer has a shop, but still loves to watch all kinds of racing.

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Author:  Superlite_Don [ Sun Oct 08, 2017 2:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
So he is making great progress. Man I miss this car!

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Author:  canadian oddy [ Sun Oct 08, 2017 3:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Very cool.

I notice you had a foot brake and not hand brakes like the oddy. I see that in the pictures.
Wonder if it would have made a driving difference if you had two hand brakes like the oddy's but each lever would lock only one side, not front and rear. Corner better I am wondering ?? Kind of like a tank is my thinking.
Author:  Superlite_Don [ Sun Oct 08, 2017 4:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Well that was kind of the original idea, however the other teams that did not run a differential complained and turning brakes were outlawed. Bummer. You will eventually see that this car did not have front brakes. It was done for weight and simplicity reasons. I wish we would have had them though, especially on the really fast tracks. But they did tend to be hard on front spindles. Ill never know. It was still a great car.
Author:  Superlite_Don [ Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
So a few new ones of the restore. Nice.

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Author:  canadian oddy [ Thu Oct 26, 2017 2:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
This is a great build thread because of the history and an actual member here.
Who ever is doing this rebuild: "I hope you are going to use the original graphics"
Keep the pics coming -- great stuff.
Author:  Superlite_Don [ Sun Dec 03, 2017 3:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
He finished the restoration. He did an amazing job. He kept it original and even kept the original "love taps" on the bumpers. The wing is not original but sort of cool. The fuel cell bladder disintegrated so he welded up the can and turned it into a tank. Should be fine for a play car.

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Author:  Superlite_Don [ Sun Dec 03, 2017 3:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Some more pix

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Author:  Superlite_Don [ Sun Dec 03, 2017 3:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
And the rest.

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Author:  canadian oddy [ Sun Dec 03, 2017 4:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Holy crap what a nice restoration.
I really like the shielding for the starter power cable -- good idea.
It also looks like that machine has a lube line running to the bearing for the driven clutch. Must be a pump somewhere in there. Is it drawing oil from drain plug on trans ?? Where is the pump hidden ?? And what kind because of limited power supply (no alternator) ??

Nice resto job for a farmer. (I see farmers fields back there) :-)
Author:  canadian oddy [ Sun Dec 03, 2017 4:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
I am thinking it might be a meth resto ??
Looking at the pics I see the seat belt tails neatly tucked in and a dab of silicone on the flat slide cable to prevent any vibration from letting the nut vibrate loose. Tie wraps evenly spaced on the roll bar for the window nets.
It's a bit OCD.
:-)
Author:  canadian oddy [ Sun Dec 03, 2017 5:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
It might be just me but I would sure like to see a pic of you sitting or standing next to your old race buggy after it had been restored. Show the grey hair you probably got :-) . History is important. We are all gona pass away (soon) and I think others stumbling onto this stuff on the net long after we are gone is a cool thought. You would live again. The 1970's and early 80's was the best time for racing and we didn't even know it. To bad our kids missed out on this stuff.
Just my thinking though.
Author:  Superlite_Don [ Sun Dec 03, 2017 8:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Yep, he should really be proud of it. He has been driving it today, but it broke the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) pickup coil mount and lost the spark. So I am sending him a flywheel puller and some other tools for it. I feel real lucky that he found this car and has a sense of history. I WILL find a way to get out there and stand by it for a picture. Right before I get in it and take it for a rip! He sent a vid of it idling and then braaappped it a bit. Made me almost cry.

Good stuff.
Author:  bullnerd [ Sun Dec 03, 2017 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Meth put a wing on this thing? No way.

And what's the crazy silly long travel buggy in the back round?
Author:  dipnadactyl [ Mon Dec 04, 2017 3:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
bullnerd wrote:
Meth put a wing on this thing? No way.

And what's the crazy silly long travel buggy in the back round?


Agreed - just saw that thing. What the?
Author:  Superlite_Don [ Mon Dec 04, 2017 5:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
LoL. He is a funny guy. Has lots of toys. Including this 4 seater, that gets driven on the street sometimes. He has lots of land and is building a track to play on. He is also looking for another project "toy" so he can race my car against something. He is really sharp and knows how to wrench. He diagnosed a broken CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) pickup in minutes.

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Author:  Superlite_Don [ Mon Dec 04, 2017 5:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
canadian oddy wrote:
I am thinking it might be a meth resto ??
Looking at the pics I see the seat belt tails neatly tucked in and a dab of silicone on the flat slide cable to prevent any vibration from letting the nut vibrate loose. Tie wraps evenly spaced on the roll bar for the window nets.
It's a bit OCD.
:-)

Some of that work was my OCD over 20 years ago. If you look at the craftsmanship Randy at H&R did, you would not let harness straps hang in the wind either. And safety wire, and flared lightning holes, etc. The resto copied a lot of what we had done, and he stepped it up with the plating and powdercoat. And the armored cable. We finished it mechanically, I shot it with black primer and took it to the track. We never had a chance again to bear frame it for paint. Also, when racing, powdercoat kind of sucks if you have to do emergency welding.
Author:  Duneit [ Tue Dec 05, 2017 9:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: My H&R stadium car reappeared!
Super cool to see the Stadium car Don. Thanks for sharing! CO is right about the racing in the late 70's early 80's. All the major manufacturers supported factory teams. It was an awesome time to be an offroad race fan.
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