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Offenhauser
The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers. History The Offenhauser engine, familiarly known as the "Offy", was an overhead cam monoblock 4-stroke internal combustion engine developed by Fred Offenhauser and Harry Arminius Miller. Originally, it was sold as a marine engine. In 1930 a four-cylinder Miller engine installed in a race car set a new international land speed record of . Miller developed this engine into a twin overhead cam, four-cylinder, four-valve-per-cylinder racing engine. Variations of this design were used in midgets and sprints into the 1960s, with a choice of carburetion or Hilborn fuel injection. When both Miller and the company to whom he had sold much of the equipment and rights went bankrupt in 1933, Offenhauser opened a shop a block away and bought rights to engines, special tooling and dra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Offenhauser
Fred H. Offenhauser, Jr. (November 11, 1888 – August 17, 1973), was a machinist and self taught automotive engineer who developed the Offenhauser racing engine, nicknamed the "Offy", which dominated competition in the Indianapolis 500 race for decades. He also built the Novi engine, which was designed by Bud Winfield and Leo Goossen. Biography Frederick Offenhauser, Jr., was born November 11, 1888, in Los Angeles, California, the oldest child of Martha and Frederick Offenhauser. Both his parents were natives of Germany who had emigrated as young adults. His father worked as a barber. Offenhauser, Jr. married Ethel C. Lowery. In 1913, when he was 25, Offenhauser began working in the shop of Harry Arminius Miller, having learned his trade as a machinist working for a railroad. That year a Peugeot Grand Prix car won the Indianapolis 500. It was equipped with a state-of-the-art double overhead cam, four valve per cylinder engine. Miller named Offenhauser as the head of his eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Goossen
Leo William Goossen (7 June 1892 – 4 December 1974) was a draftsman, mechanical engineer and automobile designer. He is known for his work with Harry Miller and his long involvement in the design and ongoing development of the four-cylinder Offenhauser ("Offy") racing engine. Goossen is considered to have been the preeminent American designer of racing engines over a fifty-year period that began in the early 1920s. Early years Goossen's parents, Izaac and Kate, immigrated to the US from the Netherlands. They settled in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Goossen was born. The family later moved to Flint, Michigan. In 1908 Goossen left school at 16 to work as a blueprint machine operator in the engineering department of the Buick division of the nascent General Motors. He continued his education by taking classes in mathematics and engineering at night. Goossen's work caught the attention of two of Buick's principals at the time: Chief Engineer Enos Anson (E.A.) de Waters and Engine D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis. The event is traditionally held over Memorial Day weekend, usually the last weekend of May. It is contested as part of the IndyCar Series, the top level of American open-wheel car racing, a formula colloquially known as "Indy car racing". The track itself is nicknamed the "Brickyard", as the racing surface was first paved in brick in the fall of 1909. One yard of brick remains exposed at the start/finish line. The event, billed as ''The Greatest Spectacle in Racing'', is considered part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix, with which it has frequently shared a date. The inaugural race was held in 1911 and was won by Ray Harroun. The event celebrated its 100th anniversary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Arminius Miller
Harold Arminius Miller (December 9, 1875 – May 3, 1943), commonly called Harry, was an American race car designer and builder who was most active in the 1920s and 1930s. Griffith Borgeson called him "the greatest creative figure in the history of the American racing car". Cars built by Miller won the Indianapolis 500 nine times, and other cars using his engines won three more. Millers accounted for 83% of the Indy 500 fields between 1923 and 1928. Biography Miller was born on December 9, 1875, in Menomonie, Wisconsin, to Jacob Miller (1833–1900) and Martha Ann (Tuttle) Miller (c1835–1922). Miller's first work in the automotive business was with the short-lived Yale Automobile Company. From Yale he moved to Lansing, Michigan, to work for motoring pioneer Ransom E. Olds at Oldsmobile, where he was employed as a race mechanic during the early Vanderbilt cup races. After a poor 1906 race season, Miller left for Los Angeles, California, to open a small machine shop speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Meyer
Louis Meyer (July 21, 1904 – October 7, 1995) was an American racing driver who was the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He is generally regarded as one of the finest racers of his generation. Meyer is perhaps best known as the driver who started the tradition of drinking milk after winning the Indianapolis 500. Early life and career Meyer was born in Yonkers, New York on July 21, 1904, the son of French immigrants. Meyer was raised in Los Angeles, where he began automobile racing at various California tracks. Early in his career, Meyer helped prepare the Miller driven by Frank Elliott in 1926, destroking the engine to bring it within the displacement limit permitted by the rules.Wise, p.1330. Meyer went with the car when it was sold in 1927 to Fred Holliday (of Holliday Steel Company) as the ''Jynx Special'' (a morbidly ironic name, since Jimmy Murphy had been killed in it in 1924). He would be mechanic for Wilbur Shaw in the Indianapolis 500 that y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DOHC
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion chamber in the engine block. ''Single overhead camshaft'' (SOHC) engines have one camshaft per bank of cylinders. ''Dual overhead camshaft'' (DOHC, also known as "twin-cam") engines have two camshafts per bank. The first production car to use a DOHC engine was built in 1910. Use of DOHC engines slowly increased from the 1940s, leading to many automobiles by the early 2000s using DOHC engines. Design In an OHC engine, the camshaft is located at the top of the engine, above the combustion chamber. This contrasts the earlier overhead valve engine (OHV) and flathead engine configurations, where the camshaft is located down in the engine block. The valves in both OHC and OHV engines are located above the combustion chamber; however ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Midget Auto Racing Hall Of Fame
The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame is an American Hall of Fame and museum for midget cars. The Hall of Fame is located at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and can be accessed during weekly Sunday races during the summer. Inductees are often honored with their award in January at the Chili Bowl (race), Chili Bowl at Tulsa. List of inductees There were 272 inductees after the 2024 induction ceremony. References {{authority control Midget car racing Auto racing museums and halls of fame Automobile museums in Wisconsin Sports museums in Wisconsin Halls of fame in Wisconsin, Midget Auto Museums in Dane County, Wisconsin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monobloc Engine
''Monobloc'' refers to a component that is made in one block or casting. A monobloc engine or en bloc engine is an internal-combustion piston engine some of whose major components (such as cylinder head, cylinder block, or crankcase) are formed, usually by casting, as a single integral unit, rather than being assembled later. This has the advantages of improving mechanical stiffness, and improving the reliability of the sealing between them. ''Monobloc'' techniques date back to the beginnings of the internal combustion engine. Use of this term has changed over time, usually to address the most pressing mechanical problem affecting the engines of its day. There have been three distinct uses of the technique: * Cylinder head and cylinder * Cylinder block * Cylinder block and crankcase In most cases, any use of the term describes single-unit construction that is opposed to the more common contemporary practice. Where the monobloc technique has later become the norm, the specific term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overhead Cam
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion chamber in the engine block. ''Single overhead camshaft'' (SOHC) engines have one camshaft per bank of cylinders. ''Dual overhead camshaft'' (DOHC, also known as "twin-cam") engines have two camshafts per bank. The first production car to use a DOHC engine was built in 1910. Use of DOHC engines slowly increased from the 1940s, leading to many automobiles by the early 2000s using DOHC engines. Design In an OHC engine, the camshaft is located at the top of the engine, above the combustion chamber. This contrasts the earlier overhead valve engine (OHV) and flathead engine configurations, where the camshaft is located down in the engine block. The valves in both OHC and OHV engines are located above the combustion chamber; however an O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monobloc Head
''Monobloc'' refers to a component that is made in one block or casting. A monobloc engine or en bloc engine is an internal-combustion piston engine some of whose major components (such as cylinder head, cylinder block, or crankcase) are formed, usually by casting, as a single integral unit, rather than being assembled later. This has the advantages of improving mechanical stiffness, and improving the reliability of the sealing between them. ''Monobloc'' techniques date back to the beginnings of the internal combustion engine. Use of this term has changed over time, usually to address the most pressing mechanical problem affecting the engines of its day. There have been three distinct uses of the technique: * #Cylinder head, Cylinder head and cylinder * #Cylinder block, Cylinder block * Cylinder block and #Crankcase, crankcase In most cases, any use of the term describes single-unit construction that is opposed to the more common contemporary practice. Where the monobloc technique ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midget Car Racing
Midget cars, also Speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small, with a very high power-to-weight ratio, and typically use four-cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most continents. There is a worldwide tour and national midget tours in the United States, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand. Cars Typically, these four-cylinder-engine cars have to and weigh . The high power and small size of the cars combine to make midget racing quite dangerous; for this reason, modern midget cars are fully equipped with roll cages and other safety features. Some early major midget car manufacturers include Kurtis Kraft (1930s to 1950s) and Solar Midget, Solar (1944–46). Midgets are intended to be driven for races of relatively short distances, usually 2.5 to 25 miles (4 to 40 km). Some events are staged inside arenas, like the Chili Bowl (race), Chili Bowl held in early January at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stroke (engine)
In the context of an internal combustion engine, the term stroke has the following related meanings: * A phase of the engine's cycle (e.g. compression stroke, exhaust stroke), during which the piston travels from top to bottom or vice versa. * The type of power cycle used by a piston engine (e.g. two-stroke engine, four-stroke engine). * "Stroke length", the distance travelled by the piston during each cycle. The stroke length, along with bore diameter, determines the engine's displacement. Phases in the power cycle Commonly used engine phases or strokes (i.e. those used in a four-stroke engine) are described below. Other types of engines can have very different phases. Induction-intake stroke The induction stroke is the first phase in a four-stroke (e.g. Otto cycle or Diesel cycle) engine. It involves the downward movement of the piston, creating a partial vacuum that draws an air-fuel mixture (or air alone, in the case of a direct injection engine) into the combustion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
