Krooser
Building Chinese Free Engines since 1959...
From Facebook's USAC history page...Chuck Poi is the author
Over the years I have had the honor of speaking to several drivers and crew chiefs of my two favorite eras of factory supported stock car racing. The third of my in-person interviews was with my first stock car hero, Paul Goldsmith. In May of 2018 I called him at the Highland-Griffith airport which he owns and operates to see of he would like to see a model of the supercharged ‘57 Ford that he drove. We had a great 90 minute talk. Paul finished second in the AMA flat track series in 1954 and became a driver for Smokey Yunick in 1956. In ‘57 he drove Chevys and Fords that Yunick built along with the #98 supercharged Ford built by DePaolo when Smokey didn’t race. He said that Smokey was indeed a real character, but that he could get more horsepower from the Chevy and Ford engines than anyone else during the ‘50s and ‘60s. Smokey in turn said that Paul was the most talented of all those that drove for him. During ‘58 and ‘59 Paul was concentrating on the Indy 500. Nichels Engineering became the Pontiac equivalent of Holman Moody, and Paul was their factory test driver. In 1960 Paul finished 2nd in the USAC stock car standings. That car was sold after that season and was driven by Earl “Whitey” Johnson. The unique thing l remember about that car was that it had 4 smaller diameter exhaust pipes instead of the more conventional 2. The exhaust note was a much higher pitch than normal that bordered on painful. I asked Paul about this and he said it was especially bad when the sound was reverberating off of the guard rails. To combat this he said he would put a lady’s powder puff over each ear inside his helmet. In 1961 he became the USAC stock car champion with 10 wins in 19 races. He won the title again in ‘62 with 8 wins in 20 races. I saw him at Illiana Speedway in Schererville Indiana. The half mile track was clay surfaced in ‘61 and was paved in ‘62. Paul was super smooth and consistent on both surfaces. In September of ‘63 Ray Nichels and Paul began their association with Chrysler. He said that both the managers and engineers liked the idea that the facility was right next door to the airport and was only a short hour’s flight from the Detroit area. Paul returned to active NASCAR racing in ‘64. He said prior to the Daytona 500 the new Hemi blocks were cracking in the crankcase area. The foundry in Indianapolis repaired the core boxes, did an emergency production run, and then overnighted them to Nichels in Highland Indiana. They built up and had to dyno test all of them. They then overnighted these assembled engines to Daytona. Petty’s winning engine was built by Nichels. Paul also mentioned that his car was the test “mule” for any of the latest new racing parts. If the new part was proved to be an improvement it was then given to the other teams. If it failed or did not show any improvement it was sent back to Chrysler. Paul won 9 NASCAR races with his last outing in 1969. Paul was 92 years old when we talked and believe me he was VERY sharp then and still is today. He enjoyed seeing what l wrote about him in my book and autographed my model of his ‘57 Ford. It was an honor.
My models of his DePaolo Ford, that loud screaming ‘60 Pontiac, his USAC championship winning ‘61 Catalina, and the 01 car he drove in the ‘63 Daytona 500.
Over the years I have had the honor of speaking to several drivers and crew chiefs of my two favorite eras of factory supported stock car racing. The third of my in-person interviews was with my first stock car hero, Paul Goldsmith. In May of 2018 I called him at the Highland-Griffith airport which he owns and operates to see of he would like to see a model of the supercharged ‘57 Ford that he drove. We had a great 90 minute talk. Paul finished second in the AMA flat track series in 1954 and became a driver for Smokey Yunick in 1956. In ‘57 he drove Chevys and Fords that Yunick built along with the #98 supercharged Ford built by DePaolo when Smokey didn’t race. He said that Smokey was indeed a real character, but that he could get more horsepower from the Chevy and Ford engines than anyone else during the ‘50s and ‘60s. Smokey in turn said that Paul was the most talented of all those that drove for him. During ‘58 and ‘59 Paul was concentrating on the Indy 500. Nichels Engineering became the Pontiac equivalent of Holman Moody, and Paul was their factory test driver. In 1960 Paul finished 2nd in the USAC stock car standings. That car was sold after that season and was driven by Earl “Whitey” Johnson. The unique thing l remember about that car was that it had 4 smaller diameter exhaust pipes instead of the more conventional 2. The exhaust note was a much higher pitch than normal that bordered on painful. I asked Paul about this and he said it was especially bad when the sound was reverberating off of the guard rails. To combat this he said he would put a lady’s powder puff over each ear inside his helmet. In 1961 he became the USAC stock car champion with 10 wins in 19 races. He won the title again in ‘62 with 8 wins in 20 races. I saw him at Illiana Speedway in Schererville Indiana. The half mile track was clay surfaced in ‘61 and was paved in ‘62. Paul was super smooth and consistent on both surfaces. In September of ‘63 Ray Nichels and Paul began their association with Chrysler. He said that both the managers and engineers liked the idea that the facility was right next door to the airport and was only a short hour’s flight from the Detroit area. Paul returned to active NASCAR racing in ‘64. He said prior to the Daytona 500 the new Hemi blocks were cracking in the crankcase area. The foundry in Indianapolis repaired the core boxes, did an emergency production run, and then overnighted them to Nichels in Highland Indiana. They built up and had to dyno test all of them. They then overnighted these assembled engines to Daytona. Petty’s winning engine was built by Nichels. Paul also mentioned that his car was the test “mule” for any of the latest new racing parts. If the new part was proved to be an improvement it was then given to the other teams. If it failed or did not show any improvement it was sent back to Chrysler. Paul won 9 NASCAR races with his last outing in 1969. Paul was 92 years old when we talked and believe me he was VERY sharp then and still is today. He enjoyed seeing what l wrote about him in my book and autographed my model of his ‘57 Ford. It was an honor.
My models of his DePaolo Ford, that loud screaming ‘60 Pontiac, his USAC championship winning ‘61 Catalina, and the 01 car he drove in the ‘63 Daytona 500.
