he Speedway Engines way back then
In 1933 Midget Speedcars first caught the imagination of young men throughout the US and gradually blossomed shortly after the end of WW11.
Car racing was growing at a fast pace, those day entertainment was limited. Enterprising young men and even at that early stage surely a women was in the picture somewhere ,looked for suitable power plants to power these gleaming little homemade racers .
Racing on tracks bulldozed from corn fields the small racers soon started to build eager crowds wanting to see these flash looking little rockets race on small tracks where spectators were ringside.
For almost two decades they races in football stadiums, fairgrounds 5 nights a week and twice on Saturday and Sunday, such was the demand.
Cash was real short in the period around the big depression so if you wanted to race you were going to become an innovator. The race sanction groups of the time agreed on an engine size between 100 and 142 cubic inches, but in those days very few cars had suitable engines.
1934 saw most midgets being powered by outboard engine and these were very powerful but the down side was the noise, very loud. Motor Cycle engines were also starting to become popular.
Race crowds normally would top 18,000 spectators all paying 0.50cents admissions and expecting continuous hair raising racing and despite the efforts by the teams the standard of the cars was at best questionable.
Regular break downs, engines that would not fire and to add more discomfort to the huge crowds the smoke particularly during indoor racing was fast becoming a concern for the pioneering promoter
Legendary Los Angles promoter Earle Gilmore was becoming frustrated with the performance of the cars, a meeting with noted engineers of the day Leo Goosen and Fred Offenhauser was arranged with the aim to develop a purpose built speedway engine. The result was a 95cubic inch engine based on half of the already famous Miller Indy Engine. The Offenhauser legend had begun.
The specifications for the first Offenhauser Engine:
Tech Specs at a Glance
1933 – 255 Original Offenhauser 4 cyl twin cam
• Bore: 4.250”
• Stroke: 4.50”
• CID: 255.38
• C/R: 10:1
• Weight: 325 lbs.
• HP: 250 @ 5,200 rpm
• Insert picture of the first Offy

The Offy was dynamic straight out of the shop and dominated race meeting first on the West Coast then across the country, almost everywhere it ran. The competition was still the outboard Evinrud Elto
The first Offy powered car was driven by Curley Mills and he won 16 features in 1934, Curley died on Christmas Eve 1935 from race injuries
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Insert out Board Powered Midget
`For many racing seasons the Offy had very little competition but drivers like Ray Stauffer using all their guile, courage and skill matched it with the Offy. For many racers the cost of an Offy engine was out of reach so in 1937 The Ford Motor Company came to their rescue when they released a passenger vehicle with small V8 136 cubic inch 60 horsepower flat head V8motor. The little Motor that could .This motor massed produced was the right weight and a perfect fit and could be tricked up with lots of special bits. Race cams cylinder heads and dual carburetor .The V860 was a strong fast engine that was perfectly suited to midget speedcar racing.
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The V860 would be the first engine to question the supremacy of the Offy. The V860 powered the majority of midget in the 1940s and was the car to beat on the non Offy programs.
With the Offenhauser dominating many circuits unrest fostered in the ranks between the haves and the have –not’s. There were many that could not afford the purpose built racing engine and at the peak of the sports popularity there was room for the two racing decisions. One for Offys only and the other for non Offy engine cars
The development of the V860 must go to the engineering brilliance of Vic Eldbrock with the introduction of twin manifolds, special aluminum cylinder heads , pistons and lots more special bits.
As well as producing performance bits Vic also ran a race team and with Roger Ward was responsible for the first ever win over an Offy at the famous Gilmore Stadium. Vic helped the performance along a touch by adding nitro methane to the fuel in the number 27 Red and White car much to the delight of the screaming fans
Insert V880 Ward
Back in Australia there was a similar story .December 15 1934 saw the first midget speedcar race at Melbourne’s Olympic Park. Racing started in New Zealand in 1937.
A variety of engines were used, Jeep , Ford Model A ,Studebaker , motor Cycle engines any type of engine provided it would fit and fell within the regulations of the day.
Visitor from America introduced the V860 and Offenhauser engines to our drivers who were developing their local engines with Twin Cylinder Vincent HRD Motor Cycle engines and of course our own Grey Holden and Falcon engines. The development of the Holden engine was remarkable, local engineers would develop it to a point where cars powered by Holden were able to win National titles from fields including some of the best Offenhauser equipment. Wins in match races against the Offy were achieved by many drivers.
The Repco Holden. Mackay Holden, McGee Trackburner and Tornado powered cars were bench marks in their times on Speedway in Australia. Another engineer was Merv Waggott. Cams by McGee and Waggott were the only cam shaft to have.
Hedley McGee was a rare and special race engineer who developed fuel injection for the Holden motor and his fuel injection systems were used all over the world . When the Yanks came to town with their Offys Hedley was the first choice to prepare their equipment. Tattersall, Warriner and all the Americans could be found at the Kings Cross work shop during their regular race visits.
McGee Cams still operates today from their base in the Canyon County, California. Sadly Hedley McGee passed away in 1984 and was added to the Speedway hall of Fame on June 16, 2007 at a function in Adelaide.
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Rated the best ever match race ,it was a three lap between Bryan Cuneen in the Yellow 55 Linklater prepared Holden and American Sherman Cleveland with the latest offy power ,as close as you would ever want to race , no fear , no quarter a mighty Holden win over the Offenhauser.
Repco Holden, McGee Cams Holden and MacKay Holden’s were the leaders, many local mechanics worked over their engines to achieve super performances.
Insert Trackburner

In later years, the variety of engine being use grew with teams and drivers looking for that perfect balance between car and engine. Falcon engines were strong
National Champ of the time Johnnie Stewart tried a Coventry Climax motor in his Ron Hodson backed car., Volvo and Chevy 2, Scat and VW all had powerful reputations and gained important victories.
Today the engine war is just as strong with Esslinger the leading brands ahead of Gaerte, Fo