THE ENGLE OFFY TODAY

A few years ago, the original Engle Kurtis Kraft chassis, known as "The Reid Car," was discovered by former driver Lynn Paxton. Since most of the original parts had been on "The O'Connor Car," vintage car collector Bud Schneerer gave the chassis a nice restoration utilizing other components.

Thereafter, vintage race car broker Jim Etter sold it to Bill Chapin of Pittsburgh. Today, carrying the No. 4 from its heyday in the hands of Daywalt and Nazaruk, Engle's original KK chassis is owned and driven in vintage events by Pat Whitehouse.

In 1996, Junior Dreyer purchased "The O'Connor Car" from collector Chuck Davis. The son of famous race car builder Floyd "Pop" Dreyer, Junior is a wizard metalman with more than a few major restorations to his credit. But the car had gone through the supermodified wringer and was in bad condition.

"It was a real basket case," Junior recalls. "But the dead giveaway we had the right Kurtis chassis were the shock absorbers. Charlie was the only guy I ever saw who used those big old Chrysler shocks on a race car. "I traded Chuck [Davis] a body job on a two-man Miller-Ford Indy car, plus an MG I had restored."

"When we brought that thing home in the back of a pickup truck, my mom thought Dad had lost his mind," Junior's son, Mike Dreyer, chuckled. "It sure doesn't look like the same car now."

In only three months time, Junior had the Engle beauty looking as if O'Connor could take her out and win the main at Winchester.

Fortunately, most all of the running gear, including the original 220cid Offy, was still with the car. The 16-valve double-overhead cam engine, with a bore and stroke of 4.0625 x 4.250, powers the car. Methanol fuel is handled by Hilborn fuel injection, while a Bendix-Scintilla magneto reworked by Joe Hunt supplies the spark.

The 84-inch wheelbase tubeframe is comprised of welded 4130 chrome moly steel. Suspension consists of a cross-spring front, with parallel torsion bars at the rear. Junior retained the Chrysler lever-action shocks at all four corners to soak up the bumps, just as Engle had mounted them. The solid front axle carries Ford spindles. The steering gear is a Ross unit. Ford drum brakes with specially machined aluminum backing plates are mounted only on the rear. An Offenhauser in-and-out box sends the Offy's might to a Halibrand quick-change rear end. Charlie's original 16-inch magnesium wheels carry Firestone knobbies on the rear and ribs on the front. The car carries the No. 3, just as in its glory days with Pat O'Connor at the wheel.

Since the racer is one of the few Kurtis sprinters around and one of the most famous, it's really the centerpiece of Junior Dreyer's fine collection. "That car certainly is a showpiece," Chuck Davis related recently. "Junior sure made a silk purse out of a sow's ear!"

There is a belief among American Indians that when a man and a beast draw blood on one another-exacting power from one another-they become one. If that's so, then these beautiful beasts represent some very good men.

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