Track-Inspired, Street-Driven Show Winners

Two Generations of Traditional Track Roadsters

- Jorge Nunez

The trend in hot rodding today recalls the roots of the hobby as well as its spirit. Whether it’s the cars showing up at the local cruise night, or the one winning the AMBR trophy at the Grand National Roadster Show, the latest street rods take their influence from the earliest hot rods. Two outstanding examples of this trend are the track roadster– style rods built by father and son, Al and John Stone.

In addition to the straight-line racing done on dry lakes in Southern California (and streets everywhere), the stripped-down roadsters that raced on dirt oval tracks in the ’40s make up a significant chapter in the history of hot rodding.

Like the lakes racers, the earliest track roadsters were often stripped-down street cars. They were homebuilt on a budget from parts found at salvage yards, bought or swapped from friends, or that the owners just happened to have around the shop. They weren’t pretty, but they were functional and they were fast.

 

This pair of low-budget roadsters—Al owns the blue ’29 Model A and his son, John, owns the tan ’23 T—reflects the same low-dollar, use-what-you-have way of building hot rods as the early track roadsters. Many of the details and modifications of these two roadsters would not have been found on the ones bashing their way around a circle track 70 years ago, but the Stones didn’t build their roadsters for the dirt oval; they built them for the street and they built them for themselves.

 

The Stones have always been involved in racing. Al raced Midgets in New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. A generation earlier, his parents, Dick and Helen Stone, were both driving Sprint cars, Midgets, and Stock cars at Cherry Park Raceway in Connecticut. Al was 10 when his dad let him spray the number 45 on their Midget car. Al passed the tradition onto his own family, including John, who grew up racing Quarter Midgets.