Drake Offy #503 Returns

We picked up Drake-Offenhauser #503 this morning from our friends at the Grant King Racer Shops in Indianapolis. The 159ci powerplant is destined to be installed in our 1973 Grant King Racers Kingfish chassis, so it was only right that John Martin rebuilt it for us at Grant's shop.

Bill and Stephanie Throckmorton confirmed that this was the final engine John built before his untimely death in November, 2019, and made sure his final notes on the motor came our way.

The weight of that will forever be with us.

When we dropped the motor off in the summer of 2019, John giggled and told us it was a motor most likely was one AJ Watson formally worked on- it was a 'Frankenstein' with one of the cylinders cut off, replaced and bolted to the rest of the upper end. AJ Watson and Grant King had a few of these Frankenstein Offy creations, with the replacement cylinder likely sourced from blown engines used in tire tests that were cut up by Howard Millican.

John said #503 would be a strong motor. We have no doubts about it.