 All American Racers Eagle #7225, getting final prep for the Rick Mears exhibit at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
 Steve Krisiloff leads Billy Vukovich's Eagle and Peter Revson's McLaren during the 1973 Schaefer 500 at Pocono. Krisiloff's 1973 Grant King Racers Kingfish-Offy would be parked after 67 of the 200 laps with a blown engine. Vuky's fuel pump packed up on lap 64, while Revvie made it to lap 75 before a valve went south in his Offy.
Attrition was the name of the game that day with only seven cars crossing the finish line. Winner AJ Foyt was the only car on the lead lap.  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.  Bruce Walkup in the #97 Agajanian-Faas Racers Wynn's Spit Fire Mongoose-Offy at the inaugural Ontario 500 in 1970. Walkup would start 28th in the 33 car field and fall out on lap 117 with an overheating issue, finishing 16th.
Under that yellow rear bodywork is Drake-Offy #503. Soon-to-be installed in our 1973 Grant King Racers Kingfish chassis. The Offy came to us aboard Eagle #7228 in 2016, but was in desperate need of a rebuild. Then, through a trade, the Eagle was reunited with its original motor, and this engine became destined for the Kingfish. Thus, the 159 ci work of art was rebuilt by the late-great John Martin in the summer of 2019. It would be the final engine he would build, as he passed away on November 20, 2019 at the age of 80.  You didn't think you'd see an Eagle, a Hawke and three Elden chassis standing upright today, but it is a Thursday at KMPR.
 We have a massive nature preserve at KMPR. It just so happens our resident wildlife expert Paul Jay imported some exotic birds to join the deer, turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, Eagles, Kingfish, Coyotes and Margays that often turn up.
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Kettle Moraine Preservation & Restoration
KettleMorainePR@gmail.com Hubertus, Wisconsin 'Where History and Integrity Meet' |