Kurtis-Kraft Roadster

[Wardukw]

It's strange when ya think about it..something as simple as a turbine coming a croppa during a race..well it was the early days for this technology...id bet it was the drive line or something along those lines...still extremely cool none the less 😎

[PR19_Kit]

It was a auxiliary bearing on the Paxton, and something equally inane on Joe Leonard's 56. Neither were part of the engines.

[Wardukw]

Typical ain't it? ...so much tech for the time and it's the mundane parts which crap out.

[jcf]

Gas turbine power
I do remember a real turbine indy car from way back.

There were several. The first was a Kurtis-Kraft Indy roadster that had a Boeing 502 gas turbine installed. It was the SAC
"Fire Boid" which was built in the hobbyshop of SAC's Offutt Air Base. Firestone supplied the car and Boeing supplied the
engine. General LeMay was quite taken with the car. It survives today in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
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The first serious attempt at an open wheel racer was the mid-engine 1962 John Zink Trackburner, again a Boeing 502
supplied by the company along with engineering support during construction, testing and the attempt to qualify for the
1962 Indy 500. The car survives and is in the Zink Ranch Museum in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. 
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That's a young Dan Gurney in the driver's seat.

Len Williams of the Boeing Gas Turbine Division was the primary Boeing engineer involved in support of the Zink
program. In 1962 Len bought a surplus 502, the 502-8B that had powered the Cessna XL-19B - the first turboprop
light aircraft and used when the aircraft set an altitude record of 37,306ft. Len installed it in his 1932 Ford hi-boy
hot rod and drove it for the next 27 years, including commuting to work at the Boeing Plant 1 down by Boeing Field
in Seattle. The car survives and is in the LeMay - America's Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington.
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The XL-19B.
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[NARSES2]

Moved as per request