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TL:DR - Legendary Super-modified "The Purdy Deuce" · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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  BreakFix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
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  by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
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  Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
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  Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
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  Hey everybody, Crew Chief Eric here.
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  And on this episode of Too Long, Didn't Read, we're joined by Kip Zeider
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  from the International Motor Racing Research Center, who explains to us
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  the significance of Oswego Speedway's legendary supermodified, the Purdy Deuce.
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  Our current display car is one of the more iconic cars in the history
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  of Oswego supermodified racing.
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  It's a car called the Purdy Deuce.
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  The Purdy Deuce was built by a gentleman by the name of Howard Purdy.
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  And he and his partner, Bob Hoxton, laid out the chassis
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  on his parents floor in 1964.
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  This was going to be the 56 car that Mr.
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  Purdy had built in his career.
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  And little did either of them realize that this car would subsequently go on
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  to become one of the dominant cars in the mid 60s through the early 70s at Oswego.
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  It's what they call an upright, and you can see that by looking at the pictures.
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  The driver basically sits upright behind a big steering wheel.
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  The, uh, engine.
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  And the drive train are offset 7 inches.
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  The car is powered by a 1960 small block Chevy engine.
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  Now, this car competed at Oswego from 1964 to 1974.
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  It won 25 features, including the 1969 International Classic 200,
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  which is the biggest race of the whole season at Oswego Speedway.
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  That race was won by Bentley Warren.
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  It won its last race in 1974, and then it disappeared to Howard Purdy's bar.
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  And it sat there, and it sat there, and it sat there.
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  And for people like myself who are old enough to remember having seen it race at
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  Oswego, the lore grew each passing year.
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  Are we ever going to see the car again?
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  Is the car just going to rust away to nothing?
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  What's going to happen of it?
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  For whatever reason, Mr.
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  Purdy was never intent on having it restored.
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  But interestingly enough, Sadly, after Mr.
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  Purdy died, his son, Chris, and only within the last couple of years, has
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  there been kind of a groundswell from a lot of the people that actually worked
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  on the car originally in the mid 60s to actually get the car out, restore
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  it, and get it so people can see it.
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  So that project went on last year.
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  Multiple people, Doug Holmes did the engine, a fellow by the name
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  of Steve Miller did the body, Lee Osborne did the power coating.
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  It all happened, and it was all done interestingly enough in time for
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  last year's International Classic in September, and the great Bentley
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  Warren, who was driving the car when it won that 69 Classic, actually took
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  it for some laps around the track.
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  Now, the current engine, Is dynoed at something like 580 horsepower.
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  So Bentley was running 18 second laps at Oswego, and he could have
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  run faster, got a brand new motor in it, but it's got 50 year old shocks.
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  So he couldn't really run quite as fast as he'd like to.
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  Bentley is in his early 80s.
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  Bentley is probably one of the coolest guys walking the face of the earth.
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  He made the Indy 500 twice.
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  He was a multiple time Oswego Speedway champion, multiple time
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  international classic winner.
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  One of the interesting things about this car is that this car ran through a number
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  of different styling changes and types of cars that were running at the Speedway.
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  You went to a more traditional offset car, farther offset car.
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  There was even rear engine cars at that time that were competing against it.
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  It's Zenith year was in 1965 where it won 11 out of 12 features
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  driven by a guy named Ron Lux.
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  Mr.
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  Lux was sadly killed in a sprint car accident.
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  Several different drivers hopped in the seat after that.
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  Then Bentley got in the car.
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  Bentley drove the car for two or three years, did very well with it.
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  A fellow by the name of Warren Conium from Canada drove the car for a
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  couple of years, did okay with it.
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  The last driver to actually win in it was the late Jimmy Winks, and
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  Jimmy won multiple features during the two years he raced in it.
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  For those of us that have been fans of Oswego Speedway, or simply those
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  of us who are simply fans of iconic and game changing race cars, the
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  Purdy Deuce is One of those cars that's really high up on that list.
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  I'm blessed with the fact that I never thought I'd see it again, much less be
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  fortunate enough to actually have it here on the, on the center display floor.
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  And it's going to be one of the centerpieces of our May 11 conversation.
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  Oswego Super is a legacy of speed at the Steel Palace.
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  Oswego is aptly known as the Steel Palace because the walls that surround
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  the entire track, which is a five eighth of a mile oval, are steel.
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  They are hard and they are unforgiving.
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  So we are going to be doing a center conversation on May 11th, dealing
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  with kind of the evolution, the history of super modified racing
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  at the track, as well as fortunate enough to have the deuce here on the
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  floor, and we'll be recognizing the various people that were instrumental
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  in the restoration of the car.
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  We're going to have Bentley Warren here.
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  We're going to have Warren Conium here, and we're going
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  to have both Eddie Bellinger.
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  Who won a fantastic 1983 international classic when both Bentley Warren and
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  Warren Conium ran out of fuel on the last lap and we'll have Eddie's son, Brandon,
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  who is a current competitor at Oswego.
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  So we're hoping to tie together the generational aspect
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  of racing at the Speedway.
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  We'll tie together the evolution of the car itself.
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  And again, we'll have truly one of the iconic cars in the history of the Speedway
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  here on the floor, the Purdy Deuce.
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• 5:25
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• 5:27
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• 5:34
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