OLD YELLER II

The History of Max and Ina Balchowsky and Old Yeller II (Part III)

By the year 1959, Max had phased out of “re-cap” tires. He found a domestic tire for the Chrysler Station Wagon Goodyear Blue Streak that had a natural softness (the tire was eventually recalled and Max had all of his friends collect as many of those tires as they could) and the Old Yeller II had the white walled soft station wagon tires for major Grand Prix races.

To get the wider rim he thought was necessary for the tires, Max had the rims split and re-welded to increase the width of the rim. The Mobil decal was placed as in the period, Mobil would provide gas if entrants would use decals on the race-car. Autolite would provide a money prize if an Autolite decal was on race-car.

Bobby Drake won $150 for 2nd place from Autolite, racing the Old Yeller II in the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix. Max related a story many times about when they "drove the Old Yeller to Riverside Raceway and blew a tire during qualifying…. Friends of Max searched the parking area and found a Chrysler station wagon…, jacked up the car and took a rim and tire and left a note…”Will return after the races”.

Max was surrounded with some of the best high tech engineers of materials and metallurgy as they loved to work with the “underdog” with Hot Rod ‘breeding”. There was the constant Sea Bee credo of “Can Do” attitude and Max and Ina had help with every component of each race- car. This support team did not require any credit and was always more than willing to assist in any way needed.

The racing community would congregate at the Grand Prix Restaurant and do their “bench racing” as it was the most exciting time as everyone was experimenting with speed and performance. Bobby Drake, one of the most under rated professional driver was the owner and constant host at the Grand Prix Restaurant in Hollywood. California Sports Car Racing was the ultimate climate with the year around racing. Southern California was the “hot-bed” for speed merchants and performance parts fabricators. The Dry Lakes racing brought about the straight- line ultimate speed performance. The Drag racing brought about maximum power to ground concepts for a short length of track. Southern California Sports Car Racing brought about the famous California Road Racing Specials and nothing was too sacred to modify or change for the goal of maximum performance.

In late 1959, with a disagreement with Eric Hauser, Max and Ina parted ways with Eric and took the Buick engine as Eric took the chassis of the Old Yeller I. Now Max was armed with a wealth of racing concepts, as Max’s race-cars were always a “work in progress”. Ina and Max wanted to complete a new car in 7 weeks to compete in the Fall Grand Prix of 1959, but they did not meet the timetable.

There were chalk lines marked out on the flat part of the Hollywood Motors garage and there are photos of Max sitting on a box with a steering wheel and cigarette in his mouth… with the bell housing placed on the floor within the “chalk lines” on the floor.

Max and Ina knew that the Birdcage Tipo 60-61 race-car was recently introduced in Italy and it had a super light chassis with big disc brakes in the style of Girling. The rear suspension included a curved De Dion with a 5 speed transaxle with transverse springs. Ing Giulio Alfieri of Maserati with his radical design for the Tipo 60-61 series was encouraged to increase the horsepower for the American Sports Car Championships. Bill Sadler was experimenting with a light-weight racer with a Chevrolet motor in Canada with very innovative concepts that would set the trend for Road Racing racers for a decade.

The Sadler race-car faced the Old Yeller at Pomona Road Races. The Scarab race-car was designed for Lance Reventlow and it was a “big bucks” project with the best “racing think tank”. Lance and Chuck Daigh raced the Scarab across America in 1958 and sold the Sports Racing Scarabs to start a new design for a F1 Scarab. The Scarab had the inboard giant drum brakes with and special De Dion rear suspension. The Chevrolet motor was highly modified for the Scarab with Hilborn fuel injection system. Max had faced the Scarab in races many times and with the Old Yeller I. Ina and Max were not overly impressed with the Scarab. There were times with the “cobbled up” Old Yeller I, that Max was able to best Lance or Chuck Daigh (second driver for the Scarab) many times during the 1958-59 racing years.

Max and Ina knew they just had to be slightly better than the Scarab and Birdcage Maserati Tipo 61 and had to keep an eye on the newest Ferraris of the day. Archie Scott Brown in the Lister- Jag would have been superior if he raced the season in American racing in 1958 and the Lister with the Chevrolet would be a contender in Sports Car racing in America for the 1960s.