1949 Cannon MKI Road Racing Special

Jim Seely and Ted Cannon were dry lakes racers before and after WWII and attended the first road race (Palm Springs) in California after the war in May 1950. They 'thought it looked like fun.' The announcer said that the next race was to be at Pebble Beach in November 1950. On the way home, they decided to build a car and race it. In 12 weeks, they built a car based on Ted's father's 1934 Dodge using parts lying around in Ted's machine shop. With Jim Seely driving, the car finished third in the feature race at Pebble Beach. The car was sold in 1953 and then used in various types of racing with different engines, transmissions, and rear ends.

Road racer: 1950-1957
Ice Racer: 1953-1957 (Minneapolis owner)
Drag Racer: 1957-1970

Race Results
11/05/50 Pebble Beach - Placed 3rd & 5th
04/01/51 Palm Springs - Placed 5th
05/27/51 Pebble Beach - Placed 8th and 11th
08/05/51 Buchanan Field - Placed 2nd
12/09/51 Del Mar/Torrey Pines - Placed 8th
03/23/52 Palm Springs - DNF (Burnt Rod)
04/20/52 Pebble Beach - Placed 2nd
05/31/52 Golden Gates - Placed 2nd & 7th
07/19/52 Torrey Pines - DNF (Broken Spindle)
08/??/52 Stockton - Placed 2nd and 6th
12/13/52 Torrey Pines - Entered car #37
5/24/53 Golden Gate - Entered

Ted Cannon built the Cannon MK 1 at his machine shop in North Hollywood, California, from parts accumulated from other projects. The chassis came from a 1934 Dodge and most of the running gear is from an early Ford. Cannon also invented a driver-controlled balance bar to synchronize the front and rear brakes. The engine was a hot-rodded Mercury Flathead V-8 and the Ford 3-speed transmission came from a wrecked Lincoln Zephyr that also provided the sheet metal for most of the bodywork. The car was finished just in time for the inaugural Pebble Beach Road Races in 1950, where Jim Seely drove it to third place behind Phil Hill's and Don Parkinson's Jaguar XK120s in the Pebble Beach Cup race. Seely raced the car twice more at the Pebble Beach Road Races in 1951 and 1952. After 68 years, the Cannon MK 1 Special is still owned by the Cannon and Seely families.