1948 Estes Indy Racing Special Monoposto

Robert S. 'Bob' Estes of Inglewood, California was a Mercury dealer. He was born on September 21st of 1913 in Los Angeles. He had a passion for automobiles and racing that led to him modifying a Ford Model T roadster in high school and setting a speed record of 111 mph in 1930 at Muroc Dry Lake. He was active in the SoCal dirt track racing scheme before withdrawing due to the expense. He studied engineering at UCLA for two years until his father passed away.

Bob worked at a filling station and soon operated several locations. One evening, Clark Gable drove into one of the filling stations in his black Packard. Bob made a bet with Clark and the two were soon drag racing down Santa Monica Boulevard.

After wartime service, Estes purchased a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Inglewood which quickly evolved into a successful business venture. This allowed him to rekindle his racing involvement in a wide variety of arenas, including sponsorship of a hot rod in the newly formed California Roadster Association (CRA) driven by eventual 1952 Indy '500' winner Troy Ruttman. Other racing ventures included midgets, stock cars, sprint cars, Pikes Peak hill climbs, and USAC champion cars. His Bob Estes Streamliner raced at Bonneville where it set the Bonneville C-Class record with a speed of 229.9 mph with driver George Hill on September 13, 1952.

In 1954, Estes sponsored the first A.J. Watson-built roadster, which finished in 7th place at the Speedway that year. In total, the Bob Estes team had 9 starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with a best finish of third place in 1956 with don Freeland driving, and a fourth in 1960 with Don Branson.

After the American Automobile Association's Contest Board terminated its association with the sanctioning of motor racing, Bob Estes (along with Tony Hulman, Arthur Harrington, and Gordon Betz) helped form the United States Auto Club (USAC) to continue the sanctioning of the Indianapolis '500' and National Championship competition.

In 1955, Bob Estes started Precision Motor Cars in Beverly Hills, California. Later, he and Otto Zipper formed Estes-Zipper Porsche-Audi. In 1966, Bob was appointed the Western United States distributor for Lamborghini and then in 1969, he formed Beverly Hills Porsche-Audi with Ralph Cutrite and Bill Karges.

Bob's first championship car was the 1948 Bob Estes Special. It was built and raced in partnership with Conrad 'Connie' Weidel, and driven by California driver Manuel 'Manny' Ayulo. Unfortunately, the car and team failed to qualify for the 1948 Indianapolis '500' race. The car returned to Indy in 1950 with a 268 cubic-inch Mercury V8 fitted with Ardun overhead-valve 'Hemi' cylinder heads. It was one of 99 entries attempting to qualify for the race. It was driven by Californian Joe James who set two world stock-block records on May 27th and he initially qualified to start the race, only to be bumped out of the field on the last day of qualifying.

Although the car failed to race at Indy in 1950, it did attract Clark Gable who posed for a photograph behind the wheel.

The Bob Estes Special returned to Indy in 1951 as part of a two-car team. It was now powered by the very first 4-cam stock-block Ford/Mercury engine ever to run at Indy, engineered by Joe Davies. The Bob Estes Special was driven by Bob Scott during qualifications when a blown head gasket took it out of contention.

The Bob Estes Special had attempted to qualify for Indy on three occasions and was unable to make the field. Along with its Indy appearances, the Bob Estes Special ran at Pikes Peak between 1950 and 1951. In 1950, Russ Snowberger drove it to 23rd place.

After the Bob Estes Special retired from racing, it remained with the Estes family until being brought to auction many years later. It was given a complete, long-term restoration that included a complete rebuild of the dry-sump, Ardun-head engine.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2018