1963 Meskowski Dirt Champ Dirt Track Racer

Low, rear-engine cars were very successful in the mid-1960s on paved oval tracks. When A.J. Foyt's race car did not arrive in time for a race at Milwaukee, he drove the front-engine dirt car he'd raced the night before.

Until 1970, the top level of American open-wheel racing was contested on dirt and paved ovals. Teams had a dirt car and a pavement car.

Wally Meskowski was a master of the dirt car build. He had this job ready for A.J. Foyt at the end of the 1963 season with some of his characteristic features: a 225 Meyer-Drake Offenhauser dual overhead cam engine with a Hilborn injection system and two shocks at each wheel - except the left rear, with one.

The upward sweep of the frame and belly pan at the right rear was designed specifically, so hard-charging Foyt wouldn't bottom out in turns. Its power steering was unusual at the time.

The Meskowski-Offenhauser proved perfect for Foyt's all-out driving style. With George Bignotti as chief mechanic, Foyt won all five dirt contests in the 1964 USAC Championship season in this car. Combined with his five pavement wins - including the Indy 500 - Foyt took the top podium in 10 of 13 races to secure the 1964 National Championship.

Car builders get a lot of glory, but day-to-day success depends on the ingenuity of the crew. Bignotti worked with Foyt from 1960 to 1965. For many years he held the chief mechanic record for Indy car wins, with 85 victories.

August 22, 1965: Foyt wanted to leave the Milwaukee Mile when his Lotus-Ford didn't arrive. But mechanic Steve Stapp swapped dirt tires for pavement rubber and urged him to try qualifying anyway. Afterward, Foyt though Stapp read the stopwatch wrong. But no - he had the pole!

'Lining up, I felt like I was in a Greyhound bus against a bunch of sports cars,' Foyt recalled. To fans, it looked like it too. Foyt sat straight up in his sturdy dirt car, high above the sleek competition like a Fisher-Price man in a Fisher-Price car.

Against the likes of Gurney, Andretti, and two Unsers, Foyt nearly won the 200-miler. Only a late-race fuel and tire stop prevented it. Foyt considered his second-place finish 'one of the highlights of my career.'

This car was campaigned for more than two decades in USAC Championship series dirt track events. These are some highlights:

1963-68: A.J. Foyt won 13 races with this car over five years
1964: Foyt takes this car to victory lane in all five USAC dirt track races.
1969: Still owned by Foyt, now sponsored by G.C. Murphy, Roger McCluskey drove it in three USAC dirt races, finishing none.
1970-84: Bob Cicconi drove for speed shop pioneer Lou Senter, swapping the Offy for a small block Chevy V8.

Source - Brumos Collection