His name almost synonymous with speed, Mario Andretti was surely the most famous - and probably the most versatile - American race driver from the late 1960s and well into the 1980s. Born in Montona, Italy, in 1940, Mario emigrated with his family to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1955; by 1959 he and twin brother Aldo were piloting a 1948 Hudson stocker around Nazareth Speedway. Just a few years later, Mario was driving USAC sprint cars.

Allentown, Pennsylvania native Hiram Hillegass, who manufactured race cars from 1919 until his death in 1960, built this 86-inch wheelbase sprint car in 1954-55 for fellow Allentowner Charley Sacks. The engine is a four-cylinder Ford with a HAL dual-overhead-cam head. Hal Hosterman began manufacturing OHV conversions for Model T's in the 1920s; twin-cam heads for Model A's and B's came later. This one sports the first set of Hilborn fuel injectors for a HAL and produces 240 horsepower from 220 cubic inches.

It would prove to be one of the last Ford conversions to compete successfully against the more expensive Offenhausers. Driven by Len Duncan, the car was a consistent top-five finisher on the eastern sprint-car circuit and entered Victory Lane often enough to secure its Offy-killer reputation.

Sacks sold the car John Secules in 1958, then bought the body and chassis back in 1961. With a Chevy V8 up front and Cotton Farmer behind the wheel, it won the Ted Horn-Bill Schindler Memorial Race at Williams Grove in 1962; and in 1964 it provided Andretti with what was probably his first competitive sprint car ride. While Mario moved on to win the Indianapolis 500 in 1969 - and four Grand Prix races in 1977 - the Hillegass was still running at major eastern sprint-car venues through 1972.

Current owner Lynn Paxton has restored it to its 1956 specification, as it appeared on back-to-back covers of Speed Age. It is more often on display at the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing in York Springs, Pennsylvania.

by AACA Museum