Boattail Speedster
This Shafer 8 Buick has made its way across the United States more than ten times, taking part in Great Race events.
Boattail Speedster
Chassis #: MC344CU98GLK
Phil 'Red' Shafer was an engineer for GM who built, campaigned, and raced cars from 1925 to 1936 but is best known for his seven Buick Straight 8 powered Indy race cars that were built and competed from 1931 to 1936. Years later, Tom McRay, the founder of The Great Race, commissioned a recreation of an original Shafer 8 that was built for the 1932 season to be built by Charlie Glick over a period of five months in 1999. The recreation received a bespoke chassis with leaf springs attached to solid axles front and rear, and a slightly newer 320 cubic-inch Buick Straight 8-cylinder engine fitted with four Stromberg 97 carburetors and an open header exhaust. The low-slung bodywork featured a cut-down windshield providing minimal protection for its two occupants. The Shafer 8 was later acquired by David Coker from Tom McRay and was campaigned across America in at least three Great Races. His brother Corky still retains his Buick Shafer 8 Indy Racer and uses it regularly around the Chattanooga, Tennessee, region.
Richard Rawlings purchased the car from Coker and gave it a restoration, and repainted it in a shade of green during season 16 of his television series Fast N' Loud. Dale Critz of Savannah, Georgia, purchased the car from Richard and has raced it at the Grand Ascent Hill Climb in Hershey, Pennsylvania, as recently as 2019.
By Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2023
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