1949 Snowberger Offy Indianapolis 500

Russell Snowberger of Maryland first raced at the Harrington, Delaware fairgrounds in 1921 and would become a fixture at local tracks throughout the 1920s. He competed in the 1928 Indianapolis 500 driving a Marmon and led the race for four laps before the supercharger failed, forcing an early retirement. He returned to Indianapolis for the next fourteen years, including the so-called 'junk formula' years, placing within the top ten for five years running. Among the accolades he achieved was a pole position for the 1931 Indy 500 with a four-lap average speed of 112.796 mph. His nearly-stock Studebaker engine had outperformed the entire field, and he would finish the race in 5th place overall, a feat he would repeat the following year.

His home-built chassis usually relied on Studebaker President eight-cylinder engines. Through 1947, he competed with American Automobile Association (AAA) and at Indy, with his final race in 1951 at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. After retiring from racing, he continued to build and prepare cars through 1961, serving as chief mechanic on the Federal Engineering team of Detroit, Michigan. After 1961, he operated a production machine company.

One individual who competed with the Snowberger chassis was Louis Rassey, the owner of a gas station and later a machine shop. Rassey's Indy 500 race car was initially powered by an Offenhauser engine developed by Fred Offenhauser and Harry Miller, later refined by Lou Meyer and Dale Drake in the post-World War II era.

The Offenhauser engine was later replaced by a V8 engine and disappeared until the late-1970s. After several decades removed from the public eye, it was discovered by Jim Etter, and at the time, the open-wheel race car still had eight-cylinder power. Mr. Etter later sold the car to Vic Yerardi of Weston, Massachusetts, who sourced an 'Offy' and restored the car, with it now finished in black.

In 1982, it was purchased by Jerry J. Moore of Texas who commissioned a second restoration, with the work handled by Bob Smith Coachworks of Gainesville, Texas. The work returned it to its 1950 Automobile Shippers livery with its Halibrand magnesium racing wheels replaced with the present knock-off wire wheels. Instead of its period number 36, the race number 67 was applied, as well as a Saint Christopher medallion similar to that fitted to the other Rassey car (driven by Bill Schindler in 1950 at Indianapolis).

The 97 inch Russell Snowberger chassis is currently powered by a 270 cubic-inch Meyer-Drake Offenhauser-tuned, double-overhead-camshaft inline-four fed by a Hilborn fuel-injection system. Its suspension is comprised of a solid front axle with transverse leaf springs while the rear uses a live axle with torsion bars. Four-wheel hdyraulic disc brakes provide the stopping power and there is a two-speed manual transmission.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2023