Friday, June 17, 2022

Ever since nonprofit Cool Cars for Kids, Inc. (CCfK) established the Philadelphia Concours d’Elegance, Coach Dick Vermeil not only joined its board, but has participated every year in the event with his own 1926 Ford Miller Schofield Special sprint car, built by Bignotti

It belonged to, and was raced by, his father Louis Vermeil, a 1995 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee. His father fielded it from 1949-1954

Best known as a National Football League head coach with the Philadelphia Eagles (1976-1982), St. Louis Rams (1997-1999) and Kansas City Chiefs (2001-2005), Dick Vermeil has a comprehensive and hands-on knowledge of Sprint Car Racing due to the fact that his father Louis Vermeil was one of the top Northern California car owners for 40 years.

Because his father worked in his shop on customer cars during the day and race cars late into the night – and his mother keep things going in that near-non-stop operation with good food and wine – the building was called the “Owl Garage.”

Louis Vermeil got interested in auto racing in the early 1920s when he saw such drivers as Jimmy Murphy, Tommy Milton, Ralph DePalma and Peter DePaolo turning laps at over 100 mph on the wooden boards of the 1.25-mile San Francisco Speedway in San Carlos.

The No. 7 was built in 1926 by Al Bignotti, who as a mechanic for his crew-chief brother George worked on six winning Indy 500 teams with drivers A.J. Foyt (1961 and 1964), Graham Hill (1966), Al Unser Sr. (1970-1971) and Gordon Johncock (1983).

And the old race car still has its original in-line, 4-cylinder, 200.5-cubic-inch Ford Model A Engine equipped with twin single-barrel Winfield Model SR Carburetors (which have good flow, atomization and adjustability), a WICO Model X Magneto and a Miller-Schofield Overhead-Valve Conversion Kit that help the four-banger produce an estimated 120 horsepower.

This cast-iron, detachable cylinder head is one of the most-celebrated of its era as it was designed in 1928 by legendary engineer and draftsman Leo Goossen for his boss Harry A. Miller – the wizard of Miller Engines and Racing Cars who conceived the idea – and the venture was funded by a group of businessmen led by George L. Schofield. Fitted with forged-steel rocker arms to actuate four intake and four exhaust valves, the Miller-Schofield unit – which was only made from January-December 1930 – has a 5.75:1 compression ratio versus the stock head’s 4.22:1 rating and it uses the Model A’s camshaft, push rods, forged-steel crankshaft and cast-iron engine block to triple the engine’s 40 horsepower.

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