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1955 Kurtis 500S1953 Kurtis 500S, Chrysler-powered1955 Kurtis 500B Championship Car driven by Jimmy Davies to third place in the 1955 Indianapolis 500
Kurtis Kraft was an American designer and builder of race cars. The company built midget cars, quartermidgets, sports cars, sprint cars, Bonneville cars, and USAC Championship cars. It was founded by Frank Kurtis when he built his own midget car chassis in the late 1930s.[1]
Kurtis built some very low fiberglass bodied two-seaters sports cars under his own name in Glendale, California between 1949 and 1955. Ford (US) running gear was used. About 36 Kurtis Sport Cars had been made when the licence was sold to Earl "Madman" Muntz who built the Muntz Jet. In 1954 and 1955, road versions of their Indianapolis racers were offered.
Kurtis Kraft created 387 midget cars, some ready to race and some without engines or otherwise incomplete. Parts for several dozen were sold also, possibly as "kits."[2] The Kurtis Kraft chassis midget car featured a smaller version of the Offenhauser motor. The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame describes the combination as "virtually unbeatable for over twenty years."[1] Kurtis Kraft also created 120 Indianapolis 500 cars, including five winners.[1]
Kurtis sold the midget car portion of the business to Johnny Pawl in the late 1950s, and the quarter midget business to Ralph Potter in 1962.
Frank Kurtis was the first non-driver inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame (U.S.). Zeke Justice and Ed Justice of the Justice Brothers both worked at Kurtis-Kraft after World War II. Zeke Justice was the first employee at Kurtis-Kraft.
The FIA World Drivers' Championship included the Indianapolis 500 between 1950 and 1960, so many Kurtis Kraft cars are credited with competing in that championship. One Kurtis midget car was also entered in the 1959 Formula One United States Grand Prix driven by Rodger Ward. It was not designed for international-style road racing and with an undersized engine it circulated at the back of the field for 20 laps before retiring with clutch problems.[3]
^ abcBiography Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
^KURTIS KRAFT, by Gordon Eliot White
^Hodges, David (1998). A-Z of Formula Racing Cars 1945–1990. Bay View books. p. 128. ISBN 1-901432-17-3.
KurtisKraft was an American designer and builder of race cars. The company built midget cars, quartermidgets, sports cars, sprint cars, Bonneville cars...
Team's midget car bodies. Kurtis started KurtisKraft when he built his own midget car chassis in the late 1930s. In 1941, Kurtis designed a car named The...
The Kurtis Sport Car (KSC) is a two-seat, aluminum-body sports car designed by Frank Kurtis and manufactured by KurtisKraft in 1949 and 1950. Built with...
powered midget was a Kurtis-Kraft that was built by Ed and Zeke Justice, the Justice Brothers, in their shop in Glendale from a Kurtis kit. Previous to this...
Indianapolis Motor Speedway KurtisKraft Practice Pat O'Connor (USA) May 30, 1958 29 Indianapolis 500 Indianapolis Motor Speedway KurtisKraft Race Luigi Musso (ITA)...
was assisted by Frank Kurtis, who had earlier attempted to produce a sports car under the KurtisKraft marque (the KurtisKraft Sport, which sold just...
Farina entered the 1956 Indianapolis 500 with the "Bardahl-Ferrari" - a KurtisKraft chassis with a six-cylinder Ferrari engine installed. This car carried...
Kurtis may refer to: Bill Kurtis, American television journalist Frank Kurtis (1908–1987), American car-builder and founder of KurtisKraft Mesut Kurtis...
ability. He drove for several seasons on a team owned by Frank Kurtis, owner of KurtisKraft, the leading constructor of AAA Championship cars during the...
Emil Diedt Frank DelRoy Dunn Eagle Elder Quin Epperly Wayne Ewing Hall KurtisKraft Eddie Kuzma Langley Lesovsky Carl Marchese Maserati McLaren Meskowski...
'the father of karting'. In 1956, while he was a race car builder at KurtisKraft, a famous builder of Indy race cars during the 1950s, he assembled the...
Special" #37 car that Force drove in the 1960 Indianapolis 500 was a 1959 KurtisKraft 500J, owned and entered by Roy McKay of Dayton, Ohio. Charlie Altfater...
Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States, was won by the KurtisKraft-Offenhauser of Johnnie Parsons, ahead of the Diedt-Offenhausers of Bill...
young Frank Kurtis who had a rented space in the Thorne shop. Zeke would later become Frank's first employee when he formed Kurtis-Kraft after World War...
career Nationality American Active years 1951 – 1960, 1963 Teams Bromme, KurtisKraft, Pawl, Kuzma, Lesovsky, Watson, Lotus Entries 12 Championships 0 Wins...
Ecurie Ecosse for Ron Flockhart. One of the more unusual entrants was a KurtisKraft roadster for Akton Miller, a car constructed in the US, with a powerful...
1948, race car designer and Kurtis-Kraft founder Frank Kurtis attempted to market a new sports car, the two-seater KurtisKraft Sport. Only 36 units had...
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