!!WALDO!!
1st March 2008, 23:41
The Last of a Breed of Race Car, a home build, basement build one of a kind racer.
Paul Russo and Ray Nichels constructed this car in the basement of Russo's Hammond, Indiana home during the winter of 1949-1950. Qualifying in the 7th row, the Russo-Nichels Special captured the imagination of the American racing public by running with the leaders for much of the day, before the rain-shortened race ended at 345 miles. The Russo-Nichels Special soon became affectionately known as “Basement Bessie” as it was campaigned on the AAA Championship Trail during the 1950 season. Ray Nichels and Paul Russo and their hand-built "basement" creation missed the chance to win the National Championship only after a season-ending injury to Russo in the November AAA Indy car race in Phoenix. Sam Hanks drove the car to second at Bay Meadows. The car collected wins at the Illinois State Fair at Springfield with Russo and with Johnnie Parsons at the first ever Indy car race at the newly built Darlington Raceway, SC in December and collected 1568 car owner points over the Lou Moore’s driver’s Henry Banks’ 1498 points. So this car and the team of Russo-Nichels would have been the Car Owner’s Champion in 1950.
As good as 1950 was 1951 started out with Bessie being too slow to make the 500 field as it appears the year old car was a bit outdated. As the season went on though Bessie performed and won at the Detroit Mile at the State Fairgrounds and finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th and collected 700 points for the season. Far behind the Belanger #99 that carried Lee Wallard to victory at Indy and Tony Bettenhausen to the National Title.
In 1952, Russo did not enter Bessie at the 500 and missed the show in Lutes Truck Parts Kurtis 4000 Dirt Offy. The car was sold to H. A. Chapman and was known as the Chapman Special at Milwaukee with his driver, one legged Midget star Bill Schindler driving Bessie to 3rd ,finishing behind winner Mike Nazaruk and Russo in the Lutes car in second after Bill started 18th out of 18 cars that started. There were 18 cars also missing the show including the previous race’s winner, Troy Ruttman in the 500 winning car and the outstanding Johnny McDowell crashing his Kurtis Offy in the north end when his spindle broke and being thrown from the car.
Schindler qualified 2nd at the Raleigh, NC paved mile but lost his brakes 43 laps into the race. Bill set 3rd fastest time at Springfield and took the lead on lap 67 and led the final 34 laps for the car’s second win at Springfield and fourth overall. A week later he ran second behind Chuck Stevenson in the dirt at Milwaukee for 200 miles. He did take the Pole at DuQuoin but had not been finishing races. At Syracuse Bill and Manual Ayulo crashed had in turn 3 on lap 37 and the caution flew until lap 61 but Schindler was uninjured. 14 days later, Bill left us in a horrible crash in a Sprint car race at Allentown, PA. Buzz Barton replaced him in Bessie at Denver and brought Bessie in 5th place. He missed the show at the San Jose, CA mile, the race that took Joe James from us. Buzz did qualify 3rd on the very tough Phoenix Mile but spun out on lap 81. The car collected a very creditable 780 points for the season with 680 being credited to the late Bill Schindler.
In 1953 East Coast veteran Midget racer drove to 5th behind Jack McGrath, Jimmy Bryan, Jerry Hoyt and Bessie’s father, Paul Russo at Milwaukee and still in the dirt. After a short June Springfield race Ernie was involved in a strange deal. At Detroit on lap 73 Ernie flipped Bessie, bringing out the Red Flag. It was so long that people worked on cars, illegal in those days so the race reverted to lap 51 and Ernie then was credited with 6th but knocked out of the car due to injuries. Bob Scott took over Bessie for the second Springfield race and brought her home 9th. Ernie got in for the tough Milwaukee 200 but was too slow and missed the field. At DuQuoin, Cal Niday brought Bessie in 8th after qualifying 4th, Bessie’s second one legged driver. Cal missed the Syracuse show and Bob Scott missed the Hoosier 100 by being too slow for the 18 car fields. Bob did finish 5th with Bessie at Sacramento after starting 12th and 5th again after starting 13th on the Arizona Fairgrounds Mile. Bessie garnered 691 points for the season with three drivers scoring points.
Now for 1954 bring in another East Coast star, Johnny Thomson and Johnny put Bessie in the inside of row two at the Greatest Spectacle but had the steering freeze up on lap 165 and was credited with 24th place in the low attrition race. Interesting that Johnny Thomson would die at Allentown over 6 years later in basically the same race that took Schindler. After Indy, the car landed in the able hands of Walt Faulkner. He started 7th and finished 8th completing 100 miles in the first pavement race on the Milwaukee Mile. Interesting this race had 19 cars out of 22 finish 100 miles unheard of in those days. Then the car and driver passed on Langhorne and showed up at Darlington but started 23rd and finished 13th. In this race Bob Scott lost his life on the Backstretch on lap 109 becoming the second driver to die that drove Bessie. At Springfield Duke Nalon took a shot and missed the field as Bessie was showing her age. Duke also missed the Milwaukee 200 a week later with Chapman’s aging car. At DuQuoin Andy Linden gets in and sets 3rd fastest time and was running 6th when the race flagged when Clay Smith a Champion Mechanic for Chuck Stevenson in 1952 was hit by Rodger Ward and killed. After passing on Syracuse they proceeded to miss the Hoosier 100 by being 24th fastest, unfortunately 18 started the race. At Sacramento Andy went to set 14th fastest and Cut it in half with a fine 7th. At Phoenix Bessie showed her teeth as came from 7th to finished 4th her best finish of the year. He finished with a 7th to 5th at the Las Vegas Dirt Mile ending up 2 miles behind Jimmy Bryan the new National Champion. 410 points put the H.A. Chapman #43 Russo/Nichels Offy in the middle of the car owner points with Andy picking up 360 of the points.
In 1955 the combo of Tony Bettenhausen and Paul Russo drove the Chapman #10 to second, unfortunately the car was a Kurtis 500. Tony drove Bessie at Milwaukee but missed the show and then passed on Langhorne. Tony then missed the Springfield show and it was off to Milwaukee. In the second longest race of the season, now a 250 miler Bessie chased Pat Flaherty home finishing second. Then she missed the race at DuQuoin with Tony and Jack Turner missed the race at Syracuse and the Hoosier 100 with old Bessie as she is not working on dirt all of a sudden. The car was not at Sacramento and now Bob Veith got into the car for the Arizona Fairgrounds and old “Traction” got Bessie to run 5th fastest but faded to 8th 4 laps down. The race ended early as Jack McGrath was killed on lap 85. Not a good way for AAA to end its connection to Championship Racing and all ladders. Bessie only got 450 and ended its time in AAA with 4629 points. Before she would race in 1956 three drivers who drove her were now gone. April 22nd at Vallejo, CA, Walt Faulkner was killed in a USAC Stock Car race on his first qualifying lap. He joined Bill Schindler and Bob Scott that also drove Bessie but did not survive the sport.
She won Springfield twice, once with Russo and with Schindler, won at Detroit with Russo and Darlington with Johnnie Parsons. Interesting she would still hang around for another 10 years.
http://www.indy500.com/photo/gallery.php?freeText=Russo+Nichels&searchType=freeText
Paul Russo and Ray Nichels constructed this car in the basement of Russo's Hammond, Indiana home during the winter of 1949-1950. Qualifying in the 7th row, the Russo-Nichels Special captured the imagination of the American racing public by running with the leaders for much of the day, before the rain-shortened race ended at 345 miles. The Russo-Nichels Special soon became affectionately known as “Basement Bessie” as it was campaigned on the AAA Championship Trail during the 1950 season. Ray Nichels and Paul Russo and their hand-built "basement" creation missed the chance to win the National Championship only after a season-ending injury to Russo in the November AAA Indy car race in Phoenix. Sam Hanks drove the car to second at Bay Meadows. The car collected wins at the Illinois State Fair at Springfield with Russo and with Johnnie Parsons at the first ever Indy car race at the newly built Darlington Raceway, SC in December and collected 1568 car owner points over the Lou Moore’s driver’s Henry Banks’ 1498 points. So this car and the team of Russo-Nichels would have been the Car Owner’s Champion in 1950.
As good as 1950 was 1951 started out with Bessie being too slow to make the 500 field as it appears the year old car was a bit outdated. As the season went on though Bessie performed and won at the Detroit Mile at the State Fairgrounds and finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th and collected 700 points for the season. Far behind the Belanger #99 that carried Lee Wallard to victory at Indy and Tony Bettenhausen to the National Title.
In 1952, Russo did not enter Bessie at the 500 and missed the show in Lutes Truck Parts Kurtis 4000 Dirt Offy. The car was sold to H. A. Chapman and was known as the Chapman Special at Milwaukee with his driver, one legged Midget star Bill Schindler driving Bessie to 3rd ,finishing behind winner Mike Nazaruk and Russo in the Lutes car in second after Bill started 18th out of 18 cars that started. There were 18 cars also missing the show including the previous race’s winner, Troy Ruttman in the 500 winning car and the outstanding Johnny McDowell crashing his Kurtis Offy in the north end when his spindle broke and being thrown from the car.
Schindler qualified 2nd at the Raleigh, NC paved mile but lost his brakes 43 laps into the race. Bill set 3rd fastest time at Springfield and took the lead on lap 67 and led the final 34 laps for the car’s second win at Springfield and fourth overall. A week later he ran second behind Chuck Stevenson in the dirt at Milwaukee for 200 miles. He did take the Pole at DuQuoin but had not been finishing races. At Syracuse Bill and Manual Ayulo crashed had in turn 3 on lap 37 and the caution flew until lap 61 but Schindler was uninjured. 14 days later, Bill left us in a horrible crash in a Sprint car race at Allentown, PA. Buzz Barton replaced him in Bessie at Denver and brought Bessie in 5th place. He missed the show at the San Jose, CA mile, the race that took Joe James from us. Buzz did qualify 3rd on the very tough Phoenix Mile but spun out on lap 81. The car collected a very creditable 780 points for the season with 680 being credited to the late Bill Schindler.
In 1953 East Coast veteran Midget racer drove to 5th behind Jack McGrath, Jimmy Bryan, Jerry Hoyt and Bessie’s father, Paul Russo at Milwaukee and still in the dirt. After a short June Springfield race Ernie was involved in a strange deal. At Detroit on lap 73 Ernie flipped Bessie, bringing out the Red Flag. It was so long that people worked on cars, illegal in those days so the race reverted to lap 51 and Ernie then was credited with 6th but knocked out of the car due to injuries. Bob Scott took over Bessie for the second Springfield race and brought her home 9th. Ernie got in for the tough Milwaukee 200 but was too slow and missed the field. At DuQuoin, Cal Niday brought Bessie in 8th after qualifying 4th, Bessie’s second one legged driver. Cal missed the Syracuse show and Bob Scott missed the Hoosier 100 by being too slow for the 18 car fields. Bob did finish 5th with Bessie at Sacramento after starting 12th and 5th again after starting 13th on the Arizona Fairgrounds Mile. Bessie garnered 691 points for the season with three drivers scoring points.
Now for 1954 bring in another East Coast star, Johnny Thomson and Johnny put Bessie in the inside of row two at the Greatest Spectacle but had the steering freeze up on lap 165 and was credited with 24th place in the low attrition race. Interesting that Johnny Thomson would die at Allentown over 6 years later in basically the same race that took Schindler. After Indy, the car landed in the able hands of Walt Faulkner. He started 7th and finished 8th completing 100 miles in the first pavement race on the Milwaukee Mile. Interesting this race had 19 cars out of 22 finish 100 miles unheard of in those days. Then the car and driver passed on Langhorne and showed up at Darlington but started 23rd and finished 13th. In this race Bob Scott lost his life on the Backstretch on lap 109 becoming the second driver to die that drove Bessie. At Springfield Duke Nalon took a shot and missed the field as Bessie was showing her age. Duke also missed the Milwaukee 200 a week later with Chapman’s aging car. At DuQuoin Andy Linden gets in and sets 3rd fastest time and was running 6th when the race flagged when Clay Smith a Champion Mechanic for Chuck Stevenson in 1952 was hit by Rodger Ward and killed. After passing on Syracuse they proceeded to miss the Hoosier 100 by being 24th fastest, unfortunately 18 started the race. At Sacramento Andy went to set 14th fastest and Cut it in half with a fine 7th. At Phoenix Bessie showed her teeth as came from 7th to finished 4th her best finish of the year. He finished with a 7th to 5th at the Las Vegas Dirt Mile ending up 2 miles behind Jimmy Bryan the new National Champion. 410 points put the H.A. Chapman #43 Russo/Nichels Offy in the middle of the car owner points with Andy picking up 360 of the points.
In 1955 the combo of Tony Bettenhausen and Paul Russo drove the Chapman #10 to second, unfortunately the car was a Kurtis 500. Tony drove Bessie at Milwaukee but missed the show and then passed on Langhorne. Tony then missed the Springfield show and it was off to Milwaukee. In the second longest race of the season, now a 250 miler Bessie chased Pat Flaherty home finishing second. Then she missed the race at DuQuoin with Tony and Jack Turner missed the race at Syracuse and the Hoosier 100 with old Bessie as she is not working on dirt all of a sudden. The car was not at Sacramento and now Bob Veith got into the car for the Arizona Fairgrounds and old “Traction” got Bessie to run 5th fastest but faded to 8th 4 laps down. The race ended early as Jack McGrath was killed on lap 85. Not a good way for AAA to end its connection to Championship Racing and all ladders. Bessie only got 450 and ended its time in AAA with 4629 points. Before she would race in 1956 three drivers who drove her were now gone. April 22nd at Vallejo, CA, Walt Faulkner was killed in a USAC Stock Car race on his first qualifying lap. He joined Bill Schindler and Bob Scott that also drove Bessie but did not survive the sport.
She won Springfield twice, once with Russo and with Schindler, won at Detroit with Russo and Darlington with Johnnie Parsons. Interesting she would still hang around for another 10 years.
http://www.indy500.com/photo/gallery.php?freeText=Russo+Nichels&searchType=freeText