Album: Husting Anglewinder: the true story and pictures - by Philippe deLespinay
There is little doubt that the single, most important event in the history of slot car racing as a serious hobby came the day when the "final" design was established, in the same manner as what happened in full-size auto racing in the late 1950's after over 50 years of mis-direction. When Jack Brabham showed up at the 1961 Indy 500 with a mid-engine Cooper-Climax, after winning two Formula One world championship in similar cars, the last nail was planted in the coffin of the conventional front-engine racing car with rigid axles.
In competitive slot car racing, the revolution came from... a drag racer. Gene Husting was known to be one of the best around and held the fastest E.T. for no less than 24 years after he established his record in 1966. But as a road-racer, he was on rank with the average amateur and was not known for brilliant driving. So when he suddenly and rather easily defeated the best there is, people took serious notice, or did they?
Gene Husting built his (and pro-racing's) first anglewinder car after he saw a picture of a club 1/32 scale car built by mechanical genius Roy Moody in the midwest. Roy was a very creative individual and later produced some extraordinary radio-controlled machinery, and is credited for the invention of the plastic tie-wrap. Some pedigree...
When Husting, then a reporter of 1/24 scale pro races for Rod & Custom and Car Model, showed up at Gallagher's J&J Raceway in California, his car, fitted with a Lancer McLaren M6 body, was improperly geared, but showed great speed. To the great surprise of all present, Gene actually won the weekly pro-race with the car, humbling serious racers such as John Cukras and John Anderson.
The locals pros tried to find every and all reasons why the car was so fast, but centered about the "rocket" motor, ignoring that the speed of the car came form its faster cornering, allowing it to reach a greater top speed. This narrow-minded thinking, also seen today from many Group-7 racers, lasted for weeks.
Bruce Paschal, an open-minded, very bright guy, and president of the Standard Fruit Company, one of the largest importer of exotic fruit in the USA, a slot car fanatic who financed many of the top pro racers (Cukras, Mike Steube, John Anderson, Bob Emott...) and organized races such as the great 1970 Louisiana Grand Prix, heard of this through the grapevine. He immediately called Husting, then talked him into sending this miracle car to him in Louisiana. Husting sent the car, then built another for himself, and yet another for John Cukras.
Cukras, the period top pro, proceeded to win every weekly race at Gallagher's, a total of 12 of them, setting a new record there for the number of consecutive wins. Then he built himself one of those funny cars, now with a removable motor. Young up-and-coming John Anderson asked Husting to loan him the car, and with it won another 13 weekly races in a row, beating Cukras' record.
And this brings us to the famous USRA MC&S race, where the entire world of pro-racing changed forever, the anglewinder cars utterly humbling every and all inlines, which became instantly obsolete, to the dismay of some of the greatest pro racers such as Jerry Brady or Bob Cozine.
Champion's Ray Gardner took pole with a Cukras-built funny car, while others who had never been able to make a main before, like Keith Tanaka, found themselves contesting for the win. Mike Steube built a better funny car than anyone the night before the race and won the most important slot car event ever, changing the face of slot car racing with a victory that resounded around the planet.
The only surviving car of the 3 built by Husting is the one he gave to Bruce Paschal in early 1968. It was returned to Gene a year ago by now-retired Bruce in an elegant gesture.
Husting is very jealous and possessive of this car, possibly the most important car in the history of the hobby, but was kind enough to let me take more pictures of it today.
Following are these pics, and I hope that you enjoy them. The body is the one painted by Kovacs and fitted to the car for the MC&S race (they ran coupes) and lettered to Paschal's name.
Changed: Jul 06, 2007.
Contains: 9 items.
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| Album: Vintage Chassis - Restorations and Replicas
Changed: Jul 06, 2007.
Contains: 1 item.
Viewed: 3420 times.
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Album: Vintage Slot Cars 
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