Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I think lightning turned into Triple X..call Jimmy Ceawford...he's selling Triple X cars on the west coast now at a real reasonable price and will probly know the history of the manufacturing co.

I think Chris Eash ran one of those and the 32U as well when Johnny Herrera drove it. That was 20 years ago but they did have some funky body work.

Seems like those cars were built in the mid-late 80s...

Pretty sure that the Marks & Keppler Kodiak tobacco sponsored #18 car that Jac Haud drove for a year or so was a Lightning chassis (beautiful car btw), and if memory serves one of the car owners (Marks or Keppler) was a primary partner in lightning chassis company.

Give me a day or 2 to look cause I know I still have the open wheel magazine with that car on the cover and the story about the team and car in it.

I think they also built midget chassis in the early ninetys and the Caves car out of California was a lightning chassis for a few years.

Of course a name like "Lightning" could very well have been used by multiple chassis builders if it never got patented.

As for value....probably worth what any 20 year old sprint car chassis is worth unless that particular one has some traceable history.

I think the poster above that said they became XXX chassis was thinking of Rocket Chassis.

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

Yep. I was thinking 1988. Marks or Kepler had gotten out, and the other kept the WoO car on the road and started Lightning.

Just a note on that Open Wheel article...

I distinctly remember the pictures showing a hood that looked more like a Gambler hood of the time. Lightning didn't introduce the rounded "bobsled" hood (as SoCalCowboy described it) until later in '88 or possibly even '89.

Signature here.

Wasnt Wolfgang in the Lightning chassis at Knoxville,one of the years he passed so many cars? I know (or think haha) that it was in a Kodiak car. Probably wrong but that is what I remember.

I believe that car was a Schnee.

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No, I think MandG is right. Doug was driving the #18 Kodiak Lightning car at the '88 King's Royal, and was involved in the crash that paralyzed Brad Doty. I'm not sure if Doug ran the alphabet at Knoxville that year, but he was probably still with the team at that time.

Signature here.

My memory is thinking that the Light Weight Cage cars were actually built out of .080" 4130 and not .063".

Yes, Wolfgang ran the Knoxville Nationals alphabet soup of mains in the Les Keppler (after Fred Marks left) Kodiak-sponsored Lightning Chassis #18.

Raymond Beadle was instrumental in getting the Kodiak deal (note Blue Max stickers on the car) to Keppler after his own sprint car team with Mr. Swindell was over.

Haud started out the season in the car and won the USAC Eldora seaason opener after a long overnight haul.

Jimmy Sills ran it late in the year. Not sure if others ran it, too.

Red Powell's red 32u did run a Lightning Chassis; although other chassis were utilized. I recall a Maxim being used by them as well.

They may have ventured East but it was mostly a West Coast chassis. Gotta remember in that day & age it was all about free chassis for the big dogs. Running one chassis vs. another was often whose chassis was free.

While I could be wrong, or suffering from old age, I seem to recall that Lightning was initally owned by a couple of guys named Mike Reid and Red Lambeth. Mike used to operate the parts truck at NARC shows, while Red owned a Construction company....but please do not take any of this as gospel!

Chuck.....

www.wagtimes.com found this hope it helps your cause.

Nope, I just watched my tape of the alphabet soup race. It was 1990 and Doug drove the orange #8 for the Williams brothers out of San Jose California and the chassis was a Schnee.

Doty was injured in the Marks and Keppler #18.

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Pretty sure Doty was injured in the Stanton #40

yes

Wolfie-

1988- who knows

1989 - Danny Peace Schnee chassis- kicked everybodys ass 50% of the time.

1990-Orange no. 8, most likely a Schnee since the Wolf actually preferred his own work if he had the time.

Regarding Doug Wolfgang and his various rides-- If you took a picture of Doug and his ride to be published in a program, many times he would be in a different ride before the program was issued. Some before the ink was even dry! This was especially true in the early 80's.