Race Cars of Yesterday, inc. Racecar Inventory
Why Race Cars Of Yesterday? . . . Because of a dream. Dave Rudenis of St. Petersburg, Florida, is that dreamer. In 1986, at a meet of vintage race cars at Citrus County Speedway, Inverness, Florida, his dream surfaced. After this class of cars showed it's style of racing, the cars were taken behind the bleachers for spectators to view. Dave noticed a good number of spectators never returned to their seats to watch the other classes compete! He was greeted with comments such as: "When I was your age, these were the styles of race cars I used to watch." "My father used to race these types of cars." "I can't beleive they raced cars like these."The cars spoke for themselves - emitting excitement, wonder, and memories of days goneby. These cars represent the beginning of racing as we see and enjoy it today. To preserve this racing heritage, Dave's dream is to build a museum where young and old alike may share in these memories and perhaps, for a short spell, bring back to life those "Race Cars of Yesterday". Today, others have joined in Dave's dream and move towards making that dream into a reality everyone can enjoy. Unless otherwise indicated, the following cars are owned by Race Cars of Yesterday. Each car is "adopted" by a member of the Club, who then provides for the care and maintenance of the race car, bringing it to all Club-sponsored events, such as parades, charitable fund raisers, car shows, and, of course, exhibition races.
 1938 Chevy 2 Door Sedan. This car is from the New Hampshire area.
 1934 2 Door Chevy Sedan (narrowed and shortened) with a Ford Flathead engine; also featured prominently in several racing scenes in "Greased Lightning"; purchased in the Black Hills of North Carolina from the estate of Mickey Miller, the Racing Coordinator for the movie "Greased Lightning".
 1937 Chevy powered by a 270 C.I. GMC 6 cylinder engine that was involved in the movie's spectacular off-track crash scene involving a school bus. This car raced competitively in the Danville, Virginia area until it was used in the movie. The car was donated to the Club by Olin Hopes of Daytona Beach, Florida.
 1940 Ford with a modified Flathead V8 engine. This car was purchased from Leon Seltzer of Burlington, North Carolina. It is known that the car raced in the Durham, N.C. area. The first driver of the car is known to be Jimmie Ivey and it was also driven by Clarence "Leadfoot" Burch with Hot Rod Penny as the mechanic.
 1937 Ford Coupe powered by a modified Ford Flathead V8 engine. The car has always been owned by Dave Rudenis. It has raced at Sunshine Speedway in Pinellas Park, Florida for many years and it won the 25th Anniversary Race there.
 1933 Ford 5 Window Coupe powered by a modified 261 C.I. 6 cylinder Chevy engine. This car was purchased from Joseph Brenner of Newville, Alabama and was driven at one time by Troy Waters (who won 34 feature races in 3 years with the car). The engine was built by Sonny Black, a southern engine builder well known in his own locale. The car was very well known at race tracks in the Alabama area.
 1940 Ford Coupe is the race car used in the movie "Greased Lightning" and driven by Richard Pryor who portrayed NASCAR driver, Wendell Scott. This car is affectionately known as "Wendell" rather than its car number.
 1937 Ford Sedan powered by a Mercury Flathead V8 engine. This car was found in South Dakota and brought to Florida where it became the "logo" car of Race Cars of Yesterday.
 1936 Ford Flatback with a Mercury Flathead engine; also a race car seen in several scenes from "Greased Lightning".
 1936 Chevy Coupe out of Norflok, Virginia, powered by a 270 GMC 6 cylinder engine. This car won 6 NASCAR Championships with Bruce Warren behind the wheel.
 1934 Chevy Sedan powered by a Chevy 6 cylinder engine and comes from Rutland, Vermont.
 1938 Chevrolet. Putney, Vermont was the home of the "Green Mountain Well Company" car. This "skeeter" has a narrowed and shortened body mounted over power steering, torsion bar suspension, and a modified Chevy 6 cylinder engine.
 1934 Ford 5 Window Coupe with a Flathead engine. We have no history on this car.
 1936 Chevy Coupe with a 6 cylinder Chevy Engine, out of Tampa, Florida.
 Here is a picture of the restored #84 "THE WEBB CITY SPECIAL" This is a modified '32 ford with a 300 CID straight six, driven in the Tampa Bay Area by well known driver "Jack Arnold" in the early '60's and was sponsored by Doc Webb (WEBB CITY). Jack Arnold won The Governor’s Cup Memorial Race in 1971. Car was restored by Chris Kramer and Mark Simpson and is driven by Mark “The Mocker" Simpson, from Boone County, Ky.
 1933 Chevy 5 Window Coupe with 6 cylinder engine, a dirt track car that raced originally out of Andover, New Hampshire. This car was purchased displaying the #4, but during restoration the original number was found under several layers of paint. The names of the pit crew members listed on the deck lid and the sponsor shown on the hood also were discovered during restoration.
 1938 Plymouth Coupe with Plymouth "Spitfire" 6 cylinder Flathead engine. This car was featured in the XXXX issue of XXXXXXX Magazine
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