Bobsy Formula Vee Registry

[David Fillman]

With some encouragement from the Bobsy Sports Racer Registry I decided to start a Bobsy Formula Vee Registry.
This is what I slapped together today:

http://fillmanmachining.com/bobsy-fv-registry

I added a page to my machine shop website because I knew how to do it and it was quick. Once I get more organized I will have my wife do a dedicated website that is a bunch more professional.

I encourage anyone with information on Bobsy Formula Vees to contact me through my website. I will not give out personal information unless I have been given permission by the car's owners. Most of the info and pictures I got through Internet searches.

If anyone wants something deleted please let me know.

Thanks,
Dave Fillman

[David Fillman]

Since I started this registry last month we have found 12 surviving Bobsy Vanguards and 3 Bobsy Vegas. There were about 120 Vanguards built and as many as 23 Vegas built. That works out to 10% of the Vanguards and better than 10% of the Vegas. More than half of them are still being raced.

If anyone has any leads or info to add I would appreciate it. Thanks to everyone who has helped so far.

My wife is working on a much better webpage. I want to put up a bunch of magazine articles and manuals from the factory that I have collected over the years.

[Bobsy SR 6]

Hey David

I was on the site a few days ago. Looking good!! I used the link from Bob Alder' s Sports Racer site. Nice pics, looking forward to more info on the history of this side of the Bobsy story.

Jerry Mong was obviously a prolific builder/designer, however the brand isn't very well known or recognized. Some of his design ideas were ahead of their time. I would really like to see more pics of "naked" chassis to see how they evolved. For example my 1972 Bobsy sports racer utilizes rocker arm rear suspension which unusual for that time frame.(I'm rebuilding SR chassis #14 which will be for sale. Trying to get more Bobsy s out there)

Keep up the great work!
Tom

[David Fillman]

John McCollister has been a great help with sorting out the Vega history for me since he built and drove Vegas for Jerry. I don't have as much history on the Vanguards but I can compare the two models directly since I own and have raced both for 37 years.

It would be interesting to compare the development of the Bobsy Vees to the development of the Bobsy Sports racers. The earlier Vanguards (1964 to 1966) are primitive compared to the Vegas (1967 to 1968). The Vanguards have ladder frames that have 1/10th the torsional rigidity of the Vega's space frames according to factory testing. The Vega space frames are also 40 pounds lighter even with the steel side panels installed. The Vanguards are much easier to work on. The Vega instructions explain how to horse an engine in using two strong guys. I tried once and crushed most of the pushrod tubes. After that I assembled the jugs and pistons after the short block was mounted to the transaxle. The Vanguard is wide open and only a chain hoist is needed to install a complete engine.

Aerodynamically I think the Vegas are not too far off from todays narrow Vees. I drove my Vega against the Previous Owner of my Vanguard many times. At Pocono while I was driving the Vega on the long back stretch I could pick up the Vanguards draft maybe 100 yards back and slingshot past before the infield left turn. The PO said he needed to be much closer to pick up the Vega's draft. We usually worked together to get back up with the lead group by bump or push drafting. The pointy nose of the Vega did not work nearly as well pushing since it would slide off the 1" wide shifter guard on the Vanguard. The wide nose of the Vanguard against the 8" wide shifter guard on the Vega worked much better. I can still hear the engines syncing up while we were doing this. We were on the same Continental radials and both had short boxes so the RPMs matched when we bump drafted.

If you think push drafting is crazy that was nothing compared to the Le Mans starts that we did. I had a hell of a time getting my belts on while trying to shift the car accelerating with a group of drivers who were also trying to get their belts on. I usually came up short a shoulder belt or two. I seem to remember doing those at Bridgehampton and Pocono. We also drove many of the tracks backwards. It was obvious that the tracks were not set up for that.

[David Fillman]

Since I started this registry last month we have found 12 surviving Bobsy Vanguards and 3 Bobsy Vegas. There were about 120 Vanguards built and as many as 23 Vegas built. That works out to 10% of the Vanguards and better than 10% of the Vegas. More than half of them are still being raced.

If anyone has any leads or info to add I would appreciate it. Thanks to everyone who has helped so far.

My wife is working on a much better webpage. I want to put up a bunch of magazine articles and manuals from the factory that I have collected over the years.

We are now up to 22 surviving Bobsy Vanguards and 7 Bobsy Vegas. I finally got my Vanguard out at a VRG vintage race. I had a blast but the car was not prepared as well as I had thought.

https://fillmanmachining.com/wp-cont.../08/turn_5.jpg