09/14/2026
Let's go back... WAAAAY BACK!!🏁🏁
The Beloved "Rocket Wings" car, "Jimmie's Car", now referred to as the "OG #57" has a fascinating history! With amazing race car restorer, Jim Mann, recently selling his restored OG #57 to the Gaff Family in Auburn, there's been new interest of its pre-Hazen history.
With a little digging in the USAC and Michigan Racing Hall of Fame archives, the car's history has come to light.
The sprinter was built in 1959 with a Hillegass frame and was powered by a 220 Offy engine. Paul always called it a Curtis Craft copy. The car was super successful out of the gate with owner Dick Van Emmerik and midget/sprint car racing shoe and Michigan Racing HoF member, Ralph Donaldson. The #54 at the time ran with the Mississippi Valley Racing Assn in 1960/61 and set the track record at Ionia Fairgrounds in 1960 of 22.11 that stood for 20 years! The Emmerik/Donaldson team ran namely at Ionia Fairgrounds winning 8 features in 1962 and a total of 40 of 46 features in 2 years! (Sounds like Jimmie Elliott's wins!). They also ran with IMCA and USAC with their biggest win at the Fayette County Fairgrounds on Aug. 21, 1962 in a big IMCA feature event.
Van Emmerik sold the car in 1964 to Lloyd Gifford from Ft. Wayne. Gifford had several different drivers in the car, but driving the car in the most USAC races was Rocky Fisher! Rocky told me so many stories, including about how they made the first full roll cage by bending the steel around a tree, but I had no idea he raced it pre-Hazen so many times!
Gifford changed the car to #60 and raced it at New Bremen, OH, Terre Haute, Eldora, Wi******er, and even Baer Field at a USAC show on Sept. 19, 1965 with Rocky as the driver. All told, they ran 16 USAC shows from 1964-1967 with their best finish being a 4th in the Semi and 12th in the feature at Eldora on July 5, 1964 with Tommy Copp behind the wheel. But remember, they were racing against the best of the best including Mario Andretti, Jud Larson, and A.J. Foyt to name a few. I don't have other local show history at this point, but since it was an Offy engine, it wasn't legal at Warsaw or Kokomo. Other drivers that drove the #60 were Ralph Donaldson on May 2, 1965, right before he retired from racing, Chuck Weyant, Bob Miley, Duke Cook, Ed Sells, all in 1965, and Bill Hunter in 1967.
In the fall of 1969, Paul sees the car and buys it from Lloyd Gifford starting an amazing part of Hazen history. He spent much of the winter driving after work from International Harvester in Ft. Wayne to Rochester where Earl Gaerte, Dick Kercher and Paul transformed the car from an Offy power plant over to the small block Chevy engine. The car was ready for the 1970 racing season at Warsaw with his driver, Jimmie Elliott, where they had 7 feature wins! At least 15 wins came in 1971 with 10 at Warsaw and at least 5 at Kokomo! The sprinter had no less than 35 feature wins from 1970-1975 with the last win coming on July 27, 1974 with Louie Mann behind the wheel.
Paul sold the car before the 1976 season to Jerry Priest, who also drove it at Warsaw and Kokomo until it's final race during the late 1970's, when the car broke a fuel line and went up in flames in the infield at Warsaw. Paul was there and told them where to move the car so they could put out the flames. I can't imagine watching the beloved #57 (now #33) being ingulfed in flames. The car never raced again. Jim Mann purchased the sprint in the early 1980’s, but left it sit for over 30 years until he started his restoration. 
More details of the OG #57 history and its other drivers is in the "Amazin' Hazen" book.
The Gaff’s will be taking the OG #57 Hazen Chevy Sprinter to area car shows and will let us know when and where they are so the car’s fans can come, see it and share their stories with them.❤️🏁
