Spyder Anderson

[dmckim]

when i first seen him drive i was a young boy and was amazed that he could fit in a midget. took alot to drive hard whith two inches of your helmet sticking out the top. many other great drivers i remember or met mike gregg, sleepy tripp, jim laurie. i used to take my old open wheel mags and get autographs still have all of them and all are still in good shape.

[VintageBuzz]

when i first seen him drive i was a young boy and was amazed that he could fit in a midget. took alot to drive hard whith two inches of your helmet sticking out the top. many other great drivers i remember or met mike gregg, sleepy tripp, jim laurie. i used to take my old open wheel mags and get autographs still have all of them and all are still in good shape.

Welcome to the ARM community! Spider Anderson is amongst my favorite midget drivers too. There used to be lots of information and photos of him on the now defunct CRM site. If anyone can help restore Spider's history and photos, please start posting that information to ARM. And, I liked watching Sleepy Tripp. Robby Flock, Stevie Reeves, and Doug Kalitta race in the "Mauro Mile High Classic" at the old Rocky Mountain National Speedway (R.I.P. 2005). ~VB

[Olen McGuire]

Here's a pic and caption taken from a Chuck Mauro article by Rick Wasilko(RIP) in the old ARM site.

http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=205&pictureid=1352
"In this 1970’s pic from Leroy Byers taken at Lakeside Speedway in Colorado, we see Rick
Montgomery in the ‘Schlieger Bros. Chevy II’, Tommy Frantz painted number 22, leading
Eddie Jackson, 5, and Don ‘Spyder’ Anderson now driving the red number 10. Just a little
bit of an ‘aside’ here, but notice how Spyder fits in this midget! The guy was so tall his
elbows and arms would rub his legs every time he would drive through the corners. On a
1/5th mile track, THAT was quite often!"

[carc7]

Which is why they called him "Spider": he looked like a spider getting in and out of the midget, with arms & legs!:rotfl:

[Mitch G.]

Don "Spyder" Anderson, always a threat during most of his career, I believe he won a couple sprint car features on the pavement at Century 21 Speedway. Anderson could win on dirt or pavement, he was smooth and smart, and seldom ever crashed. He was born and raised near Calhan, CO, attended Colo Springs High School, and was a go-kart champion. In 1963 he bought a V8-60 powered midget from Frank Peterson and made his midget debut, that year. Joe Hainds was his partner and remained so until Anderson's last year in a race car. He was involved in racing for 24 years, he won 22 RMMRA midget features, and also had former FBI agent Dick Ludwig as a racing partner, hence most of us remember the "Hainds and Ludwid" usually associated with Anderson. He won his first feature in 1964, finished in the top 10 in points 14 out of 22 season's, his best was 2nd place to Steve Troxell in 1973. Spyder drove for Vern Shaver, Ken Heffner and Mike Dire. He finished his career in 1986 with Hainds and Ludwig, while fighting cancer, and he passed away in 1987.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=118&pictureid=1358
Here's Spyder in his V8-60, note the fuel injection, on July 13, 1968 Anderson won the last ever main event to be won by a V8-60, in the RMMRA midgets. it happened at Lakeside Speedway.
http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=118&pictureid=1359
Great shot of midget legends at Colo. Springs, Pikes Peak Speedway in 1972.
Spyder in the "Hainds & Ludwig, SESCO" #41 on the inside, Steve Troxell in Roger Mauro's Offy #55, and Sam Sauer in Harry Conklin's Edmunds with SESCO power #1.

[VintageBuzz]

Thanks Olen & Mitch for your postings! It appears that Spyder wasn't partial to any one power-plant as long as it propelled him fast. Great stuff, guys!:applaud: ~VB

[hilestudio]

Hi:
I was looking for information on Dick Ludwig, and found this site. I worked on Spyder's pit crew for several years. We were back East at a USAC show, and we were trying to compete with his flat head Ford, which he couldn't to, I guess he may have put a little too much pop in the tank, when we got back to Colorado Springs and tore it down, I said to "Spyder, you got a cracked block" Me and Spyder and Joe Hainds sat in a bar that night, smoked several packs of Marlbouroghs, (Joe was Camels), and decided to get the Sesco.

[sbail1]

As a teen I used to drive around the block by Bells restaurant to view his midgets .

Can anyone direct me to photos of his go-karting? I saw one picture long ago of Spyder in a go-kart, all arms and legs. With all of your vast racing memories are there any photos of the kart track that was in the vicinity of Hwy 85-87 and Las Vegas St. North of Security, Co. or maybe the track around Beacon Hill?

:sprint: In 1989-1990 I purchased and raced the Stanton/Aries that Sypder owned from Jack Merrill in Pueblo. This was suppose to be the car that 1984 Mark Passerrelli won Belleville with. This tidbit came from Mark himself in Tempe Jim's shop.

[Jerry Lee]

Good ol' Spyder. I thought this thread was worth another look, plus I found a great photo at the bottom of a box.....

http://autoracingmemories.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=284&pictureid=4090
(J.L. McGuire collection) Pete Brandenburg #31, Rod Ullery #8, and Spyder Anderson #41
are about to make it three wide at Lakeside Speedway on July 25, 1981.

[Mitch G.]

Jerry Lee, great photo, a year before I started in the midgets. Rod Ullery in Charles Fletcher's great Schlieger built VW #8 he won a main event in that car, that season, at Lakeside. Pete Brandenburg in his homebuilt Pinto powered #31, Spyder is in a Edmunds, with Kawasaki V8. I think Spyder only ran the Kawasaki for one season, did not have a lot of success with that engine. Great memories!

[LittleFauss]

.....'Hey Mitch, 'Since you bring up the Kawasaki V8, I wish you and some of the guys would elaborate on it because I'd really like to know more about it and why it didn't seem to pan out? I remember that Mel Kenyon ran one and also Rick Gerhardt ran one out on the west coast. And with very limited success. But I believe Gerhardt's was referred to as a Suzuki?

Questions: Were both of these makes of V8 motorcycle engines the product of Ron Hoettels at SESCO? (Gerhardt's Suzuki was a SESCO) Ron Hoettels is one of my favorite genius.' I do know that his 'cycle V8 utilized the barrels and cyl. heads bolted onto a common crank case, as he did with his Chevy and Ford SESCO inline 4's.

Also, the strong running Australian teams that have come over to the Chili Bowl the last few years have been running V8 engines. Are those former SESCO's??? Or are they a different breed?

My take on two engines that will go down as under-achievers for the midgets are the small V8's and the V4's. I recall a conversation I had with a NASCAR engine builder quite a few years ago. This was a man that made his living on the dyno. And when I told him about the V4, his eyes lit up and said that should be an instant winner! He maintained that the possibilites for HP were endless, compared to the inline-4. He also compared it to a grand national stock car having to run straight-8's instead of a V8. So, lopping off two cylinders off of the front of the motor of an inline-4 and moving that weight to the rear, should have made a night-and-day difference in traction.

Either way, on paper, the small V8 and V4 should have been bigger winners than what they accomplished. Who knows???.................................

[Mitch G.]

Little Fauss, I'm not an engine expert, but here's what I remember from my midget days. In regards to the V-4, my brother in law, Bob Harr and his dad Duane, built their own V-4's in the early 1980's. Cut their own blocks, heads, injector manifolds, etc. They are incredible machinists and engineers, with the help of Jerry Wilson in Wichita, KS, put together a strong engine. Bob won one main event with his home built chassis, and V4 engine in 1988 at Lakeside Speedway in Denver. Problem with the V4 was the short "half a V8" crank shaft, because you are skipping 4 cyl's in the ignition cycle, and the balance of the V8 crank, the engine ran rough, even when it was running at peak performance. The guys at SCAT in So.Ca, made a specially built billet crank for their ground up production V4. Steve Peachy won the RMMRA title in the early 90's with Kieth Rauch at the wheel of his V4. The V4 was just too touchy for the average car owner. As for the Kawasaki, and Suzuki V8's, Mel Kenyon tried one for a couple season's, lots of machining, I don't know what they used for a crank shaft, or other parts to mate the two inline air cooled engines. Ron Hoettels probably made the best ones, I think the Aussies are using a specially cast block, but I don't know much else. As a California guy, did you get to see those guys run the Daimler V8 in the early 70's? That had a lot of promise but not enough interest to further it's development. There are lots of engine guys that can shed much for qualified light on this subject, but it is very interesting.

[LittleFauss]

.....'Even though I might as well have been a million miles away, I too, was a huge fan of Don "Spyder" Anderson. September, 1971.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc476/LittleFauss/USACMidgets1971404.jpg