KGB911

Been awhile! Dad started building a continuation Pacemaker in March with just some simple dimensions I had aquired and low and behold I get contacted by a fellow Old Timer whom is part of the Mac O Chee group that has been featured in this forum in the past. Doug Plank whom currently lives in South Carolina had bought a stash of Vintage 1/4 midgets a few years back and in that stash was a Pacemaker survivor! We worked a deal and I got this complete unmolested car just as if it was parked after one season of racing in 58-59. I now have a car to copy every detail and build our New Pacemakers exactly as they were built in the 50's. The car has Precision 5 Spoke mag wheels a Goodyear Bluestreaks and Carlisles and is all Virgin but the steering wheel. I have not decided if I will restore it our just clean it up as I don't have any pedigree on it. Maybe someone here knows the car. It is Dark Metalic Blue and has a 8 on it that is white and red like a ribbon. Danny Ruth dan@innovativerodding.com

Well! got all the molds of the original Pacemaker in tacked and a front body and belly pan mold pulled off a Pacemaker roadster and to my surprise what appears to be the original tail mold for the Viking Craft Roadster. I also got a box of Pacemaker Grills in perfect condition. The story goes that they were sold first in the mid sixties to someone in Washington State and that guy sold them to a fella in Tennessee in the nineties and the guy I got them from was in Michigan, they got some miles on them! They are in Great shape and just need waxing and there ready to pull parts from. I will try and find a buyer for the Viking mold and keep looking for a Pacemaker roadster tail that I can pull a mold from. I would like to sell a complete body kit (3 pieces) with grill for $750 and I will make more grills as needed. I have been collecting parts to build my new clones and hope to start dad on them soon. Danny Ruth Pacemaker #1 I can be reached kgbusa911@gmail.com Lets build some Pacemakers!

Well! got all the molds of the original Pacemaker in tacked and a front body and belly pan mold pulled off a Pacemaker roadster and to my surprise what appears to be the original tail mold for the Viking Craft Roadster. I also got a box of Pacemaker Grills in perfect condition. The story goes that they were sold first in the mid sixties to someone in Washington State and that guy sold them to a fella in Tennessee in the nineties and the guy I got them from was in Michigan, they got some miles on them! They are in Great shape and just need waxing and there ready to pull parts from. I will try and find a buyer for the Viking mold and keep looking for a Pacemaker roadster tail that I can pull a mold from. I would like to sell a complete body kit (3 pieces) with grill for $750 and I will make more grills as needed. I have been collecting parts to build my new clones and hope to start dad on them soon. Danny Ruth Pacemaker #1 DANNY..PLEASE GIVE US CONTACT INFO

What a Find! A Walborg 1/2 Midget with a 2 cycle! I remember the day Dad finished the 1st Pacemaker 1/2 Midget with the Mac 10, It was so cool to see him smile behind the wheel! Danny Ruth Pacemaker #1

Have been very busy building Hot Rods and doing an occasional race week end as a tuner for National level shifter Kart racing and just have not dropped by! For that I am very Sorry! Spent Fathers Day with Dad at the LA Roadsters Show & Swap and saw a fair amount of Vintage 1/4 midgets for sale in the Swap. Some Speedways and a Viking Craft but no Pacemakers. Got Dad enthused in building a new Pacemaker replica to display in my shop and checked Ebay last week and low & behold there is a guy selling Dads old molds for the standard car and the roadster. The big deal for me was the box of brand new grills that came with them! I bid on them and WON and it just so happens the guy is in my brother Steve's town in Michigan. WOW! So here is the plan! Dad & I are going to build a frame fixture for both models and start by making a NEW Pacemaker #1 and also making a NEW Pacemaker Roadster #1 which was called the Orange Crate and driven by Jeff Haywood. They will be period correct in every way and could be ran for exhibition. If anyone is interested in a kit or a roller now is the time to step up! Danny Ruth

Danny, Is that pic of the Stock Car taken at Saugus? Yeh ! That is Saugus! 1975 I believe, It was really kinda funny at the time. My younger brother Larry whom drove a 1/4 midget only once and he took a brand new Pacemaker thru a chain link fence at the pit exit at Panorama and he bit his tongue and never drove again. As a teenager he thought he could drive,but all he did was crash his street cars "many". We joined forces after spending a season crewing for Jim Thirkettle whom was the track Hot Dog. We learned alot and thought it was time for us to build a car and go racing. We found that perfectly good 65 Chevelle convertible and proceeded to cut it up. We had a plan of swapping week to week the driving chores and the first week we drew straws and I won. I was in the Trophy Dash "Top 4 in Qualifying" and did not finish the feature due to overheating.The next week was Larry's turn and he did not make it through practice as he would hit the wall and wad up the car. We tried that program a couple more times and then he finally realized he was not a driver! We had a Ball and built everything ourselves. Here is the same car rebodied for 76 where we finished 3rd on opening night. It was a very pretty car! It was the 1st car to run disc brakes at Saugus. Dan Ruth

Pacemakers Fred Ruth aka Dad sold Trackmaster in 77 and went Indy Car racing for a few years until the money tree was picked clean. In 77 (AJ's last win) he worked for Shorty Mosley with driver Jerry Sneva and in 78 he bought a couple years old Rutherford team McClaren with an Offy to campaign with Jerry Sneva again at the wheel. In 79 they hired Dana Carter to drive and also had Larry Dixon shoe the car to 3rd at Texas Word Speedway. It was a beautiful car with a very Trick body by Don Brown "The Prince of Darkness." It had tons of downforce but not enough ponies from the outdated Offy to go down the straightaway with the Cosworth's and Foyt's. I was not allowed to drive it so my younger brother and I built another Pacemaker to compete at a local Saturday Night track. That's another story in itself! Here is a pic of Dad's car and the first Pacemaker Stock Car. Danny Ruth

As I stated in an earlier post my brother and I quit racing in 59 after a real bad fire in a AA main Event. We both wanted to continue racing but Mom would have nothing of it. We started raising Hell in the neighborhood with our Mini Bikes and StingRays and I became a Wheelie Champion and once rode an exhibition at a Drag race the full 1/4 mile. The Mini Bike, of course a Pacemaker, was powered by a Reo 2hp. with a belt clutch and halfshaft and it was Candy Apple Red and very cool. I saved all my paper route money and bought a Yamaha 60cc 2 cycle rotary valve motor with a 4 speed tranny and Dad and I installed that in the MiniBike and it flat Hauled the mail. I sold that for $200 and bought my first car at age 14 and that kept me busy for a few years. I sold the RPU and bought a wrecked Vette when I was 16 and then met my wife whom has put up with this Car Guy for 38 years. Dan Ruth

Bruce, I remember losing to Kurtis cars many times and as you know those times were dominated by those two brands. You said you lost pictures in Hurricane Ike and I know how hard that must be. My story about our memories is just that "Memories" I am sure all of you remember the late sixties movie "On any Sunday" Well here is the Sadddd Story! Dad's shop was in North Hollywood California and many of the Stars of the days with children would stop buy the shop and check out the rides. Bing Russel the father of Kurt Russel bought a Pacemaker from Dad and stiffed him and Dad has never forgot! A Hollywood producer whom worked on On any Sunday came by one day and told Dad he was going to produce a 4 wheel version and needed some old pictures and 8mm film to get it started and Dad made the mistake of giving him all of our family pictures and we never saw him or the pictures again. I have two pictures of our Walborg and one of the Pacemaker #1 and that's ALL. If I could find that guy I would Kill Him! It almost led to a divorse and Mom has never forgiven Dad. Trophies are another Story! I won hundreds of trophies during my 1/4 midget days and since there was so many between my brother and I, we would sort through the trophies and take off the brass and wrap and pack them and ship them to new clubs across America. Recycling at it's Best! I have my 1st. Novice Fast Time trophy from Panorama in 56 and my last "A" Trophy Dash from San Fernando in 59 and thats all. I have a few trophies from my Stock Car days and my Go Kart days and they all bring back fond MEMORIES! Dad will be here next weekend and I will ask him if he remembers the Boening family. Danny Ruth Pacemaker #1

You stated your car had a special ordered paint scheme and that brought up this memory. Dad was Lucky to have the most famous of all Pinstripers stripe and letter most of the Pacemakers in the 50's and early 60's. None other than Von Dutch !!! Dad would take a quart of mineral spirits and a bunch of rags with him when he went to pick up a body from Dutch and after leaving he would swing around the corner and pull the body out of the truck and remove most of the Crazy extra stripeing as Dutch would do what he wanted to do regardless of what you requested. His work was incredable and always perfect. Dad said many cars were delivered with the numbers on the tail and nose and the drivers name all done by Von Dutch. Danny Ruth

I see Lonnie Carruthers was the AA track record holder. His Dad Red was quite a guy and his Uncle Doug owned Viking Trailer Co. in Anaheim California. The Jelly Bean Bowl was on the property and that property would latter become Disneyland. I was at Danny Carruthers last race at Corona Speedway, it was a crazy night at the races. I have never in my life scene such dusty conditions as that day! Jimmy, Danny's brother and cousin of Lonnie was also a Great midget driver, and all of them won hundreds of 1/4 midget races. That family put their mark on 1/4 Midgets that will never be surpassed. Danny Ruth

To the best of my memory my last 1/4 midget race was the Nationals at the Hacienda Hotel in Las Vegas in 1960 or 61. It was a very special event as the Hacienda Hotel was the last Hotel on the Strip and they put a temporary track on the west parking lot not very far from our rooms. It was the first race there and they would latter build a track onsite for latter years. It was a Ball! Many years later,1975, I would again race in a very special event in Vegas where they paid us in Silver Dollars at the Silver Slipper Casino. I won $3000 that day and that was 3 canvas bags full of Silver! I only wish I had those coins today! Dan

Sleepy Trip and Billy Felts both drove Pacemakers and Sleepy was a Factory driver for Dad. I feel compiled to share the following. Because the Pacemaker and KurtisKraft cars were superior to everything else in the late 50's and early 60's most of the Big races were won by Factory Teams in B and AA. My brother and I won hundreds of races and all was going good until one fatefull Saturday night at San Fernando Quarter Midget track. In the old days Moms ran the sign in, the snack bar and were the scorers and the track medics and of course my Mom was one of those hard workers. Back then there was no fuel tank vent spec and due to a horrible accident that night there is a rule now. In the AA feature a kid flipped and was upside down and methonal ran down out of the vent on him and a fire started and he was burnt very badly. Mom was on the med crew and it really affected her. She gave Dad an ultimatum and I was never allowed to race a methanol car again. Shortly thereafter Dad completed the 1st. Pacemaker Roadster "Orange Crate" and Jeff Heywood became the Factory driver as the AA class was the class that sold cars. My brother and I never drove a quarter midget again! It really Sucked!

Paint Jobs The painting is a Great story. My uncle "Ron Miller" was the same age as dad and worked as a painter at a local auto dealership by day and painted 1/4 midgets at night. He was a perfectionist and did all the Pacemakers in Ditzler Nitrocellulose Lacquer and hand rubbed them all. His high school buddy, Bob Gurr, became one of Walt Disney's head design guy's and Ron got the job of painting the first Autopia cars at Trackmaster. What happened to the leftover paint you might ask? I guess you could say the Pacemackers were Mickey Moused from then on! Ron recently passed away at the age of 79 with a bunch of stories waiting to be told. Here is a good one, My Dads brother was a Engineer at White Sands New Mexico " you know the place they tested the H Bomb" He decided to start a 1/4 Midget club in Alamogordo and there was a race scheduled at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque so Dad built a trailer that would hold 8 cars I believe and we loaded it up with a variety of different colored cars and headed east. My brother and I were to go there and show them that production Pacemakers could Win out of the box even at a Regional level event. It turns out that it rained the whole week before the event and they were cutting the track out at the Fairgrounds when we arrived. I remember while driving down the highway my brother and I were arguing over what color cars we were to get and Dad got so mad that he said you get the Brown one and you get the Yellow one and that's that! Come race day in front of a Hugh State Fair crowd Steve and I set fast time and second fast time and won our heat races and what was to happen in the Feature. I never saw Dad so Mad as that day when we took each other out while leading! boy the ride home was very somber. Oh yeh! Four of the cars we took were already sold to my uncles customers and the remaining four were sold at the Fair! Those were the Good Ol Day's Danny Ruth That brings up another interesting story. Back in those days Passenger Airlines were just that and only carried passengers, that being said I remember taking cars to The Flying Tiger Airlines terminal that only carried freight.Dad said they did not even have to crate them up, we dropped them off and they rolled them into the airplanes, Lockheed Constellations I believe!

As a matter of fact I do have the last body produced from the mould before Dad stopped production and sold the moulds and some fixtures to someone from Oregon I believe in the early 60's. I also have the last body from the Micro Midget mould which is another story in itself. Spoke to Dad last night and asked if he remembered anything about Texas distribution of his cars and he said he did not remember, could you fill us in? Dan

Doug: As you know The Pacemakers split rear axle was unique among 1/4 midgets and great for the lower classes that did not allow both rear wheel to drive the car. As I remember only the AA were allowed both to drive, that being said many QMA rules were created because of Dads creativity. In the early years we all ran Carlisle Studs in the rear on Dirt tracks "loose clay" and there were no limits other than 5" or 6" wheels so Dad welded two wheels together for the right rear and I Killed them in Stock and Modified Stock with the same car one Sunday and the Club said Don't bring it back! In the begining the demand for the Pacemakers was so High that my brother and I never had our own team cars so every weekend we ran a brand new car with a new out of the box engine which Dad bought crates of at the Army Surplus auction. Some of those motors were Pigs but the cars handled so well we always Won. I built Dads New Pacemaker last year and it is going to be featured in Street Rodder Magazine soon, the photo shoot took place in December here in Phoenix. I have lots to share and hope you enjoy the stories. Danny Ruth

Mr. Pacemaker Dad, Fred Ruth, is 79 years young and still living with his wife of 60 years in the home paid for with Pacemaker profits. The 1/4 midget market faltered in the early 60's HMHO due to the monster he created and failed to follow through on. The Monster was Go Karts that bridged the age issue and broadened the customer base. The following statement will surely raise some eyebrows! Dad took a Pacemaker 1/4 midget sometime in 1958 and enlarged the body and frame about 15% and installed a McCollah chainsaw in the rear and a 1/2 midget was born! Damm it was Fast! It was a Dark Maroon color and I don't think he built more than a handful. During that same time they built the first Racing Go Kart, Duffy Livingston got the credit for the Go Kart but if they only new! Dad's Go Kart was built with many 1/4 midget parts and had two MAC 10's mounted "Sidewinder" style with the same type of rear suspension the 1/4 midget had. The only problem was that the small chains would not handle the angular movement well. I remember the maiden voyage in the FEDCO parking lot like it was yesterday! Dad was flying and the steering wheel came off in his hands! he had forgot that one bolt! I don't remember if he crashed. The Kart never made it to a track as None exhisted at that time. Thats my story and I am sticking to it! Dan Ruth Dad's current Pacemaker

Randy & Doug: I spent the last four hours going through every post on this thread and it brought back very fond memories. I am Dan Ruth the son of Fred Ruth the founder and builder of Pacemaker Quarter Midgets. I found it Ironic that you"Randy" started your career with a Walborg and graduated to a Pacemaker. Here is how it all started for my Dad and my brothers and I. Sometime in the Spring of 1956 Dad and I jumped into our 50 Chevy Woody and went out to Torrance Airport about two hours south of our home in Pacoima California a suburb of Los Angeles to pick up a Walborg kit. In no time dad had it together and my older brother "Steve" and I were making laps in our backyard. We were just 5 and 4 years old at the time and dad, a typical So Cal Hot Rodder was living his racing dreams through my brother and I. I remember that we raced in makeshift tracks in large parking lots and fairgrounds and we most often raced on Dirt! We were the founding members of quite a few Southern California tracks and clubs and we raced just about every weekend. My brother and I shared the Walborg and dad knew he needed another car and he knew he could build one better so he rented a 1000 sq.ft. building in Van Nuys and formed Trackmaster. The first Pacemaker, #1 was completed soon after and was a radical change from the norm and very, very Fast! The IFS in the front and the split axle in the rear and the friction shocks made it handle like a Dream. More to Come! Danny Ruth Here are a couple of Pics