The Official Website of Midget Racing Champion Landy Scott

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Restoration, The Rescue of the #17

A special Thank You to Richard Raclawski, Sr.; Richard Raclawski, Jr., Dave Rumsey
and Charlie Myers who without their dedication, vision and hard work
the #17 may have never been heard from again.

Landy's #17 midget race car now rests in the Wisconsin Automotive Museum in Hartford,Wisconsin, a fitting tribute for one of the most successful Studebaker powered race cars in the country. Landy and George Welch deserve much of the credit as the original car builder and driver.

In this Chapter, we'll detail the others who had a hand in the restoration and preservation of this historic midget racer.

As detailed in other sections of this website, the #17 was the original creation of Mr. George Welch. Landy once described George as one of the biggest influences' of his life and one of the greatest men that he ever met. The Welch Special changed over the years, beginning with the addition of the Kurtis-Kraft body for the 1948 season. The Kurtis-Kraft chassis was purchased from Johnny Pawl, an original Kurtis-Kraft dealer, once driven by Tony Bettenhausen, was added in 1956. The car caught fire while be driven by Tony Bettenhausen, Sr., who drove the car into an in-field lake to extinguish the flames. Tony also flipped the car during a race at Soldier Field, Chicago. Rear-ends, steering boxes, engine swaps from Landy's #17 all took place before Landy raced the car until he sold it in 1960.

After Landy sold the car to Pancho Pinilla, the Studebaker engine was removed in favor of a Ford V8 60 flat head that remained in the car until the final restoration by Dave Rumsey. How the car ended up in Bill Gunderson's basement is still a mystery that may never be solved. Too many years have passed after Landy sold the car. We believe it was raced for a few years, but never reached it's earlier success. What we do know starts in 1980, when Rich Raclawski and his son, Rich, Jr., attended a midget race at the Santa Fe Speedway in Willow Springs, Illinois and met Bill Gunderson of Milwaukee. Rich express an interest in buying a vintage midget to race. Bill told him that he had Landy Scott's old midget, in pieces, in his basement. SOLD!!! On Feb. 3, 1980, Rich paid $800.00 and he and his son picked the car up the following weekend in their station wagon and Suburban. A week later Rich got a call, Bill's house had a major fire, had the midget not been moved, it would have been destroyed.

The Father and Son team got to work. They contacted Howard Linnie and showed him the car. He offered some advise. Get rid of that piece of junk before you get killed in it. Not deterred, they motored on. Meetings with Bill "Bud" Simmons and Johnny Pawl (who had a history with the car) were more successful. Lots of time, effort and money later, they had an assembled car. Five kids, retirement and Rich Jr. going off to college brought the Raclawski's to sell their beloved #17.

In comes Dave Rumsey from Holland, Michigan who bought the midget in 1987. Dave recalls being told of an out dated ad in National Speed Sport news for the car. He called Richard and within a week he owned the car. The car was together, complete and rolling but Dave wanted to take the car to another level. Dave restored the car again, including replacing the Ford V8-60 with a Studebaker Champion, including the fuel injection system. Dave contacted Landy in 1990 and later made a trip to Las Vegas to visit Landy and obtain as much information as possible. The results were unbelievable. Little did Dave know that his car would someday be on display at a world renown auto museum. Dave drove the car in many Vintage Midget expeditions and showed it often, including the 2000 Studebaker Drivers Club International Meet in Madison, Wisconsin. Dave ran the #17 in 9 states, from Michigan to Bellevue, Kansas to Eastbay, Florida. Dave eventually decided it was time to part with the #17 after 15 years. On August 9, 2002, he sold it to Charlie Myers of Omaha, Nebraska. Charlie had some miscellaneous repairs done, but never raced or showed the car, Charlie was a collector.

I learned of the cars current owner through a reader of this website, who obtained Charlie's phone number and sent it to me. I reached out and told Charlie that I wanted to buy the car but the price was too high. I contacted my sister, Sharon, in Wisconsin, who agreed to pitch in. Once Charlie learned that I was Landy's son and that we wanted to buy the car for our dad, the price dropped and we were able to make a deal. Charlie was a kind and generous man who loved old cars, but he loved a great story even more. I learned later that Charlie was thrilled about the thought of being able to reunite the #17 with Landy. My son and I made the road trip to Omaha to get the car and surprised Landy with it on Fathers' Day, 2008 in Las Vegas.

With the car now in California, I spend the next year getting the magnesium wheels completely rebuilt, the brass knock-off wheel nuts straightened and polished and several chrome pieces straightened and re-chromed. New front tires and lots of elbow grease followed before it was ready for the car show circuit. See the results and photos here.

and....NOW, you know the rest of the story!!! Enjoy the photos below.