Editor’s note: This is part of a historical series. The following is information from a 1959 article. The article is from the files of the Kosciusko County Historical Society. 

OSWEGO — Stan H. Arnolt, Oswego, a well-known Warsaw industrialist, will drive in the 1959 Florida International Grand Prix championship sports car race at Sebring, Fla., Saturday.

Arnolt is known to sports car racing enthusiasts as “Wacky” Arnolt. He will pilot one of his Arnolt-Bristol Bolide sports automobiles, along with Max Goldman, Ann Arbor, and three other drivers composing the Arnolt team. A crew of 17 including mechanics, drivers, timers and pit crew members left for Sebring last Saturday morning. Arnolt was detained on business until Monday afternoon.

Arnolt is shown with the familiar cigar always noticed by racing fans as he turns the track in his sports car. Note the roll bar which this year was added to the cars as an extra safety precaution. Many sports racers are without roll bars.

Arnolt, one of the country’s largest distributors of foreign and sports cars, is not a new name at Sebring. In the last few years, his team has won the team trophy and placed among the top five in the race. The Arnolt-Bristol automobile is a combination of a Bristol engine and Arnolt-designed body. Arnolt has been seen in his white and blue stripped speedster at Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin, holding a cigar at a jaunty angle between his teeth while rounding curves.

Although only one car has a berth in the 12-hour endurance grind at Sebring, a second has been taken and, according to Arnolt, in all probability will be run in the classic. In addition to Arnolt and Goldman, three other drivers will be members of the team. They are Ralph Durbin, Detroit; Bob Gary, Chicago; and John Weitz, New York. All are veteran sports car race drivers. In the 1957 race, Bob Goldich, Des Plaines, Ill., a driver for Arnolt, was killed in a fatal single car crash in the race. Arnolt had been driving the auto only minutes prior to the accident.

One important safety factor added to the racers, among others, this year is a two-inch tubular roll bar behind the cockpit of the automobiles. Of the two Arnolt cars taken to Sebring in convoy last Saturday, one has right hand drive and the other a left hand drive auto.

Arnolt said his crew would have the last pit stop point on the track and that a new two-story building had been constructed for the use of the Arnolt team at the pit site.

The overall prize money offered for the race totals $13,000. Overall prizes, first through fifth, run $3,000, $1,500, $750, $500 and $250. On Index, first through third earn $1,500, $750 and $500,while class winners D through H get $500 each. In addition in Grand Touring, first through third on overall distance take $1,000, $500 and $250 regardless of displacement. The entry fee is $150 for the race.

Arnolt’s autos are in the Class E production under 2,000cc Grand Turismo. Among name cars entered are Ferraris, Jaguar, Lister-Jaguar, Porsch, Lotus and others. Many observers believe Phil Hill, one of the nation’s top sports car drivers, will figure in the win column.

All in all, “Wacky” and the crew this year have a good chance to show among the top finishers in the contest. Arnolt said prior to leaving that his crew is in top shape along with the cars and “with a little luck can come out on top.”

— Compiled by InkFreeNews reporter Lasca Randels