General Sherman Marches To Victory

This great looking '38 Ford coupe was owned by the Beach brothers from Woodbury, New Jersey and was driven very successfully by Trenton's Johnny Karp. The "General Sherman" as it was named, with its four carburetors, ran a good as it looked.
 
The top right inset photo shows Johnny after one of his wins in the 1952 season at Alcyon Speedway in Pitman, N.J. The car was clean appearing with the drivers name each door near the top of the number, "General Sherman" over the windshield and Beach's Motor Service, Woodbury, N.J. on the side back panels.

The top left inset shows Johnny in action on the back "dog leg" at Alcyon with local favorite Lew "The Flying Farmer" Mood, in his "stout" running 29. Lew was a quality driver also in his day. His style, much like that of Budd Olsen, who Lew preceded driving, but would later wrench for in the Maul 111 "Missiles".

The bottom left inset shows the back of the number 1. Note the rear bumper pieced together and the exhaust outlets on each side of the trunk in the rear body panels. The guy with the hat on standing at the front of the car is Andy Beach, one of the brothers.

It's not the sanitary engine room of today's standards, but the power plants put out by Beach's Motor Service were some of the best in their day. Hall of Fame builder Sonny Dornberger spoke highly of the quality of their work and particularly their ingenuity when, before his passing we discussed , his remembrances of the Beach brothers.

The next two photos show the "General" after it was "severely wounded" after a "skirmish" with our Hall of Fame driver and 3wide contributor Steve Elias. Steve writes in his autobiography the grandstand were silent after our wreck, "they thought we were both dead!"


Senior Moment By: Russ Dodge

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