Topic: whcgt # 90 Solved: 1958 Gerald 'Jerry' Mong Special

[whcgt]

For 1 point, please tell me the year/make-model name/ & who is in the car?

[Otto Puzzell]

It's Gerald "Jerry" Mong in the "F M Mong Special" (F-Modified). Only later, after the debut of Bobsy SR1 models, did this one get dubbed "SR Prototype". He built the car in 1958. Since production models were caller SR1, this was has also been referred to as "SR0".

Th picture was taken at Cumberland raceway in 1961. Here is the entry list from the May 12, 1961 race, referring to his his car, #213 as the "Special". He was competing against, among others, Donna Mae Mims and Robert Tullius.

Note also the typo on Mong's first name  

 (attachment)
 

[whcgt]

Yes, point for Otto Puzzell. I like the Porsche 718 styling cues.

[Otto Puzzell]

It shared more than its looks with the Porsche. The car has a steel tube chassis and mid-engine layout with an aluminum body, and is said to have raced with a 4-cam Porsche motor. . In the 2004 book, Vintage American Road Racing Cars, Mong was quoted as saying he built the car because of “...the inability to buy a Porsche,” and “I realized
you could switch the ring and pinion and run the thing like a 550 Spyder”.

Here's a shot of the car on the trailer Mong built for it, another shot with second owner Floyd Sable, and an ad Sable placed in Car and Driver in 1964.