𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝔸 𝕥𝕠 ℤ… ℙ𝕖𝕓𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝔹𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 ℝ𝕠𝕒𝕕 ℝ𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝟟𝟝𝕥𝕙
▆▅▃▂▁𝐊 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬.▁▂▃▅▆
Frank Kurtis was an American designer and builder of race cars. He founded Kurtis Kraft when he built his own midget car chassis in the late 1930s; midgets progressed to sports cars, Pebble Beach Road Race cars, sprint cars, Bonneville cars, Indianapolis fire-breathers and USAC Championship cars.
Famed builder Frank Kurtis designed his race-winning sports cars (like the 500S and 500SX) to essentially be road-legal versions of his 5-time-Indy-500-winning cars, utilizing the exact same tubular frame, solid axles, torsion bar suspension, Halibrand magnesium wheels, quick-change rear ends, and large drum or disc brakes. While the Indy cars primarily used Offenhauser engines, the Kurtis sports cars were built as versatile chassis that accepted a wide variety of powerful American V8s including Ford, Cadillac, Buick, and Chrysler Hemi. The epitome was the a series of brutalist Kurtis KK500 roadsters.
Between 1953 and 1955, Frank Kurtis built approximately 45 to 70 “500 Series” sports cars across three primary iterations. Production numbers varied by model due to their handcrafted nature and high prices…
Kurtis 500S: Approximately 20 to 30 road-going versions were produced. This model acted as a street version of the Kurtis-Kraft Indianapolis 500 racers.
Kurtis 500M: About 18 to 25 of these fiberglass-bodied sports cars were manufactured by Kurtis in Glendale, California.
Kurtis 500SX (X): Only about 4 to 6 examples of this lightweight, aerodynamic racer were completed by the factory
We are blessed with two of these splendid and historic cars in the Del Monte Trophy Register, both of which come out to race with use, very quickly, in historic race meets:
Rob Manson 1953 Kurtis 500S Dodge. Fiber glass, aluminum and steel, 240 cu.in. Dodge Red Ram Hemi V8. This Kurtis 500S was driven in the 1954 Pebble Beach Road Race by Roy Wiley of Fresno CA as a late entry and at Pike’s Peak in the late 50s. John Buddenbaum drives in 2026 for owner Rob Manson. http://www.dmtrg.com/rob-manson-1953-kurtis-500s-dodge/
John Mote sr. 1953 Kurtis Sorrell Special GMC straight-6. See https://dmtrg.com/john-mote-sorrel-kurtis-special-gmc/
More reading about Frank Kurtis’s career at https://www.hagerty.com/…/the-krafter-of-american…/ and https://www.supercars.net/blog/something-special-part-2/