Gambler Chassis History (Read 23,537 times)

[gambler86]

Would anyone have,or,know where I could find, the history of the Gambler sprintcar chassis?

[gambler86]

Thanks,but I've" googled" and I can't find any history of them!!

[pallmall]

Here is a start:

www.google.co.nz/search?q=Gambler+Sprint+Car+History&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1T4HPAA_enNZ236NZ236&sa=X&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=QWPNSrWkFISAswPwurC6Dg&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11

[quikchange]

I wonder when they stopped making Gambler chassis-mid nineties maybe..

[Autopete55]

Didnt one of the main men from Gambler leave around 1990 or so and start MAXIM Chassis??

Ken Jenkins?

[gilby]

Oct 9, 2009 11:14:48 GMT 12 Autopete55 said:

Didnt one of the main men from Gambler leave around 1990 or so and start MAXIM Chassis??

Ken Jenkins?

That is what I was led to believe as well. Was also told that Maxim brought out Gambler around 1999-2000 (but could be wrong).

[pallmall]

Here is a link to Maxims history on their web site.

www.racemaxims.com/history.html

[Chuckie]

You beat me to it Pallmall :-).
Ken Jenkins started his own company (Jenkins Chassis). Saw an artical in Open Wheel about him. Still have it somewhere. And pretty sure there was something in one of them about Gambler Chassis.
One of the tours I did with Willy Kay to The States he took us past the old Gambler Chassis workshop.

[jeds]

hi guys
,ok it all started with a bloke called K C SPURLOCK,google his name and you will see he had a finger in a lot of different pies so to speak, ken jenkins did go on to build his own chassis,theres one for sale in matamata on trademe,pretty sure its the only one in nz,not 100% sure but kerry jones may have has it at some stage,gambler shop manager was a guy named floyd bailey,he left and formed his own company,(bailey chassis).gambler stopped making speedway chassis (gambler competition centre) and was renamed to gambler motorcycles.com gambler were still in the same building at 128 volenteer st tennisee last i heard,but the company was bought out and is now owned by bad toys inc now.i think the gambler brand still exists,just different owners,they were good chassis,quite a few came here,be bloody awesome if they made a return.
jed

[jeds]

just another thing,k c spurlocks father,c k spurlock, was kenny rogers concert manager for 20 years,rogers sponsered one of the house cars,could be where the GAMBLER name originated from.
jed

[wingman]

Bruce Hobbs from CHCH and the late "Goodie" both won NZ sprintcar titles using gamler chassis...and from memory i think Phil Game has an old gambler chassis sitting on his office roof...

[sesco4x4]

ken jenkins came from challenger where bob east was a well he then went on to start beast and jenkins went on his own.the jenkins on trade me was brouth in by coiln entwistle but kerry jones also had one but that got cut into a modifed.danny smith drove the house car in the us and also aussie and later that car was sold to a guy in aussie by the name of terry becker.around the same time bob aysom started selling gambler cars and in 83/84 roger glesson brought a car from him and won the nz title in chch and then on sold the car to bruce hobbs who also won the title in it he ran that car for a while also took it to aussie and the north island when glesson built it it had the first alloy engine in it and when hobbs ran the car he took it to kumau and blew it all over the track so it ended with a steel motor after that the car change a couple hands after that and then got cut up and taken to a scarp yard bugger.allan wakeling also has won a title in a gambler so to did kerry jones in the goodie car that was the first down tube car to come here ive got some photos of these cars that i will put on here if you guys are keen to see them??neil cowley also had one of the early down tubes cars that he ran when alot of guys were running the ozcars.

[sesco4x4]

this is danny smith in the house non wing car which would of been one of the first as it is 1980

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[sesco4x4]

this is the wakeling car

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[sesco4x4]

goodie/jones and also hobbs car which is also still in the south island

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[sesco4x4]

danny smith in the house car

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[sesco4x4]

smith as well

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[jeds]

some good photos sesco
,i wonder what has happened to all the gamblers that came here,i know where 2 of them are,mate of mine has the old forge nite club car of tony allens,its a mod now,i owned the old big block gambler car that garth hogan bought in in the late 80s,a guy in waiuku owns it now and races it with the waiuku,still goes very well,i guess most got cut up for mods,i have a 85 osbourne,ex ian easton/pat wilson that i'm restoring, and a 01 harris car that looks pretty much like a gambler,that i'll put together one day.
jed

[sesco4x4]

yeah were some good cars around but that is it they were pretty much all cut up into mods.
great to chat to you sometime bout yuor car i am also restoreing an old one as well.the sprintcars ray alach built were a copy of gamblers the last sprintcar barry butterworth had which was an alach is still around racing at meremere.would be great to see some old sprintcars come out like all the good vintage midgets that are around. i am also building a old cae roll bar car which will get done one day.

[wingman]

upon reloading the memory...the "goodie" highbar car which was the first one in NZ was also used by Gary Davie to win (or podium place place) the CTRA sprintcar title at meremere highbanks