Sprint Car Open Wheel Racers Team Models Historic Auto Collection 1950

This is the personal collection of Sprint Car Race Driver Tommy Hinnershitz 'The Flying Dutchman Farmer' representing his team of open wheel sprint cars. These models where built in Japan as realistic looking toys by Yonezawa around 1950. They are made from lithographed tin & have friction motors. Each of the cars are hand personalized, {except two,) with the team members name or sponsor. Included is Hinnershitz's Jacket patch. The cars are in good aged condition, the collection belongs in an Auto Racing Museum.
Thomas Paul Hinnershitz (April 6, 1912 – August 1, 1999) was an American racing driver. Hinnershitz was active through the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s on dirt, asphalt and boards, driving "big cars" (later known as sprint cars) – at that time slightly smaller versions of Indianapolis cars that could be raced on half-mile dirt race tracks.
During his 30-year career, Hinnershitz captured 103 American Automobile Association (AAA) and United States Auto Club (USAC) sanctioned victories, and won seven AAA/USAC East Coast sprint car championships (1949–1952, 1955–1956, and 1959).[2] He also raced in national Championship car (30 AAA and four USAC) events.
Hinnershitz mainly raced his own cars (not for other owners), serving as his own mechanic. He was one of the first drivers to have car sponsorship.
Thomas Paul Hinnershitz was born on a farm near Oley, Pennsylvania. He farmed a 63-acre farm on weekdays and raced on the weekend.
Hinnershitz began racing in 1930 with a 1914 Model T at Reading Fairgrounds Speedway. The car cost him $25; he won his first race and $75 earned for the victory. He later was quoted, "Boy, I was really rich then. That was the best investment I ever made in a race car." His early career saw successes at Williams Grove Speedway and Reading Fairgrounds Speedway near his home in Pennsylvania. He joined the AAA in 1932 .
Hinnershitz raced his midget car with a boat outboard motor at the 1/6-mile, 45-degree Nutley, New Jersey, bicycle board track Velodrome in the late 1930s. Hinnershitz's passed his Indianapolis Motor Speedway test in 1939 but did not qualify for the race. He won the first feature at Williams Grove Speedway, a AAA Sprint car race.
Hinnershitz won the AAA Eastern Sprint Car championship in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1955. AAA stopped sanctioning racing and USAC took over sanctioning for 1956. He won USAC Eastern Sprint Car championship in 1956 and 1959.
In the 1950s, Hinnershitz became one of the first drivers to have a car sponsor. He carried the Miracle Power fuel additive sponsorship while racing with an Offenhauser race engine.
Hinnershitz retired from racing in 1960 three hours after witnessing his friend Johnny Thomson die at a Allentown Fairgrounds race in Pennsylvania. "I had been thinking about retiring for several weeks," Hinnershitz was quoted. "But I won't say what happened to John didn't help me make it definite. I quit for two reasons. One, I didn't approve of some of the new drivers and their driving philosophies. Two, my hands were gone. I simply couldn't grip the wheel well enough." He held 39 track records at his retirement. A. J. Foyt was quoted in his biography A.J.: "Of all the drivers on dirt Tommy Hinnershitz stands out in my mind as the best..