STEVE TRUCHAN TRUBADOR STEWARD of RACING DREAMS RESTORED! IF YOU CAN DREAM IT HE WILL BUILD IT!

Steve Truchan is one of the most fascinating minds of our day. With one of the most spectacular collections of restored open-wheel race cars in the United States, Steve is also the premier engine builder of the Miller and Offenhauser engines, with their origins reaching back to the 1920s at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Please share your memories, questions and comments below, and feel free to share! Thanks for your support!
For booking, sponsorship and marketing info please contact [e-mail]
#SteveTruchan #IndianapolisMotorSpeedway #indycar #OffenhauserEngines #MillerEngines #powerofracingchamps #racinglegends #enginerebuilds #machineparts #toolanddyeinnovators #music #piano #classicalpianomusic #purdueuniversityengineering #purdueuniversityalumni #FredOffenhauser #HarryMiller #Indy500RaceCars #racing #racingshop #racecarbuild #classiccollections #junkyardparts #howtobuildaracecar #racinginnovation #diybuild #purdueengineering #professionalengineers #howtomakecarparts #toolanddye #jigandfixture #madeofsteel #nascar #worldofoutlaws #antiquecars #checkeredflag

[@chadhall5921]

Wow so so cool I love it

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks for watching, Chad! HMM

[@pernikins1943]

Great- thanks!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

You're welcome Jerry! HMM

[@marlarogers-colbert1254]

Very interesting!! Thanks Don! 😊

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks again, Marla...HMM

[@michaelbryant7377]

Drooling right now! If I could only win the lottery! Thanks, Don! Great video!!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

You're always welcome Michael...good to hear from you again. HMM

[@onehot57]

Great video ! Hope to see Steve soon.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks George...HMM

[@bencrowe88]

Fantastic interview! What a collection, but more importantly, what a diamond of a man Steve comes across as! Looking forward to future videos of your visit!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Ben; I appreciate your support...HMM

[@edwardlee6463]

HMM: What an incredible video. You have outdone yourself this time! You are correct, these stories belong on public television. The cars are fantastic, and the stories even better! Amazing stuff!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Edward...one of the nicest compliments I've ever received...so grateful. HMM

[@stevenbuis4490]

I am speechless. HMM hits a grand slam

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Steven...HMM

[@cjwickie]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks for taking the time to watch! HMM

[@Heckofadeal]

Great video !!!!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks again, C Porter...HMM

[@adrianfernandonoya5196]

In the year of 1999 i was on Disneyland Orlando now with you i am on AUTOMOBIL LAND by Steve Truchan for free and all THANKS to you my friend HMM.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

You're always welcome Adrian; I appreciate you. HMM

[@wesrobbins111]

Thank you for digging up all of this great history!! Me and my dad enjoy watching your videos. I have introduced my son to watching as well. We are all sprint car fans, past and present, as well as Indy racing!!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

You're always welcome Wes; thanks for your support...to you dad and son too! HMM

[@gregj831]

Fantastic stuff here. That Vollstedt Offy was a very good chassis. In 1978 Dick Simon was mixing it with the best until a wheel bearing failure. He qualified it way up towards the front at over 194 and would have went quicker had he not brushed wall in morning practice session. The chassis has some very elegant, beautiful lines. She's a real peach!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Yeah...Dick Simon was an interesting story. He'd make for a great video story. Thanks again, greg j...HMM

[@tomlusty8376]

Don, you've got a great way with words and video to bring these stories to us. It's your personality that gets you in to these places and gets these great people to go on camera. We really appreciate your efforts.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Tom...one of the nicest compliments I've ever received...so grateful! HMM

[@paulwick272]

Thank you for your videos been into the Indianapolis 500 as a kid in the 60's and finally got involved with Sprint Car racing in the 80's and 90's this was a great era interesting and educational I would love to see videos of Sharon Speedway in Hartford Ohio the half mile dirt track since 1929 spent many nights in the pits there also Ted Wise ,Buddy Cochran ,Lou Blaney, and Floyd Trevis

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

I sure wish I could have seen the front-engine roadsters run. Thanks for watching, Paul...HMM

[@rbb1949]

I'm a friend of John nimetz and he took me and my wife to this place and that whole place is incredible and I'm so glad you did this story because it needed to be told, john has a gokart track at his house called savage speedway and it's the yard kart national racing series, it started around Indy and this year they started a north series and there is KZbin videos of it on Monday moto is the channel or it's moto Monday lol

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks...so appreciated. Steve's is an incredible man. HMM

[@johnfry9010]

OMG we hit pay dirt here !

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks John! HMM

[@The35211]

Thanks for the Video its great. And thanks for doing all it takes to have this collection

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

You're welcome; thanks for watching...HMM

[@joeshmoe1585]

Ernie McCoy, the great open wheel driver and Indianapolis 500 veteran from Reading Pa. named his dog Offy...

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Love that name! Thanks again Joe...HMM

[@trh55]

Thanks for the great video- can't wait for the next one!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

So many thanks! HMM

[@chrisdher65]

John Nimetz once raced a pole on 41st. Avenue. The pole won by a hair!

[@jillhamilton54]

Thank you for doing this story. It certainly needed to be told. He is an amazing fellow!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Jill...greatly appreciated. HMM

[@MarkHansen1990]

I love all your historical input into the stories it makes these amazing cars history that more increatable. I'd call them Gladiators too.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Mark...so appreciated...HMM

[@gregsimon9061]

Fabulous interview, old race cars had souls, they were around for so many years, reinvented to each owners desires, they built history year after year. Cars were tough and durable, they would be raced wrecked and rebuilt and ran for years. I was watching a KZbin video from Perris Auto Speedway, a World of Outlaws show, David Gravel went head on into the wall and it bent the frame so bad they built a new one in the parking lot the next day and he went out and pulled off a win. We have learned so much with technology in trying to keep drivers safe that the car’s are made to absorb the impact to help keep them safer. Awesome Don, looking forward to seeing more of this awesome shop.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks again, Greg...you comments are so appreciated. Give my best to Tony...HMM

[@dannyscobee6530]

Great video, can’t wait for the continuation!!! 🏁🏁

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Danny...so appreciated. HMM

[@markwitkowski6418]

It just gets better every time you have a show.what absolutely beautiful racecars,man made,pieces of art that to me is much more art than Picasso,or even Michaelangelo,thank you and Steve Truchan is another example of THE AMERICAN DREAM.What a nice man,and a savior of history,

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks again Mark; your support is always appreciated! HMM

[@rickycampbell8276]

One question and I hope I am not too late. Who does all the beautiful paint work on the cars? It is about the best I have seen and I have been a sign/ custom painter for 35 years. And the metalwork is inspirational too.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

That's a good question; I'll see if I can find out. As a painter as you are, it's interesting that that stood out to you. Thanks for watching...HMM

[@christyler3128]

Steve is one of the real guys left. He grew up eating and breathing racing the Offy. He dove in on an effort on my silver crown car trackside at the Hoosier Hundred. His hands have been on some of the best Miller - Offy projects in the world. It s kind of like heart surgery, you don t want it to blow up ,so you go to the best with the most experience. Thanx Chris Tyler

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Chris...what nice things said about Steve...and all so true. HMM

[@janenebondie8371]

More please! Can’t wait until the next installation of this story.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks Janene...always appreciate your support! HMM

[@alanpeters9241]

Great video Don!that fellow has a lot of knowledge

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks ole friend...HMM

[@karltonmickjr.3763]

Thanks for another great video, really cool stuff ! I saw those 3 A.J. Watson upright dirt cars in about 1978, still bare chassis. They were in a shop in Indy owned by Dick Cessel, a friend /partner of Watson. Dick had a hand in building them, he said they will be a hit. I was a pit crew member With Joe Saldana,s # 70 a year or 2 after that and saw the Plastic Express car with Chuck Gurney driving, dominate on the mile. i knew where that car came from when i saw it in the pits.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

You're welcome Karlton. Thanks for all this added info...super cool. HMM

[@gregroyer4170]

Well don youve done it again so interesting cant wait to watch the next and here that miller run. And i hope you got the history on how he got that huge speedway sign hanging up thanks don great job. Greg

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

That speedway sign came to him just recently; I'll make sure to get the story on it. Thanks Greg...HMM

[@sonliving]

"there is a lot of hours in a week" haha how about the energy. Makes me want to keep trudgeon on!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Gives me inspiration to keep going too. Thanks again, Mike! HMM

[@donolbers9446]

Awesome Don, the rumors I heard abouy this place 10 or so years ago are true!

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Thanks again, Don. It's all true!

[@donolbers9446]

@@HistoryMysteryMan I thought earlier that you might have been to Zakira's, another cool place.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

@@donolbers9446 Never heard of Zakira's...what is that?

[@donolbers9446]

@@HistoryMysteryMan Don, Zakira's is a shop that also plays with old, cageless open wheel race cars. There was a gent on the H.A.M.B. that worked there for a time, whose name escapes me. Anyhoo, they have put together some Offy powered stuff in the past, Dr. Bowles sprinter being one.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

@@donolbers9446 Where is his shop?

[@joeshmoe1585]

AWESOME JOB HMM. I cant wait for the rest of the series. This is a lost art and its doubtful no one can or will continue to do it. I met AJ Watson in a Barber Shop on Georgetown Road while getting a haircut one day.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Now that's a cool story...meeting Watson in a barber shop! I love that...thanks. HMM

[@joeshmoe1585]

@@HistoryMysteryMan He must of been getting a touch up job that day on his legendary crew cut...

[@johnkoury1116]

Don, where is this guy from? I am in Pennsylvania. Where is he from. I would really like to get in touch with him if that would be possible. I am building a GN Tigermoth powered race car as well as Morgan 3 wheeler with GN rear making it 4 wheels. I am figuring out how to stretch the fabric and paint it with plastic doping compound. I hope to have the Morgan done in a few weeks.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

He's near the Gary, Indiana area...amazing man...brilliant. Thanks John...HMM

[@johnkoury1116]

@@HistoryMysteryMan I decided that I needed to put together a decent machine shop to be able to make parts if I were to specialize in pre war racers and sports cars. I really need to meet this man.

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

Yeah...Steve is an incredible man, and preserving so much history....thanks again, John. HMM@@johnkoury1116

[@nbsmit01]

Does Steve live in Indy?

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

No...

[@garypope5795]

Do you remember John pope

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

That name sounds very familiar. Where would I have known that name?

[@garypope5795]

Sandusky speedway one of his driver's joy fair

[@garypope5795]

Super mod # 292

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

@@garypope5795 Super Mod 292? Don't recall that car...

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

@@garypope5795 I certainly remember Joy Fair...Michigan racing icon.

[@daleolson3506]

Try to let the man talk

[@HistoryMysteryMan]

It's coming...