Babcock Mite

(click on photo to enlarge)

The Babcock mite could be purchased in kit form from John Babcock of Belmont, CA in 1950.  The kit consisted of aluminum top and bottom castings, spur gears, axles, motor mount and bearings.  The car was designed to be powered by a McCoy .19 engine and while the car was developed primarily as a rail car, it could be set up to race on either rail or cable tracks.  Babcock kits sold for $12.00 and complete ready-to-run cars were available for $47.50.

The Babcock rail-mite shown below was actually built by John Babcock for its original owner,  Bob Diekmann of Algona, IA.  Babcock sent the finished car to his good friend, Curly Glover, who proxied the car at the IMRCA Mite Rail Nationals at San Jose Model Speedway on July 16, 1950.  The car set 3rd fastest time and placed 3rd overall in the meet.  Glover indicated that the car would have placed 1st overall except the screws which secured the front housing to the engine crankcase loosened in the last heat.  After its initial race at the 1950 Mite Rail Nationals, the car was returned to its owner in Iowa and the car was never raced again.

While the initial design Babcock mite proved to be extremely successful as a rail car, the two separate rail guide mounting lugs in the front  proved to be less than optimal for tether racing.  As a result, Babcock modified his original design to replace the two separate front mounting lugs with a single, beefier mounting lug which would accommodate either a pair of rail guides or a bridle mount, depending upon the application.   Very few of these second generation Babcock mites were produced, but an example is shown below.

This Babcock mite was built from a kit and was designed to run on tether tracks.  The car passed through several owners, eventually being raced by Bob Stevenson of Plymouth, Michigan.

Seeking a less expensive car which would serve to attract new competitors to the mite car racing hobby in the early 1960s, Bob Stevenson produced a fiberglass-bodied Babcock tether car.  The fiberglass body was taken from molds which were formed from a set of Babcock aluminum body castings serving as patterns.  A Babcock spur gear drive unit was used along with the usual McCoy .19 engine.

Prior to introduction of the successful Babcock mite, John Babcock built an early prototype of the car which was built on an aluminum pan with rail guides bolted to the pan.  The car was powered by a McCoy .19 engine and utilized a rather crude spur gear drive unit.  The first test run of the prototype car was  not successful as the car shook badly as it built up speed.  In frustration, Babcock reportedly picked up the car and threw it off the track, saying he never wanted to see it again!  The car was retrieved by his good friend, Curly Glover, who kept the car for a number of years. 

One of the last mite cars to come from the creative genius of John Babcock is this Dooling .29 powered tether car.  The pan was machined from a block of billet aluminum.  The car features a narrow tread, both front and rear, and a front axle of an inverted airfoil design.

Return to Home