The term big car has been part of racing jargon since sometime in the nineteen thirties, but just what was a big car?  While this question has often been discussed, I thought I would take another run at it. While some have suggested that a big car was a specific class of racecar, I believed the term was used simply to differentiate between the full-size racecars of the time and the midgets that began running in 1933.  My approach to researching the question was designed to support or deny that belief.   I decided to review early editions of the National Auto Racing News (Now Speed Sport News) until I found the first use of the term big car and then continue to trace the use of the term through subsequent editions until the term appeared to have become part of the language of racing.  Certainly, other publications of that time may have used the term earlier and in different ways, but I limited my research to National Auto Racing News.

1935
What appears to be an early attempt to differentiate between the midgets and their larger brethren appeared in the column: entitled “Speed Smoke Now and Then.”  The Jan 10, 1935 column observed, “Dreams of race car drivers for a new regulation track for full sized cars in or about Miami may become a reality…”  The same column, on May 30, 1935, commented, “A full-sized car as well as four front row midgets are harbored in the Bernard and Lee stables.”

The first commercial advertisement that I found that differentiated between full size racecars and midgets was for a May 12, 1935 race that advertised “AAA Auto Races” at New Speedway, Chicago.  The advertisement didn’t specifically mention big cars, but it did say the cars were “Speedway cars – Not Midgets.”

In September, a recurring advertisement began to appear for a book titled “Automobile Racing.”  The ad was headlined “Midget and Big Time Racing.”

Then the September 26, 1935 column “Racing Daze and Knights” first used the term big car.  The writer observed, “Mack Mackenzie…is trying to do with the midgets what Doc is doing with the big cars."

1936
In 1936 the first commercial advertisements for big car races appeared.  Big cars were advertised on two occasions that year.  The first occasion was on May 15 when “Big Car AAA Auto Races” were advertised for Union Speedway, Union N. J.  This was the first use of the term in a commercial advertisement that I found where the term big car stood alone and was not used to draw a comparison to midgets.  Then later that month, “Mixed Races, Midgets, Big Cars” were advertised for May 31 at Marion Speedway, Dayton, Ohio. I found no other advertisements for big cars that year.

A June 18 article titled “Dreyer is Busy on New Midgets” included the observation that “Everett Saylor…also drives a Dreyer…This is not a midget, but a big car.”

1937
Then the term big car started showing up in photo captions. The January 28 issue included two photos captioned with big car terminology.  One said, “Fred (Agabashian) drives both big cars and midgets…” The other caption said, “Cliff Hemmingway…filled in a very successful season both in midgets and big cars”

On March 11, 1937 a photo caption read “Doc Shanebrook…in the Collins McDowell big car.”  This was the first reference made to big car in other than a commercial advertisement, where the term stood alone and was not used for the purpose of making a comparison between big cars and midgets.

In 1937, Union Speedway, Union, N. J. as well as Zeiter’s Motor Speedway, Detroit, Michigan advertised races for big cars occasionally through the summer.

1938
In 1938, Floyd Travis ran an advertisement announcing “Parts for Midgets and Big Cars.” Green Engineering advertised “Midget and Big Car Parts.”  Big car races were advertised for Ozone Park, L.I.; Keene N. H.; Union N. J.; Newmarket N. H.; the Nebraska State Fair; and Elsmere, Delaware.

Conclusion
It looks like the term big car developed over time, almost accidentally, in order to differentiate between full-size racecars and midgets. That is not to say, however, that there was never a car class in somebody’s rules somewhere for racecars called big cars. I just didn’t find such a class reference prior to 1939.  By then, big cars and midgets had become part of the language of racing.

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