By Ron Ceridono Photography by Jack Chisenhall & George Hagy

ack Chisenhall is probably best known as the founder of Vintage Air, but he is also a hands-on hot rodder who drives the wheels off the cars he creates. His ’39 Ford sedan has racked up close to 200,000 miles and he’s gone 240 mph at Bonneville in his ’53 Studebaker with the air conditioning on. Chisenhall’s automotive interests are best described as varied, his collection has included everything from vintage race cars to a French Facel Vega sports coupe. But it’s safe to say that the inspiration for his latest creation, and the winner of the 2023 Grand National Roadster Show’s America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy, came from Chisenhall’s fascination with the Indianapolis 500.

Interestingly, the name “Champ Deuce” was bestowed on Chisenhall’s ’32 long before winning the AMBR trophy. The origin of the name is from what many consider the heyday of the Indy 500, the front engine roadster era from 1952 to 1966. The term “champ car” came from the United States Auto Club (USAC) sanctioned open wheel events in its Championship racing division, which included everything from dirt ovals to the bricks of the Indianapolis 500. (Two-time Indy winner, Bill Vukovich, came up with the term “roadster” to describe a front engine race car with solid axles on both ends, and it stuck). Chisenhall combined history, his passion for Indy, and love of hot rods, and the result was named the Champ Deuce.

Planning the construction of the Champ Deuce began in Chisenhall’s imagination almost five decades ago and was followed by years of collecting rare parts, like the Halibrand magnesium knockoff Indy wheels, pin drive hubs, N.O.S. Halibrand Indy fuel tank cap, and an original ’32 Ford roadster body, frame, and grille shell. After years of planning and searching for parts and encouragement from Indycar racer and fabricator, Jackie Howerton, construction began in earnest in 2017. The frame was mounted on a salvaged Amarillo railroad station depot cart modified with the addition of a 5-foot by 10-foot by 1/2-inch steel plate covered by a 3/4-inch aluminum plate surface ground to make it completely flat. With the talented George Hagy as principal fabricator, he and Chisenhall began construction of the chassis with the framerails secured to the cart. To ensure absolute accuracy, it would remain there until all the suspension work was done, the running gear was put in place, and the body was mounted.

Modifications to the original Ford framerails included replacing original buggy spring suspension with custom-made torsion bars on both ends. Up front, the arms for the longitudinal torsion bars attach to the tops of the kingpins with custom shackles that allow the axle to move up and down and the wheels to turn. In the rear, the transverse torsion bar is inside the rear crossmember with the arms running forward to the Winters quick-change. Gary Gates was responsible for machining the splined torsion bar arms and other parts, while Mark Grohman helped with assembly.

Inside the body is a tubing framework designed to stiffen the frame and secure the body to the ’rails with a clever system of tapered pins and bolts. The attachment bolts run through vertical tubes in the frame and thread into the ends of the reinforcement framework inside the body. The effect is to sandwich the sills of the body between the tubing and the framerails. An additional benefit of the internal framework is that it provides side impact protection for the driver and passengers (the framework also accommodates a removable rollbar).

It goes without saying that the guy who developed air conditioning for hot rodders in 1976 would install a custom climate control system in his own car. And before anyone questions the wisdom of A/C in a roadster, we’ll point out this car will be equipped with a top and unique Lexan side curtains that swing into place.

The powerplant in the Champ Deuce is another example of Indy’s influence. Chisenhall was inspired by the late Tony Capanna’s 270ci Dodge Hemi-powered effort in the 1955 race. Unfortunately, although the little Hemi performed extremely well when qualifying began, an errant rivet from a baffle in the dry-sump oil tank caused an oil pump problem and the engine seized, causing the car to spin; the resulting damage meant that Capanna’s car did not make the field. With Capanna’s attempt in mind underhood the Champ Deuce is a 354ci Dodge Hemi. It has a host of custom parts, including heads Chisenhall had cast in aluminum and a throttle body fuel injection built by Cody Chapman. Behind the Hemi is a TREMEC six-speed transmission.

To fully appreciate the Champ Deuce, we will be presenting a feature on the completed car in an upcoming issue of Modern Rodding and follow that up with a detailed look at the modifications and assembly of the Dodge Hemi. Stick around and you’ll see why the Champ Deuce is in indeed a winner.

2. Power for Chisenhall’s AMBR winner comes from a ’56 Dodge Hemi with custom aluminum heads and electronic fuel injection. Check out details like the expansion tank on the radiator shroud and the milled firewall with three master cylinders–two for the brakes and one for the clutch.

4. The front of the original ’32 frame was stepped, then the ’rails were fully boxed with 0.125-inch mild steel. As the car has torsion bars, there is no conventional front crossmember for a spring.

6. Inside the body is a tubing structure that attaches to the tapered pins in the frame with bolts from below. Note the tube at the top of the firewall (arrow) that ties into the tube on the engine side.

8. All the steering connection points have been modified to include double-shear attachment points. Note how the new machined end fits into the Pitman with a “key” for additional weld area and strength.

10. On the inside of the firewall are torsion bar adjusters that allow the roadster’s ride height to be fine-tuned.

12. Up front are Halibrand pin drive, knockoff hubs. They’ve been equipped with 11-inch Wilwood drilled-and-vented rotors and six-piston Wilwood calipers. Wheels are 16-inch Indycar knockoffs with Excelsior Competition 5.50×16 Sport Racing Radial tires.

14. Rather than a simple C-notch, the rear of the frame was modified with a two-piece hoop on each side. The bottoms of the hoops are removeable to allow the rearend to drop out if necessary.

16. Locating the rear axle are four-bars (only the top two are in place) along with a Watts link that attaches to the centersection.

18. The beautifully crafted rear roll pan by Damon Detmer hides the torsion bar arms and blends into the wheelwell insert and bellypan that is yet to be installed.

20. Ahead of the rear wheels are a pair of custom fuel cells equipped with race-style safety bladders.

22. The flex couplings allow the exhaust pipes to be rigidly mounted to the frame, making the tight fit with the holes in the roll pan possible.

23. Inside the trunk is a Halibrand Indycar fuel filler, two fire suppression bottles (one for the engine compartment and the other covers the fuel tanks). That box in the center houses the custom Vintage Air climate-control system.

25. Sid Chavers of Sid Chavers Co. was responsible for the upholstery. Here is a look at the final A/C vent layout and the finished center console.

27. With the major construction complete, the car was off to Jimmy Shine of Shine Speedshop where he and Paulo Dosdoglirian, Branden Johnson, and Jeff Allison laid out and punched louvers in the bellypan and hood. Roy Brizio of Roy Brizio Street Rods and his team did final details and assembly and Darryl Hollenbeck of Vintage Color Studio was responsible for the final bodywork and paint.