HOW IT ALL STARTED

The first Mong built race car

Above is a picture of Jerry Mong, apparently in 1961 (here's the entry list referring to the car as a "Special"), at Cumberland in first race car he built.  That  well-documented  "first Mong car" car is now owned by Myron Vernis in Ohio, and it is licensed for the street!  It is a mid-engined, one-off special with an aluminum alloy body, steel tube frame, and independent suspension.  For a full write up on this unique car, read the Jan./Feb. issue of the 356 Registry magazine article.  And equally amazing, click here for link to a color video of the car being raced by Floyd Sable (who purchased the car from Mong) at the Milwaukee Mile in 1962.   AMAZING!  See the photo page for current pictures of this still-active car.

How many of each model were built?

Precise numbers are hard to confirm.  Even impossible. On the Registry Page we've tried to indicate how many of each series were built, but even info straight from the horses mouth, Jerry Mong, can be conflicting because they didn't always assign a chassis a number and records weren't important. Plus, many of the SR-3s went out the door as un-numbered kits.   In 1990, an effort was made to firm up the production numbers, but as you can see from that Exhibit, even Jerry's memory isn't consistent with known numbers.  Certainly at least 90 and maybe as many as 150 were built.  But we'll never know for sure.  

The Original SR-1 Cars Ordered By The Heir Brothers

The "Birth of the Bobsy"

According to a wonderful  (Sept. 2010) conversation with Allyn Heir, he and his brother, Kaye, had been racing a Crosley powered Siata in '59 & '60.  They had seen the kind of work that Jerry Mong was doing (no doubt the above car now owned by Tom Miller).  They commissioned Jerry to build two cars -- the original two SR-1 cars.  They had fiberglass bodies and aluminum tube frames, unlike the above "Special."   Engine was mounted mid-ship and mated to a Hewland transaxle.  The deal was that they would supply all the materials and get one of the cars and Jerry would keep the other one. We believe the car Jerry kept was run by him at Cumberland in '62.  In the entry list for that race the car was referred to as a "Bobsy," in the HM Class.  That entry list is the earliest known use of the "Bobsy" name. 

Kaye and Allyn raced the other car but after a year converted the original DKW powerplant (which they "just couldn't deal with") with the better Saab GT engine.  Then after a couple more years sold their SR-1 car to Gordon Black in '66.  Owned by George Paulus 2007 to 2017, but George passed away before restoring.  His widow, Susan sold it to George Vapaa (a Saab guru)  in 2017 who hopes to get it back in action.  

The other SR-1 which Jerry kept  was sold to Al Beasely who, Allyn believes, wrecked the car at some point very early on..

This is a period picture ('66 or '67) of one of those original  Heir "Bobsy Twins" SR-1 cars, now owned by George Vapaa.   R. Gordon Black was the owner at the time of this picture. He confirmed in 2018 that it is him driving the car, probably at Nelson Ledges or Mid-Ohio.. 

Based on the #74 on the car, this is a picture a "Bobsy" 1962 where Gerald Mong was entered as the driver of a "Bobsy" HM.  (Photo source: Race-Cars.com).    We presume this is the other SR-1 car built at the same time as the Heir SR-1.  If so, this car was later sold by Jerry to Al Beasley.

This July 1964 issue of Sports Car Graphic has a great in-depth period titled "Technical Report - BOBSY Mk. I.  An American-built winner with a very bright future!"  The article confirms much of the history of the initial Bobsy cars (i.e. the Heir brothers' cars) and Jerry getting into volume production of the Mk. II cars.  Sorry for the poor quality of the PDF file.  Was working from a copy of a copy of the original article.  (I'd be beholding to anyone with a better copy to scan.

This is a very interesting 2-page article on the history of Bobsy cars printed from the Oct. 1993 issue of Vintage Motorsport magazine.   Included is very detailed info on the above mentioned original twin SR-1 cars built for (and with) the Heir brothers.   The picture at right, from that article, shows  the two cars on track a Mid-Ohio in 1963 with Mong leading Kaye Heir.  As noted above, the Heir car was apparently was later wrecked and is gone.  The surviving car, now owned by George Vapaa.

The "Bobsy" Name

Many have asked where and how the name "Bobsy" came about. In the same Sept 2010 conversation (noted above) with Allyn Heir, he recalls that the Bobsy name was selected by Jerry Mong as it was the nickname of his favorite uncle.  And yet, John McCollister (an early employee) says; "I believe Allyn Heir's mother was totally responsible for the Bobsy (twins) name."  The latter recollection by John turns out to be the most accurate accounting.  

Confirming John's memory, Ron Mong said, "My Dad, Allyn and Kaye Heir built the first 2 identical cars. Allyn and Kaye's Mom Mabel saw them and said something to the effect - 'Oh look the Bobsy twins' - after a book or movie from that era.   . . . . My Dad did not much care for the name, but it took hold before he could get ahead of it!"  

In fact as noted above, the Bobsy name was used on a race entry for one of those cars.  Interestingly, according to Wikipedia,  the spelling for the cars was only with one "b" The popular books were "Bobbsey" with two b's. 

The Early Days of "Bobsy" Cars

An interesting accounting of the first few years of his Dad's business building what became known as Bobsy cars is found in a reprint from the 1964 Mid-Ohio yearbook.   This link will take you to that article.  Pictures below are from that article. 

And speaking of Elite Fab & Machine, as can be seen by the recent advertisement at right, Elite Fab & Machine is Ronnie Mong's current current active business. Ronnie, as Bobsy cognoscenti know, is Jerry's son.  Elite Fab & Machine is open for business and a source of restoration servicing of Bobsy cars, especially chassis work. Their website provides more information.    Feel free to give Ron a call about working on your Bobsy.  

Then Came the SR-2 Cars

With financial support from his uncle, C. W. Smith, Mong sold his tune-up shop and focused entirely on the race car business. His next racer, his third creation, was dubbed the SR-2 (or "Mark II" as shown in this Dec. 1963 ad).  With the advent of the SR-2, Jerry began producing cars in some volume.  As noted above they become known as "Bobsy" cars. These early cars were H-modified racers often with DKW and Saab power plants  The cars were raced in SCCA competition during the 1960s where they had moderate success.   It was based on the previous model SR-1 cars and consisted of an aluminum space frame with an adjustable coil-over suspension. A modified Ford 105E 1100cc engine was also supplied.. The increase in displacement size moved the car in to the G-Modified class which was filled with racers powered by Coventry-Climax FWA engines. The car had been designed to accept engines up to two-liters in size. At various races, the engine was swapped out with a larger 1500cc Ford unit and raced in F-Modified competition.

John McCollister provided this copy (above) of an SCCA  Mid-Ohio program.  We assume it was 1963, featuring a Bobsy SR-2 on the cover.   John also provided this neat photo at right of the leader board at Daytona in 1965.  The lighted sign was infield scoreboard (for the grandstand). Positions were changed by hand, but they ran various info in lights. Jerry had just won the HM ARRC championship race ('65).

In March of 1964 Tony Hogg of Road & Track wrote up a nice five-page review of the "Bobsy II"  concluding  ". . . the right combinations have been found in both design and construction.  The result is a car that can be purchased at a reasonable price and is competitive with anything in its class."  To read that complete article click here.    Period VIR pictures (see below) confirm the car featured in the Tony Hogg review was  the same one driven by Dietrich (i.e. #88 at VIR in 1963).  We believe this to be  the car owned and raced by Tom Kinsman from about 1996 to 2018.   Then in August of 1964 R&T published one of their quintessential  "Road Test" articles featuring an Osca powered SR-2 which was owned by Chic Gast of San Francisco.  . Click here to read that wonderful article. Current ownership of that Chic Gast car is unknown.  But here's a link to a RacingSportsCars.com page featuring Chic and his Bobsy-Osca..

Jim Liska in Virginia recently (2011) was kind enough to share his original Bobsy marketing materials  which he obtained "back in the day" when he was shopping for a race car.  All these years he kept the literature in perfect condition and was kind enough to allow me to copy them.  Many Bobsy owners have "copies of copies" of some of these neat historical documents, but the following PDF files were made from pristine originals so they are great copies.  Jim might have an interest is selling his originals. Contact us if you have an interest and we'll put you in contact with him.

Tri-Fold Brochure & Flyer

Bobsy Price List

Bobsy Sales Literature.