red devil sprinter

tom harpur · Post by **tom harpur** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:02 am

I have a red devil sprinter built in Butte Montana. Rear engine drive, I'm guessing between 1965 to 1968. Is there anyone out there with one or has pictures of one? Thanks Tom

Bob Towarnicki · Post by **Bob Towarnicki** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:33 am

Tom,
They must be coming out of the woodwork. I picked one up in Souther IL two weeks ago. Don't know anything about them, but mine does have a serial number plate near the seat rail which is how I identified it as a red devil. I'll get a picture of it and post it. Mine needs work, has some poor repairs to the frame where it cracked. I think there is a picture of one on this forum from Carl Haydt, but mine is very different looking. Post a picture of yours. I am sure there are people on here who can help.
Bob

Dan Flanders · Post by **Dan Flanders** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:14 pm

This is what I've been able to piece together with regard to Red Devil karts.
Red Devils were known for their enduro chassis but they made at least 4 sprint variations. The first, called the Enduro, was built by Don Hanley (aka Don's Karts) in Butte, Montana circa '64 it had an integrated fiberglass fuel tank that the driver sat on (YIKES....I smell roasting chestnuts). I think there were two interchangeable tank sizes you could swap out if you were running sprint or enduro (up to 5 gallons as I recall). Shortly after the release of the Enduro, Don moved to Washington and renamed the karts to Red Devil.

'68 or so they made at least two variants, a rear engine AND an American engine sidewinder chassis (blue kart is offset opposite of your standard air cooled sidewinder chassis) and probably standard sidewinder offset for the European air cooled motors, but none are currently known to exist. Sometime after '68 ('69-'70), they came out with an updated design (red kart) in both the rear engine and sidewinder configuration. By this time they were building one of the best enduro chassis available so they weren't building very many sprint chassis.

I own the blue kart, and it needs some help. It appears they used a couple different tubing sizes (at least on mine). From what I've been told by a former owner, they were a pretty decent handling kart. If either of you guys have pictures, I'd really appreciate if you would email me copies (hi-res)
Dan (flandoman at yahoo dot com)

Bob Towarnicki · Post by **Bob Towarnicki** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:33 am

Dan,

Thanks for sharing the info and Tom thanks for sending me your pictures. I have taken a few of my kart and posted them at this link: http://photobucket.com/Red_Devil_Sprint_Kart. My kart doesn't look like any of the pictures of others I have seen so far. The ID tag is difficult to read but says: Red Devil Engineering Inc.,
Patent No. 3,557.894, Other Patents Pending, No. 165. I am not sure about the serial number, 165 is my best guess.

Bob

tom harpur · Post by **tom harpur** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:37 pm

Hear are some pictures of my kart .

Dan Flanders · Post by **Dan Flanders** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:35 pm

How classic is this? 3 karts by the same manufacturer and all them are unique

AND the only known examples of each. I know of three more Red Devil sprinters, including an Enduro with the fiberglass tank, that are in deep storage in the Mid-West. Personally, I'd like to find a '69-'70 like Haydt's so if anyone comes across one, let me know.

Bob Towarnicki · Post by **Bob Towarnicki** » Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:33 am

Dan,

I guess they aren't quite coming out of the woodwork? I traded a worn Chrysler WB820 with a GEM mount, dual tillies on a GEM manifold, a Horstman muffler and a clutch for the Red Devil and a beat Mc92, clutch and box muffler. I am loyal to the yellow (and sometimes chrome).

I was having a little traders remorse since the frame needs a lot of work and the rear wheels have spun their cores, but I am feeling better about the acquisition now. I didn't appreciate the uniqueness.

Does anyone know, are the wheels another variety of NyLites or some other brand? They are a white plastic under the spray can black paint.

Bob

Rob Voska · Post by **Rob Voska** » Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:40 am

I'm not 100% sure maybe about 75%. I think those are IKS wheels & the fins were for front wheel brake cooling.

Terry Bentley · Post by **Terry Bentley** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 5:36 pm

Bob, at least those swing mounts are still readily available.

Greg Matteucci · Post by **Greg Matteucci** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:04 pm

Boy oh Boy...... I have wanted one of them since the mid 70's.

Mr Philips who had the local track had one...... It was sooo cool to a 10 year old kid... so diffrent from the Puttnik we have... I can still remeber it sitting in his garage. It was red and rear engined. and looked like it would do 1000mph. If my memory serves it was the 69/70 model like in Dan's pictures. I ran into Mr Philp's son at a swap meet last summer and had a real interesting conversation. Unfortunately, he did not remeber much about the Red Devil.

I have chased leads all around Montana on them and nothing concrete has been uncovered. I have ran into a guy who claims to have been friends with Don when he was in Butte. I just have not been able to talk with him.

I hope to get more information and a red devil for my collection.

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