During the Great Depression, America’s amateur and professional racing scenes experienced shrinkage. This resulted in the returned prominence of “stay-at-home” racers, who dominated a selection of local competition venues. Even more hungry for the prize money offered to the victors of these races, these local and hyperlocal stay-at-home champions reigned like small lords, hiring noted drivers to pilot their cleverly designed, home-built machines.

The racecar owner and constructor Gil Pearson of Ocean Park, California was one of these such small lords of the stay-at-home type, and between 1935 and 1940 his Sta-Lube Special, offered here, reigned supreme across California’s Bay Area. Comprehensively restored to its 1930s racing specifications under previous ownership, the Sta-Lube Special is undoubtedly among the most successful and significant stay-at-home ARA “Big Car” racers of America’s pre-war period.

By late 1934, Pearson was one of the Bay Area’s foremost racecar constructors, and it was at this point that his crew began assembly of the Sta-Lube Special using a chassis and body paneling respectively built by Sprint Car Hall of Fame members Clyde Adams and Frank Kurtis. Power was—and still is—derived from the “holy grail” Miller-Schofield/DO Cragar engine; a 215-cubic-inch, five-main-bearing, special crankshaft, dual-overhead cam, dry-sump unit of which only five were reportedly made, and three are known to remain extant.

Beginning in 1935, the Sta Lube Special reigned supreme at many of the Bay Area’s most important tracks, though nowhere was it more dominant than Oakland Speedway. With more than eight victories and five additional podium finishes over a five-year period, and under the practiced direction of noted drivers including Bud Rose, Tex Petersen, Hal Cole, and Louie Webb, the Sta Lube Special dominated.

In an era where races were usually won by several feet or seconds, Pearson’s fearsome creation was typically claiming its victories with several laps—and minutes—ahead of the runner-up. Contemporaneous accounts mention, rather apocryphally, that when Pearson and the car arrived for an event, the other drivers began forming impromptu alliances to beat it (in ways legal or otherwise) and split the prize money. Often, these alliances were left to split the runner-up’s prize.

After being retained for many years by Pearson, in 1990 the car was comprehensively restored to its late-1930s racing specifications and livery by Pete Eastwood and Steve Huntsinger (with much input and documentation supplied by Pearson himself). Upon its completion, it was exhibited throughout the early 1990s at the Santa Barbara and Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, as well as Laguna Seca’s Monterey Historics.

A beautifully constructed, and beautifully restored, relic of one of American motorsport’s daring eras, the Sta-Lube Special’s immense appeal is only enhanced by its rare powerplant and winning record.