In winter 1904/05 the White company built a steam works sprint car for the popular new motor racing on the dirt trotting horse tracks throughout North America. Many of these were one mile ovals so owners could compare any trotting horse across America on time.

The car was called Billy. Soon it became Whistling Billy because of the howl that it made from its burners going down the straights.

The engine was a 1905 compound 20hp White steam car engine with Stephenson’s link motion but was soon modified to have a piston valve instead of a slide vale on the high pressure side. All Whites after 1907 had this modification. The steam generator was a 30hp mono-tube as used then in the 30 and 40hp cars from 1907 onwards. Most other parts were stock parts from the production cars.

The fuel was gasoline or kerosene and the burner jets were enormous.

This car soon started winning races; on July 4th 1905 it took nearly 4 seconds off the World track record for the mile with a time of 48.35seconds (about 74 mph). Webb Jay was the driver and he believed that he was driving the fastest car in the World.

Six weeks later Webb Jay was seriously injured when the car hit the barriers, crashing into a pond. He never raced again and Whites decided to pull out of motor racing.

Charlie Bair, a wealthy sheep farmer from Billings, persuaded Whites to rebuild Billy and he took delivery in 1906. Billy continued to win races including in 1907 the valuable Post Cup in Kansas City driven by Ralph Baker where it broke Barney Oldfield’s previous records.
On December 25th 1908 this newspaper article appeared;

“One of the most spectacular accidents ever occurring in American automobile racing happened at Ascot Park, Los Angeles, this afternoon when the front tyre on the White racer, Whistling Billy, broke on a curve while Gus Siegfried of San Francisco was driving it at more than a mile a minute, the car turning three somersaults in the air, a blazing ball of flame, and landing a broken wreck in the centre of the track where it was practically consumed by flames”. No mention is made of the driver’s condition.




Whites rebuilt Billy for Bair for 1909.


In January 1910 the car was returned to Billings after a successful tour of the west of USA for 1909. Bair announced” Billy has taken 29 races since the car left Billings a little over a year ago and it has been entered for just 29 events with a clean record. The car is just about as fast a thing on wheels as there is in the country. It made a clean sweep of the records on the Pacific coast and beat machines driven by Barney Oldfield and Strang…”

Billy continued to win races and take records including the 5 mile track record on a flat circular dirt track in 4.54 minutes at over 60mph.
On July 9th at Portland, Oregon, Billy crashed and is seen in a photograph upside down, broken in half with the body crumpled beside it. I assumed that this was the end of its racing history but I have heard one report of the car racing in 1914. It is said to have ended up rotting at the back of the premises of Charlie Bair’s solicitor.

Whistling Billy V

This is a faithful rebuild of the car from the photographs made easier by the statement by the White Sewing Machine Company that their racing car was made almost entirely from standard parts. It still needs about 2 years work at my pace!



The engine is from a 1907 20hp tourer that was written in London in 1908. It has the required high pressure piston valve and the original car's water pumps, oiler, pedals, instruments and other parts. The flywheel has been lightened.

The steam generator is an original 30 hp mono-tube but a new one will be made this winter to fit the new case. The steam pipes are in. The fuel controlling “flowmotor” is yet to be found or made (this part was originally developed on Billy) and will be under the water pumps on the left side of the engine.

The only rear suspension comes from the flexion in the chassis. The rear axle is geared 2 to 1. It has one gear and neutral to run the engine and to bring the steam up to temperature before a race.



The temporary nose structure is only for making the bonnet. The water tank will then be fitted under the nose cone behind the front axle.

The chassis is under-slung made from American oak with 1/8inch steel flitch plates. The wood work on the wheels was done by Robert Hurford. The seat was from an early racing car. There are only rear wheel brakes.

Most of the driver’s compartment is complete but the simpling pedal for starting will be fitted after the steering box which I am awaiting from the USA. There is no clutch – the torque is enough when the engine is simpled. The middle “steering wheel” is the throttle (or rear wheel steering). The car was controlled on dirt balancing the two wheels one with each hand. Apparently no other cars could keep up with it accelerating out of the bends as the steam pressure had built going into them.

The main fuel tank is as originally made but not yet plumbed in. Pilot fuel will be hexane in a small tank behind the driver. Much experimentation will have to be done with fuels and jets. At about 70mph there was a lever on the dash that the driver opened to use the forced draft coming around the front axle on the right side where the water tank was cut away.

The steam pressure will be 600 to 800psi (plus a bit!) with a temperature of 750 deg F. The top speed should be near 100mph - one report puts the original at 130mph! The engine speed is up to about 2200rpm.

Billy was a dirt racer but will probably need re-gearing for hill climbing possibly using a standard rear axle giving two gears but it will still be 14 ft long and a handful! The original weight was stated as 19 cwt (2128lbs).

One must not forget that this car was 1905 and then state of the art using steam power. There was little concern for the brave (or foolish!) driver.

Dr Robert R. Dyke.

Latest pictures of the car as it is being got ready for Prescott