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Joe Ilg Mite
Originally owned by Bruce Madsen, Bloomfield Twp., MI
Bruce Madsen developed an interest in automobiles and airplanes at an early age. Growing up in Bloomfield Township, just outside Detroit, Madsen worked at a filling station as a teenager and soloed in a Piper Cub at age 17. It was no surprise that he joined the US Air Force in 1950.
The Dooling 29 powered car shown in the photos is one of only a handful of mite cars originally built by the legendary Joe Ilg of Laureldale, PA, and exhibits many of the features which made Ilg's Dooling 61 powered tether cars so competitive. Among those distinctive features are the Ilg-design fuel tank, one of Ilg's signature plunger-type fuel shut-off's, a cast aluminum pan which does not extend beyond the rear axle, and an Ilg-modified Dooling 29 engine.
Bruce Madsen purchased the car in 1950 for $17.00 while he was serving in the Air Force, stationed first at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX and then at F.E. Warren AFB outside Cheyenne, WY. While he was in the Air Force, Madsen spent his weekends either racing his Joe Ilg Mite car or working as the track announcer at a local stock car racing track, where he would also race on occasion.
Following his stint in the Air Force, Madsen returned to Michigan, got married, and re-painted the Ilg Mite. He changed the number of the car, choosing the number 12 because his wife's birthday was January 12. He also repainted his race box in the same motif.
