(Words and photos by Tommy Lee Byrd) – We love running across stuff that you’ve probably never heard of, yet holds a part of automotive racing history. Even if the car, or in this case, the engine, never became a household name, it was an important part of the innovation that keeps the racing world alive and well. The Lencki Six is one of those pieces of the puzzle, and it comes from the Indy racing side of the spectrum.
In 1938, Joe Lencki (inventor of Lenckite, now known as zMax) wanted to create his own engine to enter, and hopefully win, the Indy 500. He had raced at Indy in year’s prior, but like many racers of the era, wanted an advantage over the popular Offenhauser engines. He sought help from designer, Leo Goosen, to draw up the plans, and the pieces were actually cast and assembled at Offenhauser Engineering later that year. The Lencki Six featured a mono-block design, meaning that the cylinder head was cast into the block. The stroke was four inches and the bore measured 3.8125 inches, creating a final displacement of 274 cubic inches. The original engine featured a whopping 15:1 compression ratio, and sucked methanol through side draft carburetors, but was eventually converted to Hilborn mechanical fuel injection.
The engine debuted in the Burd Piston Rings Special in the 1939 Indy 500. Lencki qualified 26th and finished in 14th, due to a fuel pump failure. Lencki attempted the 500 a couple more times in his Blue Crown Special, until World War II put a halt to racing activity in the United States. He would eventually rebuild the Lencki Six and try again after the War. Lencki had determination that only a true gear head can possess, as he continued tweaking the engine for many years, finally retiring it in 1963. And though it never took home an Indy victory, the engine stood tall in the racing world, and the legacy lives on today.
Corky Coker, owner of Coker Tire Company and his friend, Mike Cunningham teamed up to rebuild an original Lencki Six engine, and also obtained the patterns and rights to reproduce these six-cylinder, dual overhead cam engines. That means for the right amount of money, a reproduction Lencki Six could end up in a hot rod, a vintage Indy car restoration or even a vintage racing boat.
Corky unveiled the rebuilt Lencki Six engine at this year’s SEMA Show, and it drew quite a crowd. With an angry exhaust note, and beautifully polished exterior, the Lencki Six lives again. The new version features the same Hilborn intake manifold, but it’s been retrofitted with EFI, which is controlled by a FAST XFI 2.0 module. The compression is now a manageable 10.5:1, but the custom-grind Comp Cams roller camshafts and fuel delivery updates should take this six-cylinder engine way past its original horsepower figures (it produced 416 horsepower on Hilborn’s dyno
in 1955). No horsepower numbers have been published as of yet, we’re betting it’s somewhere in the 500’s.
It takes guys like Corky Coker and Mike Cunningham to invest the time and money to restore a one-off race engine. With the efforts of Performance Technology (Wakarusa, IN), Innovation Machining (Niles, MI), Edward Rachanski (Henderson, NV) and Honest Charley Garage (Chattanooga, TN), the Lencki Six is back in action. We dig the custom engine stand that looks like an old racecar….Honest Charley Garage built its specifically for the SEMA display. We can’t wait to see one of these engines put to the test on the dyno, or better yet, on the track, but for now check out the pictures and video of this revamped Indy engine.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE ALL THE PHOTOS AND VIDEO OF THE REVIVED LENCKI SIX RUNNING!