This is a motorized Rocket Barstool Racer that’s been painted to look like a winged sprint car carrying Home Depot sponsorship and the racing number #20.
Motorized barstools have been around for decades, no one seems to know who built the first one, but it seems likely the idea was conceived in a bar while sitting on a stool and drinking very, very heavily.
This Rocket Barstool Racer is a motorized barstool with a tubular steel frame, an authentic barstool, a steering wheel, pedals, a single disc brake, and go kart tires.
Most of the motorized barstools we’ve featured in the past have had tubular steel frames with mid or rear-set engines driving the rear wheels. The most recent example we featured was Big Block V8 powered and capable of 727 bhp – and the seat was fitted to the top of the carburetor.
The Rocket Barstool Racer shown in this article is powered by a far more reasonable (and manageable) 195cc Tecumseh 6.0 bhp single-cylinder engine sending power to the rear wheels by way of a centrifugal clutch and a rigid axle.
This motorized barstool is built around a tubular steel frame similar to a go kart chassis, with checker plate surfaces, a standard steering wheel, and pedal controls. The barstool appears to be an actual, real barstool with chrome legs and an orange upholstered top.
The vehicle rides on polished alloy Douglas wheels fitted with go kart tires, it has a single rear disc brake, and it’s been fitted with front and rear wings designed to look like those used on winged sprint cars used in circle track racing.
Power is provided by a 195cc Tecumseh 6.0 bhp single-cylinder engine, which is about the upper limit on horsepower that you’d want to be managing while perched on a barstool.
Full sized sprint cars typically have a power-to-weight ratio on a similar level as modern Formula 1 cars, weighing in at approximately 1,400 pounds (640 kg) and producing over 900 bhp from their methanol-fueled 410 cubic inch (6.7 liter) American V8s.
This Rocket Barstool Racer is now due to roll across the auction block with Mecum at their Indy 2024 auction due to be held on the 16th of May. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Mecum
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
