Leo William Goossen (7 June 1892 – 4 December 1974) was an American draftsman, mechanical engineer and automobile designer. He is known for his work with Harry Miller and his long involvement in the design and ongoing development of the four-cylinder Offenhauser ("Offy") racing engine.
Goossen is considered to have been the preeminent American designer of racing engines over a fifty-year period that began in the early 1920s.
Early years Goossen's parents, Izaac and Kate, immigrated to the US from the Netherlands. They settled in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Goossen was born. The family later moved to Flint, Michigan.
In 1908, Goossen left school at 16 to work as a blueprint machine operator in the engineering department of the Buick division of the nascent General Motors. He continued his education by taking classes in mathematics and engineering at night.
Goossen's work caught the attention of two of Buick's principals at the time: Chief Engineer Enos Anson (E.A.) de Waters and Engine Designer Walter E. Marr. When Marr retired and relocated to Chattanooga, Tennessee, he continued to work on special projects for the division. Goossen relocated to Chattanooga to collaborate with Marr.
In or around 1917, Goossen was diagnosed with tuberculosis, discovered during a military medical exam. He spent time in a sanatorium, but was told to relocate to a drier climate to complete his convalescence.
Goossen left Buick in January 1919, and moved to the southwestern US. While there he worked briefly as a cow-hand near Silver City, New Mexico.
From New Mexico, Goossen went to Los Angeles. He applied for a job at the Miller race car workshop, and presented a letter of reference written by Walter P. Chrysler. Goossen began working for Miller in August 1919.
Automotive design career 1910s Goossen's design career started at Buick. Early on he was asked to create tracings for components used in the 1910 Buick 60 Special, also called the "Buick Bug". He designed the engine for a 1914 Buick cyclecar prototype. He was also involved in the design of the 1915 Buick "Twin-Six" V12 engine as well as a V6.
1920s After moving to Miller, one of Goossen's first projects was to produce drawings for an advanced racing car whose design was already completed. His first major engine project was to complete the design for the straight four-cylinder double overhead cam (DOHC) T-4 engine to power Edward Maier's "TNT Special", named for Maier's TNT Auto Company. Goossen's valvetrain designs included a variation of the cup tappets he had seen on a damaged Ballot engine, but in Goossen's design the upper surface of the tappet was radiused.
From December 1920 to January 1921 Goossen worked with racing driver Tommy Milton to design a new engine, which Milton then commissioned Miller to produce. Driver Ira Vail also ordered a copy of the engine. The engine was a DOHC straight-eight engine with four valves per cylinder, a barrel crankcase, tubular connecting rods, three main bearings and with cylinders and heads cast en bloc. This engine, called the Miller 183, set the pattern for many of Goossen's subsequent designs.
Changes to engine rules announced for the 1923 Indianapolis 500 prompted Miller to have Goossen design a reduced-displacement engine based on the 183 called the Miller 122. This engine appeared in 1922.
While many of the concepts developed on Goossen's drafting table came directly from Miller, the detail design was increasingly left up to Goossen. Miller himself did not have a formal engineering education. Eventually Miller stopped even checking Goossen's final drawings. Master machinist Fred Offenhauser used Goossen's drawings to produce the parts.
In 1923 Goossen took part in designing a front-wheel-drive system that was used in many of Miller's Indianapolis racers. Miller applied for a patent for the system in 1925, which was granted in 1927.
Miller's front-wheel-drive system was licensed by Errett Lobban Cord for use in the Cord L-29. Miller was paid $1000 per month licensing fee. For use in the Cord the system was extensively modified by Goossen and Cord engineer C. W. Van Ranst. The first prototype was running by 1927.
In 1922–23 Goossen produced a DOHC cylinder head conversion for the four-cylinder Ford Model T engine that was used by Harry Hooker in his "Hooker 99" special driven by Elbert "Babe" Stapp.
In 1926 Goossen produced a marine engine called the Miller 151. This engine was repurposed by some driver/owners for racing car use. It would go on to influence the four cylinder Offenhauser engine. Schofield produced a version of the 151 enlarged to . In 1930 Miller directed Goossen to draw up an even larger version. While a few engines of were built, the engine was soon enlarged to .
Another new Miller Indianapolis straight-eight appeared in 1927. Called the Miller 91, it displaced just and had two valves per cylinder. With the addition of a centrifugal supercharger the earliest 91s produced while some later ones made as much as . Goossen called the Miller 91 his "baby".
Goossen designed a one-off flat-eight marine engine called the Miller 148. Built in 1928, it was used in the racing boat Miss Rioco III. Boat and engine crashed and sank on their maiden outing. The engine was later recovered and finally restored in 2007.
In an effort to increase the participation of major motor manufacturers at the Indianapolis 500, Speedway president Eddie Rickenbacker enacted a set of major rule changes for the 1930 race. The changes became known as the "Junk Formula", and they effectively obsoleted the Miller straight eight engines. In response, in 1929 Goossen designed a series of three cylinder head upgrades for the Model A engine: a high-compression flathead, an OHV that became known as the Miller Hi-Speed head, and a DOHC head.
Boat racer James A. Talbot hired Miller to design a pair of new engines to power a boat that would contest the 1929 British International Trophy, also known as "The Harmsworth Cup". Goossen and L. A. Orsatti shared responsibility for the design. Each engine was to be configured as a 24-cylinder "W" with eight cylinders per bank, and would use cylinders, valvetrain components, and ignition system parts from Liberty. The dual ignition system was driven by six eight-cylinder distributors. A new aluminum crankcase was designed that retained the 45° inter-bank angle of the donor Liberty engines, allowing the same timing to be used. Other new parts included the cams, cam housings, articulated rods and crankshafts. Each engine displaced and developed an estimated at 2600 rpm. The engine was called the Miller-Liberty 3300. The engines were installed in Talbot's boat, named the Miss Los Angeles II. As installed, the crankshaft rotation of one engine was opposite that of the other. Miss Los Angeles II finished second in the 1929 Harmsworth. Afterwards the engines were bought by the Cragar Corporation with the intention that they would power a car called America 1 in an attempt on the world land speed record, but the car was never built.
On 7 February 1929 Miller sold his company to the Schofield Corporation, which set up a subsidiary called the Miller Production Corporation Limited but which was commonly called Miller-Schofield. With US$5,000,000 of capitalization, the company was to manufacture Miller engines for aircraft, marine, and automotive use. From Miller the new company received machinery, drawings and patterns, and the rights to the series of performance cylinder heads designed by Goossen for Ford's Model A/B engine. The OHV version and a small number of the DOHC heads were built by Miller-Schofield. Goossen also went to Schofield, where his salary rose to $100 per month. In October 1929 the stock market crashed, and shortly after this Gilbert Beesemyer, one of Schofield's directors, admitted to having embezzled more than $8 million from the Guarantee Building & Loan Company. Schofield and the Miller Production Corporation filed for bankruptcy on 1 December 1930. Miller set up his own company again, with Goossen freelancing for him, including drawing up a four-cylinder at the behest of Offenhauser, who was running his own shop at this point and contracting back to Miller. Goossen did not join Offenhauser full-time until 1944. When Miller-Schofield failed, the Cragar company bought Miller-Schofield assets and put Goossen's OHV Model A/B heads back onto production.
1930s With financial backing from the Stutz Motor Company, engineer and racing driver Frank Lockhart built a streamliner called the Stutz Black Hawk Special to challenge the Land speed record. The engine for the car was built by Riley Brett. The powerplant consisted of two Miller 91 top ends mounted to a common crankcase at a 35° degree angle. The cylinder banks retained their individual crankshafts, which were geared together in the crankcase, with power leaving via an output gear mounted low in the case. The combined engines were supercharged, and Lockhart added two intercoolers. On April 25, 1928, the car went out of control during the return run of a record attempt at Daytona Beach, throwing Lockhart out to his death. The engine was salvaged, and later became the basis upon which the Sampson IC-30 Indy car of 1930 was built. Goossen became involved in the project at this time, working with Brett to design a new underslung chassis of box-section aluminum for the car. The front suspension used parallel quarter-elliptic leaf springs, while at the rear a De Dion tube was suspended on parallel torsion bars. The car appeared at the 1930 Indianapolis 500 for the first running of the so-called "Junk Formula". Driven by Louis Meyer, it took an early lead but had to pit for repairs. The car finished fourth.
Also appearing at Indianapolis in 1930 was a car called the Summers-Miller. Harry Hartz had Miller produce a revised straight-eight for it. Goossen began with the Miller 122, and enlarged it to . This engine was installed in the car and won the 1930 Indianapolis 500 in the hands of driver Billy Arnold.
In addition to the $1000 monthly licensing fee Miller received for the rights to his front-wheel-drive system, he was given a new Cord Brougham Sedan powered by a Lycoming straight-eight engine. Miller wanted a more powerful engine to replace the Lycoming. Goossen did the design for the new powerplant. The resulting engine was a V16 engine with two inline banks of eight cylinders set on a barrel crankcase with an included angle of 35° between banks. Each inline bank was made of two straight four cylinder modules with integral cylinder heads. Each cylinder head had two overhead camshafts and two valves per cylinder. Displacement was and power output was . In 1931 this engine appeared in an Indianapolis racing car. The car was in third place when it pitted to have its sixteen plugs replaced due to fouling. It returned to the track and was running in seventh position when it had to retire due to a broken connecting rod. One year later the engine and car appeared again, but dropped out of the race due to a broken oil line.