Leo William Goossen (7 June 1892 – 4 December 1974) was a 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.