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.
[2]: 43 Goossen is considered to have been the preeminent American designer of racing engines over a fifty-year period that began in the early 1920s.
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.
[2]: 25 Goossen's work caught the attention of two of Buick's principals at the time: Chief Engineer Enos Anson (E.A.)
He applied for a job at the Miller race car workshop, and presented a letter of reference written by Walter P.
[9][1][10] After moving to Miller, one of Goossen's first projects was to produce drawings for an advanced racing car whose design was already completed.
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.
[34] 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.
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.
[39] 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.
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.
[43] 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.
At the 1931 Indianapolis race Miller met motorboat builder and racer Garfield Arthur "Gar" Wood.
Miller and Goossen designed the engine, while Ev Stevenson worked on the lubrication system and the cylinder heads.
After the 1931 Indy, Miller proposed building two copies of an advanced four-wheel drive car for the 1932 race as a promotional tool for the FWD Company of Clintonville, Wisconsin.
[48][49] The cars appeared at Indy in 1932, one sponsored by the FWD Company, the other by William A. M. Burden, a descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
[51] Burden and Victor Emanuel wanted Miller to build two copies of the most exclusive, highest performance road car of the time.
Goossen never recovered his lost wages, forcing him and his wife to move out of their home to smaller accommodations.
[58][59] With input from William Clement "Bud" Winfield, Goossen designed a supercharged DOHC 179 cu in (2.9 L) straight-eight.
Goossen tried vane and Roots style superchargers before finally settling on a Miller centrifugal blower.
[62] The engine first appeared at the 1941 Indianapolis 500 in a rebodied 1935 Miller-Ford front-wheel-drive chassis and renamed as another "Bowes Seal Fast Special".
Beginning in 1953, Goossen reengineered the Meyer & Drake engine to be mounted laid over to just 18° above horizontal to reduce the car's centre of gravity.
Racing promoter and team owner J. C. Agajanian decided to develop an Indianapolis engine based on the Studebaker V8 stock block.
[67] For the 1955 Indianapolis 500 businessman and racing team owner Howard Keck hired Travers and Coon to develop an all new streamlined Indy car.
At the 1939 Indianapolis this engine, in the Burd Piston Rings Special, retired due to a fuel pump failure.
Installed in a lakester owned by Julian Doty and built by August "Gus" Sommerfeld and Robert "Baldy" Baldwin of B and S Garage, the engine was first run in 1960.
[72][73] In the early 1960s, Goossen provided consulting services to Ford during the development of that manufacturer's Indy V8 DOHC racing engines.
[74] Meyer & Drake Offy engine serial number 215 was bought by Ford through their "Auto Lite" division on 31 August 1962 to study before designing their new DOHC Indy V8.
Reventlow hired Goossen to design an engine specifically for the project, fabrication of which would be handled by Travers and Coon of Traco.
[1] The final version of the Offy lineage that Goossen worked on was what became known as the Drake-Goossen-Sparks (DGS), an engine with displacement reduced to 183 cu in (3.0 L) with the addition of turbocharging.