Ray's photos: Car racing in the 1930s

Today I scanned some photos taken by my grandfather, possibly during the late 1920s/early 1930s in California (at a period in his young life where he ran away from home and travelled across the country on the rails as a self-described hobo) or slightly later in Pennsylvania (when he was dating my grandmother). My grandmother said he raced in Pennsylvania, where he would drop her off at a dance and he would go to race. She didn’t know for the longest while that that’s where he went after dropping her off. The family story is that he stopped racing after seeing one his friends being killed. My grandmother noted that he appeared in a magazine of some sort during this period. I’ve been told these cars were “spirit car” dirt track racers, a kit car popular for dirt racing in 1930’s (essentially a modified Ford Model T). Original photos are approx 2x2" prints. I’d like to find some more detail about these cars, the possible location, and maybe even the people involved.