The tragic death of Bill Vukovich during the 1955 Indianapolis 500 unfairly cast a long, dark shadow over the career of the winner of that year’s race — Bob Sweikert.
“My father was the greatest driver to ever race at Indianapolis,” insists Bill Vukovich Jr., son of the iconic two-time 500 winner and an accomplished Indianapolis competitor in his own right.
During one of auto racing’s most dangerous eras, there was one exceedingly deadly year in which 100 spectators and a half dozen drivers, some of them racing icons, perished.
“I know the reputation the Novis had,” three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser said about, perhaps, the most iconic cars in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history.
In a career filled with diverse and remarkable achievements, Dan Gurney’s most significant victory was winning the 1967 Belgium Grand Prix in an Indy car-based Eagle of his own design and construction.
The list of drivers who should’ve won the Indianapolis 500 but didn’t reads like a racing who’s who — Ted Horn, Duke Nalon, Rex Mays, Jack McGrath and Michael Andretti are among those that came tantalizingly close.
