In a more conventional sense, he made his first real start on the trail in 1959, driving Hank Blum‘s car at the season-ending Golden State 100 at Sacramento.
In 1960 he passed his rookie test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Chapman No. 43, but suffered a practice incident. He jumped in another car but could not find the speed needed to qualify.
Owner Ernie Ruiz offered him a seat in the Travelon Trailer car for five dates on the Championship trail and he scored a 10th place finish at Syracuse.
Disappointment came again at Indy in 1961 but, showing promise, he finished fourth at DuQuoin racing for Tassi Vatis and closed out the year with two top-10 finishes for John Zink.
Hulse finally cracked the starting grid at Indianapolis in 1962, and raced enough in USAC sprints to finish ninth in the final standings.
In 1963 he again qualified for the 500, ran all 200 laps and posted an eight-place finish, and he also snared four top-five finishes on the circuit.
Things could not have looked better. He had secured a ride with Al Dean, one of Indy‘s top owners, and was under the watchful eye of master mechanic Clint Brawner. On the sprint car side of the ledger, things were bright as well.
Hulse scored a win at New Bremen, Ohio, and finished fourth in the final standings behind Roger McCluskey, A.J. Foyt, and Don Branson.
Then in 1964, everything turned south.
Assigned to Harlan Fike‘s potent sprint car for the May 3 date at New Bremen, Bob Wente blew a tire, setting up a chain of events that left Hulse upside down and severely injured. His eyesight would never be the same.
While on the mend, Al Dean had no choice but find a new man to handle his car at Indianapolis and beyond. While Hulse was doing sheet time, Mario Andretti went forth in Dean‘s car and won the national championship as a rookie.
It remains a part of Hulse‘s biography that leaves one to ponder what could have been.
Hulse would remain on the mend for two full years, but later felt he should have pushed to get back into a car sooner. Against all odds, he was back at Indianapolis in 1966 and was tasked with coming to grips with a rear-engine car.
He secured a ride with Bob Wilke, but he was caught up in George Snider‘s spin in the early stages of the race. Yet, over the course of the year, he scored five top-five finishes, was the runner up at Sacramento, and landed seventh in season points.
The following year he only made five appearances, but his seventh-place run for Lindsey Hopkins would be his best finish in four career starts at the Brickyard.
The 1968 season would be his last. He made two starts for owner Myron Caves, but a practice crash at Indianapolis told him the time had come to step away.
Hulse’s career numbers underscore just how good he was. In 60 starts on the big stage, he amassed 11 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes.
After hanging up his helmet, Goodyear helped Hulse get started in the retail tire business. He was successful at it, but hated it. It was then that he decided to give real estate a try, and immediately put his personality to work.
It paid off handsomely. His post-racing life, while perhaps less glamorous, was satisfying. Chuck had two sons, Lee and Chuck Jr., the latter has raced Formula cars on and off for years. His first wife, Betty, seen in numerous victory lane photos, passed away in 1997.
Hulse remarried in 2002 and, along with his wife Dana, he remained active to the end.
Chuck Hulse was there when midgets became a national phenomenon, and he was also there when the CRA became a full-fledged sprint car racing organization. At Indianapolis he was a part of the roadster era and at the dawn of the rear-engine revolution.
In one of his proudest moments, in 2012 Hulse was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
The Pepsi Kid certainly covered plenty of ground in an extraordinary life.