Bill
Vukovich

Bill Vukovich was born on 13 December 1918 in Alameda, California, to parents who had emigrated from Serbia. At 17, in 1936, he was given the chance to drive a track roadster, and by his fourth race weekend he had won a main event. He raced midget cars and won the United Racing Association midget championship in 1945 and 1946, the 1948 Turkey Night Grand Prix and the 1950 AAA National Midget title.

The Indianapolis 500 counted towards the Formula 1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960, and Vukovich was an Indy 500 driver: all five of his world championship starts came there, from 1951 to 1955. He drove a Trevis in 1951 and Kurtis Kraft cars after that. In 1952 he led 150 laps before his steering failed on lap 192 of 200. He won the race in 1953 and 1954, which gave him two wins, two podiums and one pole position. He finished seventh in the 1953 championship and sixth in 1954, his best placing. He also won two further AAA National Championship races. He led the most laps in three consecutive editions of the Indianapolis 500, the only driver to do so.

In the 1955 Indianapolis 500 Vukovich was the previous year's winner and was leading on lap 57 when he was caught up in a multi-car accident. He died in it aged 36. His son Bill Vukovich II and his grandson Bill Vukovich III also became racing drivers and both started the Indianapolis 500. The son finished second in 1973 and the grandson was named Rookie of the Year in 1988. Bill Vukovich was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Source: Wikipedia, “Bill Vukovich”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.