Mike
Nazaruk

Mike Nazaruk, whose full name was Michael Nazaruk, was born in Newark, New Jersey, on 2 October 1921. After serving in the US Marines during the Second World War, he went racing, including in midget cars. In 1947 he won the track championships at Staten Island and Rhinebeck, and in 1948 the one at Middletown. In 1949 he became American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) midget champion. From 1950 he raced in AAA competition, winning 14 national midget events, and in 1954 he finished fifth in the national midget standings.

Nazaruk started three World Championship races, all of them the Indianapolis 500. That race counted towards the Drivers' World Championship from 1950 to 1960, so Indy entrants in those years appear in the Formula One records. In 1951, in a Kurtis Kraft, he finished second in his first Indy 500, which gave him a podium and ninth place in the championship. In 1953 he started in a Turner, and in 1954 he returned to a Kurtis Kraft. That year he finished fifth in the Indy 500 and 19th in the championship.

Nazaruk died on 1 May 1955 during a sprint car race at Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania. He was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996 and the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2003.

Source: Wikipedia, “Mike Nazaruk”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.