Troy
Ruttman

Troy Ruttman was born on 11 March 1930 in Mooreland, Oklahoma. In 1945, aged 15, he entered his family's car in a roadster race at San Bernardino, California, and won it. He took the California Roadster Association roadster title in 1947 and again in 1948. In 1949 he moved to the Midwest to race in the AAA sprint car and championship car circuits, and over the next three and a half seasons he won three AAA sprint car championships.

From 1950 to 1960 the Indianapolis 500 counted towards the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. Ruttman started it seven times in that period: in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1960. In 1952 he won the race in a Kuzma, aged 22 years and 80 days. It was his only win and only podium, and he finished seventh in the championship. He remained the youngest winner of a World Championship round until Fernando Alonso won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. In 1958 he also started the French Grand Prix in a Maserati for Scuderia Centro Sud, his only World Championship race away from Indianapolis.

A sprint car crash in August 1952 kept him out for a season and a half. He returned in 1954 with a much reduced programme. In 1956 he won the USAC Stock Car Short Track Division title. Between 1962 and 1964 he contested seven NASCAR Grand National races, finishing in the top ten five times, and he was third at Riverside in 1963. He ended his racing career aged 34 and died on 19 May 1997 in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. His honours include induction into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1992) and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2005). His younger brother Joe also became a racing driver.

Source: Wikipedia, “Troy Ruttman”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.