Iggy Katona

Iggy Katona
Iggy Katona
Nationality	American
Born	Egnatius Katona; August 16, 1916; ARCA Series Champion
Awards
1982	Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame
Achievements	1965, 1971, 1974 ARCA Racing Series point standings for 21 consecutive seasons (1953–1973); The only driver ever to win a 600-lap race on a half-mile oval (Dayton Speedway)
NASCAR Cup Series career
	13 races run over 5 years
Best finish	33rd (1952)
First race	1951 Motor City 250 (Detroit)
Last race	1974 Winston 500 (Talladega)
NASCAR Grand National East Series career
	3 races run over 1 year
First race	1973 Toledo 100 (Toledo)
Last race	1973 Mt. Clemens 100 (Mt. Clemens)
	Statistics current as of April 28, 2013.

Egnatius "Iggy" Katona (August 16, 1916 – December 4, 2003) was an American stock car racing driver from Willis, Michigan. He is most famous for his performance in the ARCA series in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, where he won six championships and 79 races, the latter of which stood as a series record until Frank Kimmel surpassed it in 2013. Other ARCA records held by Katona include most starts (630), oldest race winner (57 years old, Daytona International Speedway, 1974) and most consecutive seasons with a win (19, from 1953–1971) ^[1]

Early career

Katona started out racing motorcycles in local races in Michigan and Ohio at age 21, winning nearly every race he entered.^[2]

After a brief tour of duty in the Army during World War II, he turned to midget car racing. Building his own engines and chassis and with his two sons Ronnie and Jim as crew members, Katona found success on four wheels as well, including winning 14 feature races in a row at Detroit's famed Motor City Speedway dirt oval.^[2]

MARC/ARCA career

In 1952, fellow Toledoan

Bill France, Sr.'s NASCAR. Katona was a force in the series from the beginning, finishing 3rd in the series' inaugural campaign in 1953, 2nd in 1954, and winning the championship in 1955, 1956, and 1957. His 4th MARC championship came in 1962 driving his #30 Ford

.

Although he developed his racing skills on the

superspeedways in 1964, winning the ARCA race at Daytona three times. He won his 5th and 6th titles in 1966 and, at the age of 51, 1967. His consistency was his biggest asset, as he finished in the top ten in series points in 21 straight seasons from 1953–73.^[2]

References

^ "Miscellaneous Records". ARCAracing.com. Retrieved November 2, 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c Radebaugh, Don (2003-12-05). "Iggy Katona". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved November 2, 2006.

External links

Iggy Katona driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jack Bowsher	ARCA Series Champion 1966–1967	Succeeded by Benny Parsons
Preceded by Harold Smith	MARC Champion 1962	Succeeded by Jack Bowsher
Preceded by Buckie Sager	MARC Champion 1955–1957	Succeeded by Nelson Stacy

[arcaracing-1] "Miscellaneous Records". ARCAracing.com. Retrieved November 2, 2006.

[motorsportcom-2] Radebaugh, Don (2003-12-05). "Iggy Katona". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved November 2, 2006.

[1]

[2]