Jim Rathmann (racing driver)
Jim Rathmann | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Royal Richard Rathmann July 16, 1928 Milwaukee 200 (Milwaukee) | ||||||
Last win | 1960 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
| |||||||
NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
3 races run over 3 years | |||||||
Best finish | 89th (1950) | ||||||
First race | 1949 Race 4 (Langhorne) | ||||||
Last race | 1951 Motor City 250 (Detroit) | ||||||
| |||||||
Formula One World Championship career | |||||||
Active years | 1950, 1952 – 1960 | ||||||
Teams | Wetteroth, Kurtis Kraft, Moore, Epperly, Watson | ||||||
Entries | 10 | ||||||
Championships | 0 | ||||||
Wins | 1 | ||||||
Podiums | 4 | ||||||
Career points | 29 | ||||||
Pole positions | 0 | ||||||
Fastest laps | 2 | ||||||
First entry | 1950 Indianapolis 500 | ||||||
First win | 1960 Indianapolis 500 | ||||||
Last win | 1960 Indianapolis 500 | ||||||
Last entry | 1960 Indianapolis 500 |
Royal Richard "Jim" Rathmann (July 16, 1928 – November 23, 2011), was an American
Rathmann and his older brother swapped names while teenagers. As a 16-year-old going by the name of Dick Rathmann, he wanted to start racing. To enter races, he borrowed his older brother's I.D. and assumed the identity of "Jim Rathmann."[1] The name change stuck for life in public circles.
Driving career
Championship Car career
Rathmann drove in the
Rathmann also participated in the two runnings of the
1960 Indianapolis 500 victory
Starting in the middle of the first row, Rathmann ran in the front the entire race. From the midway point on, Rathmann and fellow driver Rodger Ward were locked in a neck and neck duel for first. Tire wear became an issue as the race wore on and Rathmann was able to keep his wheels fresh long enough to outrace Ward to the finish. The race featured the most recorded lead changes in Indianapolis 500 history, and has often been considered the greatest Indianapolis 500 ever run.[2][3][4]
Stock car career
Rathmann competed in three
World Drivers' Championship career
The AAA/USAC-sanctioned Indianapolis 500 was included in the FIA World Drivers' Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indianapolis during those years were credited with World Drivers' Championship points and participation in addition to those which they received towards the AAA/USAC National Championship.
Rathmann participated in ten World Drivers' Championship races at Indianapolis. He won once, finished in the top three four times, recorded two fastest laps, and accumulated 29 World Drivers' Championship points. Rathmann's points total is the largest number of World Drivers' Championship points earned by a driver competing solely in the Indianapolis 500.
Post-racing career
Rathmann later owned a Chevrolet-Cadillac dealership in Melbourne, Florida, where he befriended astronauts Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and Gordon Cooper. Rathmann convinced GM President Ed Cole to set up a program which supplied each astronaut with a pair of new cars each year. Most chose a family car for their wives and a Corvette for themselves.[5] Alan Bean recalls Corvettes lined up in the parking lot outside the astronaut offices at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and friendly races between Shepard and Grissom along the Florida beach roads.[6]
After retiring from the car business, Rathmann lived with his wife, Mary Kay, in Indialantic, Florida.[7]
Death
During the decades after his victory, Rathmann was a regular visitor to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during May each year. He drove the pace car several times. However, he missed the 100th-anniversary celebration in 2011 due to failing health. Rathmann died on November 23, 2011. He had reportedly suffered a seizure at his home days earlier and died at a hospice center in Melbourne, Florida.[4]
Awards and honors
Rathmann has been inducted into the following halls of fame:
- Florida Sports Hall of Fame (1978)[8]
- Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1993)[9]
- Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2007)[10]
Motorsports career results
AAA/USAC Championship Car results
Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Pos | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1949 | ARL | INDY 11 |
MIL |
TRE |
SPR | MIL |
DUQ |
PIK | SYR
|
DET | SPR | LAN | SAC |
DMR DNQ |
39th | 100 |
1950 | INDY 24 |
MIL |
LAN |
SPR |
MIL |
PIK |
SYR |
DET |
SPR |
SAC |
PHX |
BAY |
DAR |
- | 0 | |
1952 | INDY 2 |
MIL 10 |
RAL 4 |
SPR DNQ |
MIL DNQ |
DET |
DUQ 18 |
PIK | SYR 18 |
DNC DNQ |
SJS |
PHX |
6th | 1,070 | ||
1953 | INDY 7 |
MIL |
SPR |
DET |
SPR |
MIL |
DUQ |
PIK | SYR |
ISF |
SAC |
PHX |
26th | 169.5 | ||
1954 | INDY 28 |
MIL |
LAN | DAR 27 |
SPR | MIL
|
DUQ | PIK | SYR
|
ISF | SAC | PHX |
LVG |
- | 0 | |
1955 | INDY 14 |
MIL 20 |
LAN | SPR | MIL
|
DUQ | PIK | SYR
|
ISF | SAC | PHX |
- | 0 | |||
1956 | INDY 20 |
MIL 19 |
LAN |
DAR 11 |
ATL 4 |
SPR DNQ |
MIL 15 |
DUQ 3 |
SYR DNQ |
ISF 15 |
SAC |
PHX |
23rd | 300 | ||
1957 | INDY 2 |
LAN |
MIL 5 |
DET |
ATL |
SPR |
MIL 1 |
DUQ |
SYR |
ISF |
TRE 6 |
SAC 12 |
PHX 6 |
2nd | 1,470 | |
1958 | TRE |
INDY 5 |
MIL 7 |
LAN |
ATL |
SPR |
MIL 23 |
DUQ |
SYR |
ISF |
TRE |
SAC |
PHX |
14th | 560 | |
1959 | DAY 1 |
TRE 4 |
INDY 2 |
MIL DNQ |
LAN |
SPR |
MIL 4 |
DUQ |
SYR |
ISF |
TRE |
SAC |
PHX |
4th | 1,154.8 | |
1960 | TRE | INDY 1 |
MIL DNQ |
LAN |
SPR | MIL 18 |
DUQ | SYR
|
ISF | TRE 21 |
SAC | PHX
|
4th | 1,000 | ||
1961 | TRE DNQ |
INDY 30 |
MIL DNQ |
LAN | MIL
|
SPR | DUQ | SYR DNQ |
ISF | TRE | SAC | PHX
|
- | 0 | ||
1962 | TRE | INDY 9 |
MIL |
LAN | TRE |
SPR | MIL |
LAN | SYR |
ISF |
TRE |
SAC |
PHX |
19th | 200 | |
1963 | TRE | INDY 24 |
MIL |
LAN | TRE | SPR | MIL
|
DUQ | ISF | TRE | SAC | PHX
|
- | 0 |
Indianapolis 500 results
|
|
FIA World Drivers' Championship results
(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | WDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | Pioneer Auto Repair | Wetteroth | L4
|
GBR | MON | 500 24 |
SUI | BEL | FRA | ITA | NC | 0 | ||||
1952 | Grancor-Wynn's Oil | Kurtis Kraft 3000 | L4
|
SUI | 500 2 |
BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | NED | ITA | 10th | 6 | |||
1953 | Travelon Trailer | Kurtis Kraft 500B | L4
|
ARG | 500 7 |
NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | SUI | ITA | NC | 0 | ||
1954 | Bardahl | Kurtis Kraft 500C | L4
|
ARG | 500 28 |
BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | SUI | ITA | ESP | NC | 0 | ||
1955 | Belond Miracle Power | Epperly | L4
|
ARG | MON | 500 14 |
BEL | NED | GBR | ITA | NC | 0 | ||||
1956 | Hopkins | Kurtis Kraft 500C | L4
|
ARG | MON | 500 20 |
BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | NC | 0 | |||
1957 | Chiropractic | Epperly Indy Roadster | L4
|
ARG | MON | 500 2 |
FRA | GBR | GER | PES | ITA | 10th | 7 | |||
1958 | Leader Card 500 Roadster | Epperly Indy Roadster | L4
|
ARG | MON | NED | 500 5 |
BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | MOR | 21st | 2 |
1959 | Simoniz | Watson Indy Roadster | L4
|
MON | 500 2 |
NED | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | USA | 11th | 6 | ||
1960 | Ken-Paul | Watson Indy Roadster | L4
|
ARG | MON | 500 1 |
NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | POR | ITA | USA | 8th | 8 |
References
- ^ "The Talk of Gasoline Alley - May 11, 2011
- ^ "Top 10 Indy 500s, No. 1: Jim Rathmann and Rodger Ward's 1960 epic". NBC Sports. 2023-05-26. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
- ^ Bean, Alan. "Training".
- ^ Nelson, John (June 2009). "The AstroVette an astronaut's Corvette from the beginning of the Space Age". Vette. Archived from the original on 2012-04-24. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
- ^ Aumann, Mark (21 July 2010). "Rathmanns crisscross NASCAR, Indianapolis". NASCAR.COM. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Florida Sports Hall of Fame | Jim Rathmann". Retrieved 2023-09-24.
- ^ "Jim Rathmann". IMS Museum. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
- ^ "Jim Rathmann". www.mshf.com. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
- ^ "Jim Rathmann Indy 500 Race Stats". Archived from the original on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
External links
- Jim Rathmann - ChampCarStats.com
- Jim Rathmann - Motorsport Memorial
- Jim Rathmann driver statistics at Racing-Reference