Rodger Ward
Rodger Ward | |||||||
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Phoenix 100 (Phoenix) | |||||||
Last race | 1966 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
First win | 1953 Springfield 100 (Springfield) | ||||||
Last win | 1966 Trenton 150 (Trenton) | ||||||
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Motor Trend 500 (Riverside ) | |||||||
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Formula One World Championship career | |||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||
Active years | 1951 – 1960, 1963 | ||||||
Teams | Bromme, Kurtis Kraft, Pawl, Kuzma, Lesovsky, Watson, Lotus | ||||||
Entries | 12 | ||||||
Championships | 0 | ||||||
Wins | 1 | ||||||
Podiums | 2 | ||||||
Career points | 14 | ||||||
Pole positions | 0 | ||||||
Fastest laps | 0 | ||||||
First entry | 1951 Indianapolis 500 | ||||||
First win | 1959 Indianapolis 500 | ||||||
Last win | 1959 Indianapolis 500 | ||||||
Last entry | 1963 United States Grand Prix |
Rodger Morris Ward (January 10, 1921 – July 5, 2004) was an American
Early life
Ward was born in Beloit, Kansas,[1] the son of Ralph and Geneva (née Banta) Ward. By 1930, the family had moved to California. He died in Anaheim, California.
Ward's father owned an auto wrecking business in
Driving career
Midget car career
Ward began racing
Ward shocked the midget car racing world when he broke Offenhauser motor's long winning streak by using Vic Edelbrock's Ford 60 "shaker" motor at Gilmore Stadium on August 10, 1950.[4] The motor was one of the first to feature nitromethane for fuel. Ward and Edelbrock went to the Orange Show Stadium the following night and won again.
Ward drove Ken Brenn's Offy midget July 25, 1959 to beat the top expensive and exotic sports cars in a
Stock Car career
Ward participated in the AAA and later USAC Stock Car divisions. He started no less than 66 races, winning seven, and finishing in the top-five no less than 29 times. He won the AAA National Stock Car title in 1951.
Championship car career
Ward's AAA Stock Car championship gave him an opportunity for a rookie test at the 1951 Indianapolis 500. He passed the test and qualified for the race. He finished 34 laps before his car suffered a broken oil line. He finished 130 laps in the 1952 Indianapolis 500 before the oil pressure failed. His 1953 Indianapolis 500 ended after 170 laps, and his 1954 Indianapolis 500 ended after his car stalled on the backstretch. He completed all of the laps for the first time in 1956, finishing eighth.[3]
In
Ward battled
Ward took the lead at the 1962 Indianapolis 500 at lap 126 and led the rest of the race. He also won the season championship that year.[3]
In the midst of the Lotus-Ford rear-engine invasion in 1964, car owner/chief mechanic A.J. Watson built the first rear-engined Watson, mated to the four-cam Ford. But the night before the 1964 Indianapolis 500, Ward and Watson made a highly uncharacteristic strategic error. Going against the strong recommendation (read: orders) from Ford to use gasoline fuel instead of the cooler-burning but more powerful methanol/gasoline. The car was fast, but the jetting mistake left Ward having to pit every 20 laps for fuel. Later Ward calculated that he had spent two minutes less on the track than winner A.J. Foyt, yet only lost the race by approximately 1 minute.
In addition, the horrific second-lap accident, in which his friends Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs both perished in a fiery, gasoline-fueled wreck, left an indelible impression on Ward. After a difficult month of May, 1965, Ward suffered the embarrassment of failing to qualify. Ward left the Leader Card team mid-season and joined Mecom Racing team owned by John W. Mecom Jr. In 1966 Ward won the second race of the season at Trenton driving a supercharged Offy powered Lola.[6][7]
For his Indianapolis 500 effort Ward drove the same car but retired while running 15th with handling problems listed as the cause. The fact that late race attrition reduced the race to only five cars would have provided him a good finish as long as he was running and in fact he had been faster than the winner. Ward had parked a running car 74 laps into the race and was considering his future. At the banquet, Ward stood at the podium and made a painful announcement to the crowd: "I always said I'd quit racing when it stopped being fun," he said. He paused as he wiped away tears. "Today it wasn't fun anymore." He had 26 victories in his 150 starts between 1950 and 1966, and he finished in the top ten in more than half of his starts.
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.
Ward participated in ten World Drivers' Championship races at Indianapolis. He was also among a small number of USAC/Indianapolis drivers to start an FIA-sanctioned World Drivers' Championship event during the 1950-1960 period - competing for Leader Card Racers in the 1959 United States Grand Prix.
Ward also participated in the 1963 United States Grand Prix. During his World Drivers' Championship career, Ward won once, finished in the top three twice, and accumulated 14 World Drivers' Championship points.
Post-racing career
Ward retired to be a commentator for ABC's Wide World of Sports for NASCAR and Indycars from 1965 to 1970. From 1980-1985, he served as a driver expert for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, before retiring in Tustin, California. With the help of the Mattioli Family, Ward helped design the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. A unique course that resulted in a triangle shape, he designed the track after three corners of tracks he liked to race at, Trenton, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee. The track is still popular today.
In later years, he served as public relations director for the new Ontario Motor Speedway, and later managed the Circus Circus unlimited hydroplane team. He died on July 5, 2004, aged 83.[3]
Awards and honors
Ward has been inducted into the following halls of fame:
- Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1981)[8]
- International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1992)[9]
- Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1995)[10]
- National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1995)[11]
- West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame (2003)[12][13]
Motorsports career results
AAA/USAC Championship Car results
Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | INDY | MIL
|
LAN | SPR | MIL
|
PIK | SYR
|
DET | SPR | SAC | PHX 10 |
BAY | DAR | 47th | 30 | |||||
1951 | INDY 27 |
MIL 5 |
LAN 13 |
DAR DNS |
SPR DNQ |
MIL
|
DUQ | DUQ | PIK | SYR
|
DET | DNC 8 |
SJS 17 |
PHX 10 |
BAY 17 |
30th | 192 | |||
1952 | INDY 23 |
MIL DNQ |
RAL 9 |
SPR DNQ |
MIL 7 |
DET 16 |
DUQ | PIK | SYR 13 |
DNC DNQ |
SJS 18 |
PHX 9 |
23rd | 240 | ||||||
1953 | INDY 16 |
MIL 18 |
SPR 1 |
DET 1 |
SPR 17 |
MIL 6 |
DUQ DNQ |
PIK | SYR 7 |
ISF 8 |
SAC 13 |
PHX 18 |
11th | 540.2 | ||||||
1954 | INDY 22 |
MIL 10 |
LAN 16 |
DAR DNQ |
SPR 15 |
MIL 26 |
DUQ 11 |
PIK | SYR 18 |
ISF 9 |
SAC 13 |
PHX DNQ |
LVG 4 |
23rd | 210 | |||||
1955 | INDY 28 |
MIL DNQ |
LAN 9 |
SPR DNQ |
MIL 24 |
DUQ DNQ |
PIK | SYR 9 |
ISF 14 |
SAC | PHX 6 |
17th | 252.2 | |||||||
1956 | INDY 8 |
MIL DNP |
LAN DNS |
DAR 19 |
ATL 16 |
SPR 6 |
MIL 3 |
DUQ DNQ |
SYR 10 |
ISF 3 |
SAC 16 |
PHX 19 |
8th | 862 | ||||||
1957 | INDY 30 |
LAN DNQ |
MIL 1 |
DET 16 |
ATL 16 |
SPR 1 |
MIL 18 |
DUQ 3 |
SYR 18 |
ISF 13 |
TRE 20 |
SAC 1 |
PHX 13 |
11th | 740 | |||||
1958 | TRE 11 |
INDY 20 |
MIL 19 |
LAN DNQ |
ATL 7 |
SPR 16 |
MIL 1 |
DUQ 4 |
SYR 4 |
ISF 3 |
TRE 1 |
SAC 16 |
PHX 5 |
5th | 1,160 | |||||
1959 | DAY 2 |
TRE 2 |
INDY 1 |
MIL 13 |
LAN | SPR 18 |
MIL 1 |
DUQ 1 |
SYR 3 |
ISF 1 |
TRE 18 |
SAC 3 |
PHX 17 |
1st | 2,400 | |||||
1960 | TRE 1 |
INDY 2 |
MIL 1 |
LAN | SPR DNQ |
MIL 21 |
DUQ 16 |
SYR 18 |
ISF 14 |
TRE 2 |
SAC 17 |
PHX 10 |
2nd | 1,390 | ||||||
1961 | TRE 18 |
INDY 3 |
MIL 1 |
LAN | MIL 19 |
SPR 6 |
DUQ 17 |
SYR 1 |
ISF 17 |
TRE 3 |
SAC 1 |
PHX 2 |
3rd | 1,680 | ||||||
1962 | TRE 3 |
INDY 1 |
MIL 4 |
LAN | TRE 1 |
SPR 17 |
MIL 1 |
LAN | SYR 1 |
ISF 5 |
TRE 5 |
SAC | PHX
|
1st | 2,460 | |||||
1963 | TRE 18 |
INDY 4 |
MIL 1 |
LAN | TRE 3 |
SPR 1 |
MIL 4 |
DUQ 2 |
ISF 1 |
TRE 26 |
SAC 1 |
PHX 1 |
2nd | 2,210 | ||||||
1964 | PHX 5 |
TRE 18 |
INDY 2 |
MIL 13 |
LAN | TRE 7 |
SPR 15 |
MIL 2 |
DUQ 13 |
ISF 2 |
TRE 4 |
SAC 4 |
PHX 2 |
2nd | 2,128 | |||||
1965 | PHX 11 |
TRE 20 |
INDY DNQ |
MIL 22 |
LAN DNQ |
PIP | TRE DNQ |
IRP 24 |
ATL | LAN | MIL 22 |
SPR | MIL 23 |
DUQ | ISF | TRE 23 |
SAC | PHX 15 |
48th | 30 |
1966 | PHX 2 |
TRE 1 |
INDY 15 |
MIL
|
LAN | ATL | PIP | IRP
|
LAN | SPR | MIL
|
DUQ | ISF | TRE | SAC | PHX
|
15th | 540 |
Indianapolis 500 results
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|
- Ward's finishes from 1959 to 1963 and 1960 to 1964 rank as the best and second best five-race finishing streaks in Indianapolis 500 history.[citation needed]
FIA World Drivers' Championship results
(key)
References
- ISBN 978-0-85613-042-7.
- ^ "RetroIndy: Indy 500 drivers who served in the military". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
- ^ West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, written in 2003, Retrieved November 13, 2007
- ^ Vic Edelbrock's Biography Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, Retrieved January 11, 2007
- ^ a b Biography Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame (name is spelled incorrectly), Retrieved January 11, 2007
- ^ Frank M. Blunk (25 April 1966). "Ward Wins in Rain at Trenton; 102-Mile Event First Major Victory for Mecom's Lola". The New York Times.
- ^ "Rodger Ward". Motor Sport Magazine.
- ^ "Rodger Ward". IMS Museum. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ^ "Rodger Ward". International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ^ "Rodger Ward". www.mshf.com. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ^ "Roger Ward". 2007-09-29. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ^ "Hall of Fame – West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame". Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ^ "Rodger Ward". www.stockcarreunion.com. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
External links
- Rodger Ward - ChampCarStats.com
- Rodger Ward - Motorsport Memorial
- Rodger Ward driver statistics at Racing-Reference