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Famous Like Me > Racing driver > V > Bill Vukovich

Profile of Bill Vukovich on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Bill Vukovich  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 30th May 1918
   
Place of Birth: Fresno, CA
   
Profession: Racing driver
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Bill Vukovich (born 13 December 1918 in Fresno, CA, died 30 May 1955), was an American racing driver, of Serbian descent, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1953 and 1954 and was killed in a chain-reaction crash while leading the 1955 event. Vukovich was trailing three slower cars--driven by Roger Ward, Al Keller, and Johnny Boyd--when Ward's car swerved as the result of a broken axle. Keller, swerving to avoid Ward, struck Boyd's car and pushed it into Vukovich's path. Vukovich's car struck Boyd's, became airborne, and landed upside down, killing him.

As the Indianapolis 500 counted as a round of the Formula One World championship from 1950 to 1960, his career is credited with participation in 5 grands prix, with 2 wins, 19 championship points and 1 pole position scored. However, it should be noted that Indianapolis' inclusion in the championship was largely symbolic and the Indy drivers rarely entered any other Formula One races. Because of this Indy winners are often not listed in totals of Grand Prix winners and especially in statistics tables. As an example, Vukovich has an F1 winning percentage of 40%, which puts him just behind the 5-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio (47%).

Formula One Indy 500 results

Season Driver_Number Output Grid Classification Points Note Report
1951 81 Trevis-Offenhauser 20 Ret 0 Oil Leak Report
1952 26 Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser 8 17 1 Steering Report
1953 14 Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser 1 *POLE* 1 *WON* 9 Report
1954 14 Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser 19 1 *WON* 8 Report
1955 4 Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser 5 Ret 1 Accident Report

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Bill Vukovich