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LOS ANGELES, CA.- Two-time Indianapolis
500 winner Rodger Ward passed away Monday, July 5 at a hospice in
Anaheim after battling ailments and diabetes in recent years. The
83-year old racing icon will be remembered as one of the all-time
legends in Indy 500 racing history. The oldest living winner of the
Indy 500 and one of the most revered open-wheel champions was the
subject of a 25-inch obituary by Shav Glick in the July 6 Los
Angeles Times. A photo of Rodger sitting in his Indy 500 winning
Leader Card roadster accompanied the tribute on page B.9.
Ward won the Indy 500 in 1959 during his initial season with
Milwaukee-based car owner Bob Wilke and car builder/chief mechanic
A. J. Watson. They comprised the famous three Ws racing team that
was a major force in champ car racing for many years. In addition to
his '59 Indy 500 triumph, Ward finished second in '60 (recognized as
one of the best 500 races in history), third in '61, first in '62,
fourth in '63 and second in '64. For decades historians recalled
that record as the most successful six-year finishing record in Indy
history.
My personal memories of Ward go back to the
mid-1950s when I read Bob Russo's stories in Speed Age magazine
about him and other AAA Championship Trail drivers. Ward was a
journeyman driver with limited success in mid or back of the pack
cars until he hooked up with car owner Roger Wolcott in the mid-50s.
That collaboration led to his becoming part of the front-line Wilke-Watson
operation in 1959. My first chance to see Ward race in person came
in October 1957 when I watched him race the Wolcott # 8 champ dirt
car to victory at the California State Fairgrounds dirt mile. His
wife Jo and their small dog also appeared in Victory Lane photos. My
first trip to see the Indy 500 in person was in 1959 and Ward won
that exciting roadster-era race. His on-track duels with Jim
Rathmann, Pat Flaherty and Johnny Thomson made it memorable.
Hours after the race our charter group waited at
the Indianapolis Airport to board our DC-6B pro/jet airplane. We
were surprised to see Ward, winner of the 500 earlier that day, come
through the airport escorting an attractive young lady to her
flight. Ward was quite the ladies man. Several years ago Ward
attended a race at Irwindale Speedway and came to the press box
early to visit. I sat next to Rodger in the first row and talked
one-on-one as we watched activities below on the track. I related
the 1959 Indy Airport story to Rodger, but he did not recall it with
memory-loss over the decades.
Born on Jan. 10, 1921 in Beloit, KS, 5'8",
170-pound Ward grew up as a youngster in the north Los Angeles
community of Highland Park and attended Franklin High. He built a
hot rod from spare parts at his father's wrecking yard. During Word
War II Ward piloted the distinctive P-38 fighter and also flew the
B-17 bomber. He was such a skilled pilot he was retained after the
war as a pilot instructor at Wichita Falls, TX. While serving in the
military Rodger attended a midget race in Texas and later bought and
raced an older midget. He received the life-long scar on his chin as
a result of backing his midget into a
wall.
Ward left the military service in the late 1940s
and returned to Southern California. He raced the popular midgets,
which competed as various tracks almost every night of the week.
Rodger won one of his most memorable victories in 1950 at Gilmore
Stadium in the final year of racing at the Los Angeles Fairfax
District current site of CBS Television City. Rodger won the main
event in a Ford V8-60 Kurtis-midget against a field of the more
powerful Offenhauser-powered midgets. He made his debut at the Indy
500 in 1951 and drove in 14 successive Indy 500s from 1951-64. His
best finish in eight years before his 1959 victory was an eighth
place in a roadster in the 1956 500.
Ward's racing career was marred by crashes that
claimed the lives of two racing legends. During 1954 at Du Quoin, IL
an accident on the front straight with Chuck Stevenson sent Rodger's
car spinning into the pits where it hit and killed Clay Smith, his
friend, mentor and former crew chief. Ward almost quit racing.
During the 1955 Indy 500 Ward's dirt track car broke an axle, hit
the wall and flipped to mid-track leaving turn two. It resulted in a
five-car crash that claimed the life of race leader and two-time
winner Bill Vukovich. The 1953-54 Indy winner swerved right, hit the
wall and flipped many times
outside the backstretch. Officials revealed his fatality during the
race.
That crash also hit Rodger hard and led to a down
period in his racing fortunes. Although some people criticized Ward
for the crash, the Vukovich family in Fresno, CA absolved him of
blame. The 1955 season was devastating in racing worldwide.
Fatalities led to the AAA withdrawal from race sanctioning and the
birth of USAC in 1956. Ward's belief in his abilities led him to
continue his racing career and his perseverance was rewarded
shortly. Ward said Indy 500 victories made his career. Four-time
winner A.J. Foyt often says the same thing to this day.
Ward was an avid gin rummy player and golfer who
shot in the low 80s when he and wife Diane lived in Indianapolis. He
loved home-made ice cream. Rodger considered his best season to be
1963 when he won five of 12 USAC National Championship races,
including three of the last four. Foyt also won five. Rodger won the
USAC National Championship in 1959 and 1962 when the circuit had
point races on both dirt and paved tracks. He won 26 National
Championship races, second only to Foyt at the time. Ward also raced
sports cars and stocks cars and was the AAA 1951 National Stock Car
champion.
The year 1959 was memorable for Ward in addition
to his Indy 500 victory. Two months after his 500 triumph Rodger
drove Ken Brenn's 11-year old Kurtis midget in a USAC Formula Libre
race at the Lime Rock, CT road circuit. No specifications or
displacement rules were required. Cars just had to be registered
somewhere. Sports and stock cars, Grand Prix cars, midgets, super-modifieds
and modifieds raced together in a pair of 20-lap races and a 60-lap
finale. Ward's midget won the pole by a second and finished second
to George Constantine's Aston-Martin in the first 20. Ward won the
second 20 after dueling Constantine. Then Ward won the 60-lap race
in a battle with the sports cars of Constantine and Chuck Daigh, in
a Maserati. Rodger ran third early and after Constantine dropped out
he passed Daigh with 10 laps to go and won convincingly. Ward's
upset shocked the racing world. During December 1959, Rodger took
the midget,
fitted with a clutch, to the first Formula One US Grand Prix at the
Sebring, FL road course. He ran eighth for awhile but a clutch
failure caused him to exit the race.
Rodger failed to qualify his rear-engine
Watson/Ford for the 1965 Indy 500 and was 34th fastest. He made his
final Indy 500 in 1966 aboard the John Mecom-owned, rear-engine
Lola/Offy and finished 15th, dropping out with poor handling after
74 laps. Rodger announced his retirement from competition the next
night at the Indy 500 awards banquet because racing wasn't fun for
him any longer. When he retired, Ward led the Active and All-Time
Drivers Championship Point Standings with 16,524.4 points. He also
was the only Indianapolis Motor Speedway driver listed in the top
ten in all divisions of All-Time IMS records. He was the top money
winner, third in lap prize money, fifth in total points, sixth in
mileage led, tied for seventh in number of races and ninth in laps
led. He also led the number of championship races driven with 150.
Following his retirement at age 45, Ward became a
motor racing goodwill ambassador and visited military servicemen,
showed racing films and talked racing. He was a vice president and
national safety director for USAC. He became director of public
relations for Ontario Motor Speedway when that IMS replica opened in
1970. In 1974 Ward resumed racing in short track stock car to help
an injured friend. Rodger raced at the long-gone Speedway 605
half-mile paved track in Irwindale, CA. He qualified second and
finished fourth in his first race. He had fun but never won another
feature before retiring for good. He also operated a tire business
in the San Gabriel Valley.
The last time I saw Ward in person was Friday
night, July 25, 2003 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Monrovia,
CA, where he was inducted with other drivers and racers into the
West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame at a banquet. Tuxedo-clad Ward
walked to the stage for his award assisted by a respectful Parnelli
Jones, his 1960s Indy Car and stock car racing rival. Rodger spoke
some words of appreciation and clearly enjoyed receiving the honor.
Ward eventually retired to the San Diego area and
was active with the San Diego Automotive Museum at Balboa Park,
where his memorial service was held Sunday, July 11 at 5:00 p.m.
Survivors include wife Sherrie, sons Rodger, Jr, 62, David, 58,
Rick, 40 and daughter Robin, 39. His son David raced CRA sprint cars
briefly as a 1972 CRA rookie in the # 46 sprint car. Ward's death
now leaves Jim Rathmann, his long-time friendly rival and winner of
the 1960 Indy 500, as the oldest living Indy 500 winner at age 75.
Rodger leaves us all richer for the way he lived his life and
contributed to the history of auto racing at the highest level.
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