Jimmy Davies

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Jimmy Davies (August 8, 1929 Glendale, California – June 11, 1966 Chicago, Illinois) was an American racecar driver in Champ cars and midgets. He was the second man to win three USAC National Midget Championships. ^[1]. When Davies won the 100 mile AAA Championship race at Del Mar, California on November 6, 1949 - aged 20 years, 2 months, 29 days, he became the youngest driver to win a race in a major U.S. open wheel series, a record not broken until Marco Andretti won the IRL race at Sonoma, California in 2006. Davies raced AAA on a false birth certificate showing him older, (as did Troy Ruttman and Jim Rathmann), and was racing illegally.

Contents 1 Midget car career 2 Career award 3 Indy 500 results 4 World Championship career summary 5 References

[edit] Midget car career

In 1960 he won the USAC Pacific Coast Midget title as well as the National Midget Championship. He repeated as National Midget champion in 1961 and 1962. He won 46 feature events in the midgets in his career. ^[1] He traveled to Australia in 1961 and 1962, where he competed against Bob Tattersall. Davies won the Night Before The 500 midget race three times, in 1960 and 1961 at Kokomo Speedway, and next year at the Indianapolis Speedrome. Davies' midget car was stolen but was recovered a year later when a driver was killed in it at Sacramento. Davies recognized the car in the newspaper photos of the wreck. ^[1]

He died on June 11, 1966 aged 36 from injuries suffered in a midget crash at Santa Fe Speedway in Chicago.

[edit] Career award

• Inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1984. ^[1]

[edit] Indy 500 results

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired 1950 22 27 130.402 23 17 128 0 Flagged 1951 76 27 133.516 17 16 110 25 Rear end 1953 53 32 135.262 32 10 193 0 Flagged 1954 1 - - - 11* ? ? Running 1955 15 10 140.274 5 3 200 0 Running Totals 631 25

Starts 5 Poles 0 Front Row 0 Wins 0 Top 5 1 Top 10 2 Retired 1

* Shared drive with Art Cross, Johnny Parsons, Sam Hanks and Andy Linden

[edit] World Championship career summary

The Indianapolis 500 was part of the FIA World Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indy during those years were credited with World Championship points and participation. Jimmy Davies participated in five World Championship races, finishing on the podium once, and accumulating a total of four championship points.

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Biography at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame

Records
Preceded by Johnnie Parsons 31 years, 330 days (1950 Indianapolis 500)	Youngest Race Leader, For at least one lap in Formula One 21 years, 285 days (1951 Indianapolis 500)	Succeeded by Fernando Alonso 21 years, 237 days (2003 Malaysian GP)