Saturday, 13 December 2008
Posted by grandprixinsider in Formula 1.trackback
13th of December – This shot shows Bill Vukovich, who’d be comemmorating his 89th birthday today, at the wheel of his Hopkins Special, the car he won the Indy 500 in 1953 and 1954. Actually, “Vucky” is one of those drivers you find in F1 stats as a Grand Pix-winner, but never sat in an F1 car. Do you know why that is?
13/12/1945, Brian McGuire is born in Melbourne, Australia.
Quite a successful racer in F3 in the early 70s, Brian bought an F1 car from Frank Williams in 1976 to compete in the UK-based Shellsport championship, a series open to F1 and F5000 cars, and won a rainy round in Thruxton. In the break between seasons the car was redesigned in several areas and renamed into McGuire BM1. The Australian took part in qualifying for the 1977 British F1 GP with it, but didn’t make the grid. Later that year tragedy struck during an apparently harmless off in a practice session for the Brands Hatch Shellsport round as one of the wheels came off and hit the driver.
Born: 13th of December 1945 in Melbourne, Australia.
Died: 29th of August 1977 at Brands Hatch Circuit, UK, aged 31.
7/10/1956, Benoît Nicolas Musy is born in Fribourg, Switzerland.
Benoît Musy raced Moto Guzzi motorcycles winning six Swiss Championships. He also raced various Maserati. He died racing at Montlhéry in France, driving a Maserati 200S.
Born: 13th of December in Fribourg, Switzerland,
Died: 7th of October in Montlhéry, France, aged 39.
13/12/1918, William Vucerovich is born in Fresno, USA.
Bill Vukovich, American of Serbian descent and commonly known as “Vuky”, was referred to as being the greatest ever driver in American motorsport. In 1952 he came close to win the Indy 500, but suffered a steering failure with only eight laps to go after leading most of the 200-laps-race. He bounced back winning in consecutive years, 1953 and 1954, and remains the only driver ever to lead the most laps in the race three consecutive years. His son, Bill Vukovich II, and his grandson, Bill Vukovich III, also competed in the Indianapolis 500, with Vukovich II taking second in 1973, and Vukovich III being named Rookie of the Year in 1988.
Born: 13th of December 1918 in Fresno, USA.
Died: 30th of May 1955 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, USA, aged 36.
From 1950 till 1960 Indy 500 was counted in GP calendar as “US Grand Prix”. So (in those years) winner of the Indianapolis 500 is also a winner of the US Grand Prix in every F1 statistics.