Rodger M. Ward (10 January 1921 – 5 July 2004) was a WWII P-38 aviator in the United States Army Air Forces, and an American race driver with 26 victories in top echelon open-wheel racing in North America, two Indianapolis 500 victories, and two USAC National Championships, who conceived the classic tri-oval design and layout of Pocono International Raceway, modeled after his three favorite signature turns, at Trenton, Indianapolis and Milwaukee. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Roger Ward had 26 victories in top open-wheel racing in America, two Indianapolis 500 victories and two USAC National Championships and he conceived the classic tri-oval layout of Pocono International Raceway, modelling it on his three favourite turns, at Trenton, Indianapolis and Milwaukee. He won in all types of cars, including 11 times in a Watson roadster and at the time of his retirement he was the only driver to be in the top 10 of all Indianapolis 500 statistics. He first qualified for the 500 in 1951, but his fame gained stature when he became part of the fearsome Leader Car Racing team and during their time at the top, his finishes at Indy were first, second, third, first, fourth and second, respectively, from 1959-64.
Although born in Beloit, Kansas, he grew up in California, where his father owned an auto wrecking business, and when Roger was 14 he built a Ford hot rod and would later be involved in night time street racing.
During WW11 he was a P-38 Lightning fighter pilot and after flying B-17 Flying Fortresses he proved so good he was retained as an instructor. Stationed at an air base at Wichita Falls, Texas, he became involved at a local quarter mile dirt track, maintaining midgets for drivers racing there and he made his racing debut one night when a driver failed to turn up.
After military service he raced midgets in 1946 and would go on to win the San Diego Grand Prix in 1948, and won several races the year after in an Offenhauser.
In 1950 one of his proudest moments came when he won at Gilmore Stadium in Vic Edelbrock’s Ford 60, being one of the first to use nitromethane, and beat all the drivers in the more powerful Offenhauser cars. Then, the following night he won again at the Orange Show Stadium.
He turned to stock cars in 1951 and winning the AAA championship allowed him to have a rookie test at the Indianapolis 500. However, it was a race of heavy attrition and there would only be eight cars running at the finish, with Roger retiring due to a broken oil line and finishing 27th. At the following year’s race he did 130 laps but then his oil pressure failed, 1953’s race saw him retire with a faulty ring and pinion after 177 laps and in 1954 his race ended after the car stalled.
Sadly, during 1955’s race, the front axle on his Aristo Blue Special snapped and in the ensuing melee Bill Vukovich (who was a close friend and had won the race in 1953-54) was killed. Roger escaped with a cut on his nose, but was in despair and seriously considered quitting but Vukovich’s brothers assured him he should continue racing as it was not his fault. He went to the next race at Milwaukee but in practice a kingpin failed and a wheel came off and he refused to race but was fired on the spot.
In 1956 he completed the race and finished eighth and despite his later successes, this eighth place was his only top ten finish in his first eight starts there.
He drove for Roger Wolcott in 1957 and 1958 and in 1959 joined the Leader Card Racers team and, with owner Bob Wilke and mechanic A. J. Watson, they became known as the ‘3 W’s’. He won his first Indianapolis 500 and went on to win the USAC National Championship with victories at Milwaukee, DuQuoin and the Indy Fairgrounds.
Also this year he took victory in a Formula Libre race at Lime Rock Park and as midgets had only been thought competitive on oval tracks he surprisingly beat many exotic sports cars. He had tried to acquire a sportscar for Lime Rock and was informed of someone who had a 2 litre Climax engined Cooper Monaco, which would be ideal. But after travelling to New York, he was told there was a problem and the car’s owner wanted a top driver, so had asked John Fitch to drive. Some time after this he was informed about a midget that was available but, despite being reluctant to race one there, and embarrass himself, he was eventually persuaded. He described how the car owner phoned him, cleverly praising him and saying what an honour it would be to have a great driver like him. He was unable to refuse after that but made a deal with the race promoter to double his fee, reasoning if he was going to get embarrassed he would be paid for it! At Lime Rock George Constantine was a top driver there, in a factory Aston Martin, and he broke the track record in qualifying but Roger was next out and proceeded to break his track record by half a second. During the race Roger also lapped John Fitch three times and saluted him each time he went by.
Later in the year F1 came to America and he wanted to be part of this US Grand Prix, at Sebring. In his Kurtis-Offy Midget (the only American-built and American-driven entry) he found himself up against works Coopers for Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren, Rob Walker Coopers for Stirling Moss and Maurice Trintignant; four Ferraris for Tony Brooks, Cliff Allison, Wolfgang von Trips and one in American white and blue colours for Phil Hill and Lotuses for Innes Ireland and Alan Stacey.
He had driven a midget in the Lime Rock race, and had won Indy that year, so the promoters wanted him there and when asked how he came to be entered for the race, said the promoter ‘offered money, and as he was in the habit of accepting money, told him he would bring the midget.’ The night before practice, John Cooper, Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren met him at the hotel in Sebring and he told them he was there to drive a dirt track car. They were astonished but he insisted ’Sebring had a lot of turns, and it could take a corner faster than any of the sports cars in Europe and though they might be faster on the straights they wouldn’t have a chance in the turns.’ However, during the first practice lap, at the first turn McLaren and Brabham’s rear-engined cars sped through the turn while he almost appeared to come to a stop. Afterwards, he said to them “I’ve got to hand it to you. Those European buggies sure take corners fast!” and later said ‘at the time, it seemed a good idea to enter the car’.
During the race itself, he ran eighth for a while but a clutch problem took him out after 20 laps. Although he retired from the GP, he had fond memories of it, stating “We had a lot of fun down there. I was getting up to 140mph on the straightaways, which was quite something in one of those midgets. I wasn’t really surprised by how quickly the Formula One cars went. I knew they were great cars…What I remember most about Sebring was meeting Jack Brabham. He became World Champion at that race and we were to become close friends. In fact, I told him he should take that Cooper to Indianapolis, and a couple of years later he did. And that, of course, was the beginning of the end for the roadster…” In October 1960, Roger drove Brabham’s rear-engine Formula One Cooper-Climax during a feasibility test at the Speedway, which paved the way for Brabham to compete in the 1961 Indianapolis 500 in a rear-engine car.
At the 1960 Indianapolis 500, in what would become an epic duel, he and Jim Rathmann exchanged the lead 14 times. On lap 197 Roger slowed to nurse a frayed right front tire to the finish but though Jim Rathmann took the lead, he was also struggling with worn-out tires and they limped home in what is still regarded as one of the greatest duels in the race’s history.
At 1962’s race, he took the lead at lap 126 and led the rest of the race, then took that year’s championship and 1963 saw him drive a BRM F1 car in the US GP at Watkins Glen.
While he was at a tyre test in 1964 at Trenton, New Jersey, a young driver was driving Clint Brawner’s roadster and Roger was asked by Brawner if he would watch and give an opinion. After a few laps he told him ‘the kid may be the greatest driver in the history of the sport, as the car was such a shit-box and he didn’t know how he could even keep it in line along the straight.’ After giving advice about changing the roll-bars and other things, the next time Roger saw him was at a race in Phoenix. He was leading but the young driver from the Trenton test was now trying to pass him in the roadster; the young driver’s name was Mario Andretti! He described Mario as a great driver and nice guy and, regarding his driving, said ”Nobody can be that good’. But he was…”
Unfortunately for 1965’s Indy race, he had problems trying to get comfortable in the car and failed to qualify but he returned in 1966, where he would finish fifteenth. However, at a victory banquet, he tearfully declared ”I always said I would quit racing when it stopped being fun. Today it wasn’t fun anymore.” During the year though he had taken his 26th and final champ-car victory in April at Trenton, N.J.
After retiring, he commentated on NASCAR and IndyCars for ABC’s Wide World of Sports from 1965 to 1970 and from 1980-1985 he was a driver expert for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. He would also be involved as a public relations director for the Ontario Motor Speedway, managed the Circus Circus unlimited hydroplane team and was a member of the Champion 100-miles-an-hour Club and Indy 500 Oldtimers Club.
In 1992, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995, the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1995, the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2003 and is a member of the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Indianapolis.
Roger passed away in 2004.
Video showing epic 1960 Indianapolis 500 battle between Roger and Jim Rathmann
