LINDSEY HOPKINS - USAC HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2015

Lindsey Hopkins, from Miami, Fla., fielded competitive National Championship cars for three decades, entering up to four cars on occasion at the Indianapolis 500. Never an Indy 500 winner, he appeared headed for that achievement in 1955 until his driver, two-time “500” winner Bill Vukovich, perished in an accident while leading in an effort to score his third consecutive victory. In 1957 and 1959, Hopkins scored a second-place finish at Indy with driver Jim Rathmann. In 1972, Roger McCluskey won the 1972 Ontario 500 in a Hopkins entry, and then earned the 1973 USAC National Championship in another Hopkins car. Championship wins also came for Hopkins at Phoenix, Ariz., Atlanta, Ga., Milwaukee, Wisc., Langhorne, Pa., Springfield, Ill. and Brooklyn, Mich. with drivers McCluskey, George Amick, Tony Bettenhausen, Bobby Marshman and Jim Rathmann. In 1959, Rathmann won a “special” Championship race for Hopkins at Daytona Beach, Fla.