BILLY VUKOVICH, 79
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (August 21, 2023)………Billy Vukovich, an inductee of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame and a runner-up finisher at the 1973 Indianapolis 500, passed away on Sunday, August 20, 2023. He was 79 years old.
Hailing from Riverside, Calif., young Vuky, who also went by Bill Vukovich II, grew up idolizing his famed father, Bill Vukovich, winner of consecutive Indianapolis 500-mile races in 1953-54. In 1955, tragedy struck when Bill was killed while leading at Indianapolis.
In the years to come, Billy launched his own racing career and quickly made a name of his own. By 1965, at the age of 21, Billy had advanced to “Indy Cars,” making his debut late in the year with a 19th to 9th run at Phoenix International Raceway for Fred Gerhardt, who Billy’s father drove for when he captured consecutive United Racing Association Red Circuit Midget titles in 1945-46.
In 1966, Billy became the titlist of the Bay Cities Racing Association midget series before setting off to get a foothold with the United States Auto Club. That same season, Billy earned his first of his 23 career USAC National Midget feature triumphs at Vallejo (Calif.) Speedway for car owner Harry Stryker.
The following season, in 1967, Billy hit his stride, winning a grand total of 10 USAC National Midget features. He made headlines on June 24, 1967, when he became the first driver to win two USAC national events on the same day. In the afternoon, he took care of business at Denver, Colorado’s Lakeside Speedway and, at night, he was a winner once again at Colorado Springs, Colorado’s Sportsman Raceway Park.
Incredibly, Billy’s name was back in the spotlight just this past weekend when Logan Seavey became the third driver what Billy had done 56 years earlier. J.J. Yeley also achieved the same feat during the 2004 season.
Vukovich was a stalwart at the Indianapolis 500 beginning a year later in 1968 when he made the first of 12 Memorial Day weekend starts, advancing from 23rd to 7th at the wheel of a J.C. Agajanian entry in his first Indy try, which earned him Rookie of the Year honors.
Billy’s Indy record includes three top-five results with a best finish of second behind Gordon Johncock in the rain-shortened 1973 race aboard Jerry O’Connell’s Sugaripe Prune machine. Later in 1973, Billy won his lone Indy Car race in the first Twin 125 at Michigan International Speedway.
During the 1960s-70s-80s, Billy was never too far away from a racetrack and remained a semi-regular competitor with USAC’s National Midget, Sprint Car and Dirt Champ (Silver Crown) divisions.
In the midgets, he won for car owners Harry Stryker, Myron Caves, Bob Consani, Doug Caruthers, J.C. Agajanian, Leonard Faas, Howard Linne, Stan Lee and Dan Pool, with major victories coming on the dirt mile of the Du Quoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds as well as the 1.5-mile kidney bean-shaped course at New Jersey’s Trenton International Speedway in 1976, his final USAC Midget victory.
Additionally, Billy picked up two career USAC National Sprint Car victories, first in 1967 in the J.J. Smith owned No. 17 at Ohio’s New Bremen Speedway. In 1968, he gave USAC Hall of Famer Doug Caruthers his only win as a USAC Sprint Car owner in the season opener at Irwindale, California’s Rivergrade Speedway.
The 1979 Ted Horn 100 at Du Quoin served as Billy’s lone USAC Silver Crown victory in a race that was aired to a nationwide audience on NBC. Billy remained an active participant with the Silver Crown series until 1986 when his son, Billy Vukovich III, began moving up the ladder in his racing career. Tragically, 35 years after losing his father in a racing accident, Billy lost his son in a sprint car crash at California’s Mesa Marin Raceway in 1990.
Billy was beloved in the racing community and was a regular fixture at luncheons and autograph sessions until recent years. USAC extends its condolences to Vukovich’s family and friends during this time.