Jim Travers, who first rose to prominence along with his partner Frank Coon as the \u201cWhiz Kids\u201d behind Bill Vukovich\u2019s success at Indianapolis, and later founded famed engine house Traco Engineering, has died at the age of 95. Collaborating with constructor Frank Kurtis, Travers (at right, above) and Coon built a special Kurtis Kraft KK500 for oilman Howard Keck who hired Vukovich to drive, installing the engine nine inches left of center and inclined at a 36-degree angle to the right so as to shift the car\u2019s center of gravity down and to the left \u2014 or to the inside for Indy\u2019s four left turns. After nearly winning in 1952, Vukovich swept to dominant victories in \u201953 and \u201954 with developed versions of the car.<\/p>\n
Attempts to build a \u201cstreamliner\u201d for \u201955 fell behind schedule, so when Vukovich signed with Lindsey Hopkins for the 500, Travers and Coon went with him, but the effort ended in tragedy just past quarter distance as Vukovich got caught up in someone else\u2019s accident and crashed to his death.<\/p>\n
After that Traco Engineering came into being and served as one of American racing\u2019s premier engine shops for many years in a variety of categories, specializing in Chevy small block V8s, and winning another Indy 500 in 1972 providing the turbocharged Offy that powered Mark Donohue to Roger Penske\u2018s first Indy victory. In recent years Travers lived in Utah where he worked regularly in his machine shop. To all his family and friends Vintage Racecar<\/em> extends its sincerest condolences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jim Travers, who first rose to prominence along with his partner Frank Coon as the \u201cWhiz Kids\u201d behind Bill Vukovich\u2019s success at Indianapolis, and later founded famed engine house Traco Engineering, has died at the age of 95. Collaborating with constructor Frank Kurtis, Travers (at right, above) and Coon built a special Kurtis Kraft KK500 for oilman Howard Keck who hired Vukovich to drive, installing the engine nine inches left of center and inclined at a 36-degree angle to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":535822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,18114,18330],"tags":[17152,18435,18107,16791],"class_list":["post-26469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-people","category-profiles-car-culture","tag-car-culture","tag-people","tag-people-profiles","tag-profiles"],"yoast_head":"\n