{"id":489677,"date":"2007-08-01T13:30:57","date_gmt":"2007-08-01T13:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=62653"},"modified":"2024-12-27T03:06:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T03:06:15","slug":"my-friend-rodger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-rodger\/","title":{"rendered":"My Friend Rodger"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For the last 20 years or so of his life, Rodger Ward and I were friends. Even though I had met him only once during the fabulous fifties when he drove a customer\u2019s Devin SS when I was the Devin distributor. We became close friends when I asked him to drive my 1968 Gilbert IndyCar at the 1985 Palm Springs Vintage Grand Prix.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rodger Ward was one of those towering figures during what some now call the \u201cGolden Age of Racing\u201d\u2014the fifties and sixties. Although Rodger is best known for his feats in Championship (Indianapolis-type) Cars, he drove in virtually every sort of auto racing: midgets, sprinters, stock cars, sports cars, Formula 1 and even hot rods (drag racing and speed runs on the dry lakes). Respect and admiration for his many feats made him one of racing\u2019s icons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the last 20 years or so of his life, Rodger Ward and I were friends. Even though I had met him only once during the fabulous fifties when he drove a customer\u2019s Devin SS when I was the Devin distributor. We became close friends when I asked him to drive my 1968 Gilbert IndyCar at the 1985 Palm Springs Vintage Grand Prix. Rodger Ward was one of those towering figures during what some now call the \u201cGolden Age of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":621902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,11272,261,18207],"tags":[2536,2727,18322,17152,1433,12478,12861,11657,1432,324,17140,548,11394,11359,11617,12390,11858,12863,11546,12722,11691,11669,89,18837,11305,12028,9881,592,11493,11355,604,11795,1307,17143,17202],"class_list":["post-489677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-members-only","category-motorsport-racing","category-special-feature","tag-1950s","tag-1960s","tag-2000s-all","tag-car-culture","tag-cooper","tag-formula-libre","tag-capri","tag-grand-prix","tag-lincoln","tag-maserati","tag-members-only","tag-motorsport","tag-offenhauser","tag-bobby-unser","tag-carroll-shelby","tag-chuck-daigh","tag-jack-brabham","tag-jerry-grant","tag-john-morton","tag-reg-parnell","tag-rodger-ward","tag-tom-sneva","tag-porsche","tag-porsche-911","tag-indianapolis-500","tag-usac","tag-ims","tag-sebring","tag-watkins-glen","tag-willow-springs","tag-f1","tag-indycar","tag-shelby","tag-special-feature","tag-fabulous-fifties-column"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>My Friend Rodger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Art Evans looks back on the life and career of two-time Indy winner Rodger Ward.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-rodger\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-rodger\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Friend Rodger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Art Evans looks back on the life and career of two-time Indy winner Rodger Ward.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-rodger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-08-01T13:30:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-27T03:06:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/FF200708-p1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"723\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Art Evans\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Art Evans\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-rodger\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-rodger\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Art Evans\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8cc1bdfceb5198fc557ef54c1dfcd1b1\"},\"headline\":\"My Friend Rodger\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-08-01T13:30:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-27T03:06:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-rodger\/\"},\"wordCount\":1240,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/my-friend-rodger\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/08\/FF200708-p1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"1950s All\",\"1960s All\",\"2000s All\",\"Car Culture\",\"Cooper\",\"Defunct Series (Formula Libre)\",\"Ford Capri\",\"Grand Prix\",\"Lincoln\",\"Maserati\",\"Members Only\",\"Motorsport &amp; 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