{"id":493892,"date":"2014-07-01T00:03:22","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T07:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=10008"},"modified":"2024-01-08T14:24:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T14:24:02","slug":"a-j-watson-1924-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/a-j-watson-1924-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"A.J. Watson (1924\u20132014)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Photo: Dan R. Boyd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Legendary car builder A.J. Watson, whose front-engined roadster designs helped define an era at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, passed away in mid-May, just four days after celebrating his 90th birthday. Watson\u2019s very first roadster won the 1956 Indy 500 in the hands of Pat Flaherty (above), and either his cars or variations on his basic theme would win six more 500s before the influx of rear-engined machinery brought an end to the roadster age.<\/p>\n

In addition to Flaherty, Rodger Ward, A.J. Foyt, Jim Rathmann and Parnelli Jones all scored Indy triumphs in Watson designs, with Ward and Foyt winning twice each. Watson also won Indy in 1955 as crew chief for owner John Zink and driver Bob Sweikert\u2014but using a Kurtis chassis. He also won AAA and USAC National Championships with Sweikert in \u201955 and Ward in \u201959 and \u201962. Additionally, Watson-built cars won the Race of Two Worlds at Monza in 1958 and the only race for Indycars ever run at Daytona International Speedway in 1959, both times with Jim Rathmann driving.<\/p>\n

Ohio-born Watson, whose father was a machinist, was introduced to racing by his friend Billy Scully during his sophomore year of college in 1947, and by the following year had quit his machinist\u2019s job with Lockheed Aircraft and hooked up with L.A. area car dealer Bob Estes to work on his stable of racing cars alongside Judd Phillips. In 1950, he entered his first car at Indy, The City of Glendale Spl. with Dick Rathmann driving, but it stalled early and finished only 32nd. By 1954, he was working for Oklahoman John Zink and the next year they scooped the big prize using the latest Kurtis chassis, which Watson had modified. For 1956, employing familiar aircraft technology, he built his first roadster, longer, lower and wider than the Kurtis, and Flaherty drove it to victory at a new record speed for 500 miles.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: IMS Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just as Colin Chapman would push open the door unlocked by John Cooper and Jack Brabham with the rear-engined car five years later, Watson had refined the basic roadster design pioneered by Frank Kurtis to build a better mousetrap. Zink, however, didn\u2019t want Watson building cars for anyone else, so A.J. left to join forces with driver Rodger Ward and car owner Bob Wilke, a team that quickly became known as the Triple Ws.<\/p>\n

All told, Watson\u2019s simple and elegant roadsters would win 22 National Championship races, while his similarly classic upright dirt car chassis added 20 more triumphs\u2014including three on paved ovals\u2014and after the rear-engined revolution swept over Indycar racing, Johnny Rutherford drove Wilke\u2019s rear-engined Watson-Ford to victory at Atlanta in 1965.<\/p>\n

A.J. Foyt, who drove Watson\u2019s Sprint Car to USAC\u2019s Eastern Division championship in 1960, in addition to winning two of his four 500s in Watson roadsters, commented on his friend\u2019s passing. \u201cHe was a pioneer. He came out against Kurtis and built the Watson roadster, and I was lucky enough to win with it. In his day at the Indy 500, there was nobody that was going to beat the three Ws: Watson, Wilke and Ward. It\u2019s hard to believe he\u2019s gone. I\u2019m just glad I was able to go see him on his 90th birthday. We did talk about old times. He had a picture of me and him with his sprint car on the wall and I teased him, \u2018A.J. were we ever that young?\u2019 He said, \u2018It\u2019s hard to believe, isn\u2019t it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2003. To his wife Joyce, their two daughters, and his many friends in the sport, Vintage Racecar extends its sincerest condolences.<\/p>\n

by John Zimmermann<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legendary car builder A.J. Watson, whose front-engined roadster designs helped define an era at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, passed away in mid-May, just four days after celebrating his 90th birthday. Watson\u2019s very first roadster won the 1956 Indy 500 in the hands of Pat Flaherty (above), and either his cars or variations on his basic theme would win six more 500s before the influx of rear-engined machinery brought an end to the roadster age. In addition to Flaherty, Rodger Ward, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":713726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,18114,18330],"tags":[18323,17152,18435,18107,16791],"class_list":["post-493892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-people","category-profiles-car-culture","tag-2010s-all","tag-car-culture","tag-people","tag-people-profiles","tag-profiles"],"yoast_head":"\nA.J. Watson (1924\u20132014)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A.J. 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