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American racecar driver (1930?2020)
Don Edmunds
(September 23, 1930 ? August 11, 2020)
[1]
was an American
racecar driver
and car builder.
Racing career
[
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]
He changed the nose on his first
Kurtis
midget car
from Kurtis' design to his own. Indy car builder
Eddie Kuzma
hired Edmunds to fix the dent in
Jimmy Bryan
’s car after the driver kicked the car.
[2]
He had his first start at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
in 1957. He won the 1957
Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
after finishing nineteenth over
Bill Cheesbourg
,
Elmer George
,
Mike Magill
, and
Eddie Sachs
. Edmunds' Indy career ended with a serious practice accident at the Speedway in 1958.
He founded Autoresearch, Inc. in
Anaheim, California
, which specialized in building midget cars and
sprint cars
. Edmunds created the blueprints and did most of the fabrication work on the original
Bill Thomas Cheetah
prototype sports car racer. His chassis won several National Midget Championships in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
[2]
In the 1970s, Edmunds was a prolific constructor of
Formula Super Vee
cars.
[3]
He became a collector and restorer of old race cars.
Edmunds built
Evel Knievel
's Snake River Canyon Sky cycle.
[4]
Career awards
[
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]
Death
[
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]
Born in
Santa Ana, California
, Edmunds died in August 2020, aged 89 in Gold Beach, OR.
Indianapolis 500 results
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]
Year
|
Car
|
Start
|
Qual
|
Rank
|
Finish
|
Laps
|
Led
|
Retired
|
1957
|
92
|
27
|
140.449
|
23
|
19
|
170
|
0
|
Spun T4
|
Totals
|
170
|
0
|
|
|
Starts
|
1
|
Poles
|
0
|
Front Row
|
0
|
Wins
|
0
|
Top 5
|
0
|
Top 10
|
0
|
Retired
|
1
|
|
Complete Formula One World Championship results
[
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]
(
key
)
References
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]
External links
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]