Racing Career
He won his first championship in 1937 on the West Coast in the AMA. He barnstormed the country, racing on the board tracks at Soldier Field in Chicago and the Los Angeles Coliseum Motordome. Hanks reportedly won the first two board track races at Soldier Field in 1939. Hanks won the 1940 VFW Motor City Speedway championship. After World War II, he captured the 1946 URA Blue Circuit Championship. He won the 1947 Night before the 500 midget car race. He was the 1949 AAA National Midget champion. He won the 1953 AAA Championship in the Bardahl Special. He won the 1956 Pacific Coast championship in the USAC Stock cars.
He won the 1957 Indianapolis 500 at his thirteenth attempt at the race, the most tries of any Indy winner, and announced his retirement from racing in Victory Circle.
He drove the pace car at the Indianapolis 500 from 1958 to 1963.
Hanks is believed to be the only Indianapolis 500 driver to participate in the race before WWII, serve in the war effort, then return to race again after the war.
Read more about this topic: Sam Hanks
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