Bill Vukovich
William "Bill" Vukovich ( /ˈvjuːkəvɪtʃ/; Serbian Cyrillic: Бил Вуковић; December 13, 1918 in Fresno, California – May 30, 1955 in Indianapolis, Indiana) was a Yugoslavian American automobile racing driver. He won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500 plus two more American Automobile Association National Championship races. Several drivers of his generation have referred to Vukovich as the greatest ever encountered in American motorsport.
He was known variously as "Vuky" (/ˈvuːki/ VOO-kee) and "The Mad Russian" (though he detested that name, his ancestry being Yugoslavian) for his intense driving style, as well as the "Silent Serb" for his cool demeanor. He was also referred to as the "Fresno Flash" in Floyd Clymer's Indy yearbooks, and in an interview (available at the Vukovich Accident link below) his former mechanic Jim Travers calls him "Vuke" as in "cuke".
Read more about Bill Vukovich: Death At Indy, Lifetime Achievement Awards, Family, Complete Formula One World Championship Results, Indy 500 Results, F1 World Championship Career Summary
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“Meantime the education of the general mind never stops. The reveries of the true and simple are prophetic. What the tender poetic youth dreams, and prays, and paints today, but shuns the ridicule of saying aloud, shall presently be the resolutions of public bodies, then shall be carried as grievance and bill of rights through conflict and war, and then shall be triumphant law and establishment for a hundred years, until it gives place, in turn, to new prayers and pictures.”
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