Harry MacDonald (racing driver)

Last updated

Harry MacDonald (born September 27, 1940) is a retired Canadian racing driver. He raced in the UK Formula Super Vee series from 1977 to 1979 and in 1978 won a race at Texas World Speedway and finished third in the championship. In 1981 he attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 but failed to do so, then competed in the USAC "Gold Crown" Championship Car race at Pocono Raceway where he finished 5th in a field of very few top drivers, then competed in the CART race at Michigan International Speedway and finished 21st after an engine failure. He resurfaced in 1983 to attempt to qualify for the Indy 500 but again failed to do so.

Contents

MacDonald was born in Windsor, Ontario. He was a lawyer by trade and ran a law firm in his hometown of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Racing record

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

YearTrackCarEngineClassFinishStartStatus
1972 Road Atlanta Lynx Volkswagen Formula Vee 710Running
1973 Road Atlanta Lynx Volkswagen Formula Vee 72Running
1974 Road Atlanta Lynx Volkswagen Formula Vee 13Running

Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results

YearEntrant12345678910PosPoints
1977 TRE
19
MIL
17
MOS
13
PIR
14
--
1978 HCM Racing PIR1
DNS
TRE1
20
MOS
4
MIL1
3
TEX
1
MIL2
26
OMS1
2
OMS2
3
TRE2
23
PIR2
7
3rd831
1979 TEX1
18
IRP
5
MIL1
9
POC
6
TEX2
7
MIL2 MIN1 MIN2 10th284

See also

List of Canadians in Champ Car


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Tracy</span> Canadian racing driver

Paul Anthony Tracy is a Canadian-American former professional auto racing driver who competed in CART, the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series. He is known by the nicknames "PT" and "the Thrill from West Hill". He was a color commentator on NBC's IndyCar coverage from 2014 to 2021. Since 2021, he competes full time in the Superstar Racing Experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Rutherford</span> American racecar driver

John Sherman "Johnny" Rutherford III, also known as "Lone Star JR", is an American former automobile racing driver. During an Indy Car career that spanned more than three decades, he scored 27 wins and 23 pole positions in 314 starts. He became one of ten drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 at least three times, winning in 1974, 1976, and 1980. He also won the CART championship in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Ongais</span> American racecar driver (1942–2022)

Danny Ongais was an American racing driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Hurtubise</span> American racecar driver

James Hurtubise was an American race car driver who raced in USAC Champ Cars, as well as sprint cars and stock cars. He was from the Buffalo suburb of North Tonawanda, New York. Hurtubise enjoyed a lot of success in sprint cars, champ dirt cars, and stock cars, but never achieved the success at the Indy 500 that his rookie qualifying run promised when he out qualified pole sitter Eddie Sachs by three mph, nearly breaking the 150 mph mark. "Herk" was a fan favorite throughout much of his career because of his fun-loving attitude and his hard driving style.

Travis Webb was an American racecar driver from Joplin, Missouri. He was the 1948 American Automobile Association (AAA) Midwest Sprint Car champion. He raced in numerous AAA Champ Car races including six Indianapolis 500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Lazier</span> American racecar driver

Robert Buddy Lazier is an American auto racing driver, best known for winning the 1996 Indianapolis 500 and the 2000 Indy Racing League season championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed Sorenson</span> American stock car racing driver

Bradley Reed Sorenson is an American former professional stock car racing driver and spotter. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 27 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Premium Motorsports, the Nos. 74/77 Camaro for Spire Motorsports, and the No. 7 Camaro for Tommy Baldwin Racing. As of 2021, he works as a spotter for DGM Racing's No. 92 of Josh Williams in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Sorenson began competing in NASCAR in 2004 as a Busch Series driver; he has four wins in the series. His first Cup start came in 2005 before moving to a full schedule the following year.

Dale Coyne is an IndyCar Series team owner and former Champ Car auto racing team owner and driver.

Michael Dennis Groff is a former race car driver who competed in CART and the IRL IndyCar Series and was the 1989 Indy Lights champion. His younger brother Robbie was also a CART and IRL driver from 1994 to 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Alsup</span> American open-wheel racing driver (1938–2016)

Bill Alsup was an American race car driver. He was the first Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Rookie of the Year in 1979 and competed in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, finishing 11th. He made 57 CART & USAC Champ Car starts in his career. His best race finish of third came 3 times and he was the 1981 CART Championship runner-up, putting in a winless but consistent season for Penske Racing, his only effort with a top-level team. He returned to his own team the next year and struggled until leaving Champ Car following the 1984 Sanair Super Speedway race.

Ronald Barth Duman, was an American racing driver who competed in the USAC Championship Car series and the Indianapolis 500. Duman was an accomplished driver in sprints and midgets, and won the prestigious Little 500 at Anderson Speedway in 1959 and 1960.

Frank Weiss was a Canadian racecar driver. He competed in the USAC and CART Championship Car series.

Lee E. Brayton was an American racing driver from Coldwater, Michigan. He competed in the USAC Championship Car series from 1972 to 1975, making 16 starts with the best finish of 10th three times. He attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1972, 1973, and 1974, but after missing the field his first year, was taken out of contention by practice crashes the following two years. His son, Scott Brayton, was a long-time CART and Indy Racing League driver, who was killed in a crash during a practice run after qualifying for the pole position for the 1996 Indy 500 race.

Bill Tempero is an American former racing driver from Milwaukee. He raced in the CART Championship Car series from 1980 to 1984 competing in full seasons his first two years and partial schedules thereafter. He failed to qualify for both the races he attempted in 1984, so he was not credited with a race start that season. Tempero finished 20th in CART points in 1980 with two top-10 finishes including his series-best result of 6th place at the Milwaukee Mile while driving for Hopkins Racing. He fielded his own car in 1981 and 32nd in points without a single top-ten. He attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1980, 1981, and 1983 but failed to make the field in 1980 and 1983 and crashed while attempting to qualify in 1981.

Phil Caliva is an Italian-born American racing driver who competed in the CART Championship Car series from 1979 to 1984. After racing in the North American Formula Super Vee series in 1977 and 1978, he made his CART debut in 1979 driving for Spike Gehlhausen at Ontario Motor Speedway. Caliva returned the next year and made five starts for Bill Alsup and tried but failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Caliva attempted a second time to qualify for the "500" for Alsup in 1981 but again failed to make the field. He made 3 more starts later that year, including his best series finish of 8th place at the Michigan International Speedway in July. He tried 3 races including the Indy 500 in 1982 but failed to qualify for all of them. He tried the Indy 500 again in 1983 and missed the field again, but made the race at Riverside International Raceway in what would be his last Champ Car start. He tried the Long Beach race and the Indy 500 again in 1984 but again missed both races.

Walker Racing was a racing team founded by Derrick Walker in 1991 racing originally in the CART Championship Car series. It last competed in the United SportsCar Championship under the name of Team Falken Tire until Falken Tire pulled out of not only the series but the team in general at the conclusion of the 2015 United SportsCar Championship season.

Jerry Wayne Miller was an American racing driver from Salem, Indiana who excelled at sprint car racing and made a 3-year foray into Championship Car.

Robert C. Frey is a former American racing driver from Elyria, Ohio. He was a notable sprint car driver who won some of the country's most prestigious races when he attempted to try his hand at CART Championship Car racing in 1980. His first attempt to qualify for a race at the Pocono Raceway ended in a practice crash. His first race came in September of that year at the Michigan International Speedway and he finished 17th. The following year Frey notched his best CART finish of 13th at Phoenix International Raceway but then failed to qualify his eight-year-old Eagle-Offy for the 1981 Indianapolis 500. He returned the week after the Indy 500 and drove in the Milwaukee Mile race, finishing 17th. Frey returned in 1982 with a much newer 1981 Eagle chassis but failed to qualify for both the Indy 500 and the Milwaukee race, after which he returned to sprint cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penske PC-10</span>

The Penske PC-10 is a CART open-wheel race car, designed by Penske Racing, which was constructed for competition in the 1982 season. Designed by Geoff Ferris, it is considered possibly the most dominant Penske race car design ever and that from a team that typically dominated. Rick Mears has been quoted as acknowledging this was his favorite racecar chassis ever. Twelve total were made (1-12), six raced by Penske (1-6), with four confirmed destroyed. They were manufactured at Penske Cars, Ltd. in Poole, England during 1982, and delivered to Penske Racing, Inc., in Reading, Pennsylvania. So outstanding was the PC-10's design, it won the prestigious Louis Schwitzer Award for innovation and engineering excellence in the field of race car design at the Indianapolis 500 in 1982. The PC-10s were active in the years 1982–1984. In fact, the PC-10 was ultimately much better than the following year PC-11, so Roger Penske bought back one of the PC-10s he had sold to another team for the 1983 season, and which then won another race for his team.

Frank Luptow (1914-1952) was an American racing driver. He competed in International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) big cars and NASCAR stock cars. He won the 1949, 1950, and 1951 IMCA big car championships.