Kurtis Kraft designed cars for oval racing and with the Indianapolis 500 being included as a Formula One World Championship round from 1950 - 1960, the marque jotted up many entries and a handful of wins.
99 of the marques starts were in the Indianapolis event bar one, when Rodger Ward competed his car in the 1959 United States Grand Prix at Sebring.
Background[]
Parsons 1950 Indy winning car
Kurtis Kraft lightweight fibre-glass cars with a low centre of gravity for the Oval Racing market from 1949 to 1955.
In total, the marque created over 550 ready-to-run midget cars, and 600 kits featuring an Offenhauser motor. Kurtis-Kraft created 120 Indianapolis 500 cars, including five winners. The combination has been described as "virtually unbeatable for over twenty years."
Formula One World Championship[]
Kurtis-Kraft cars were driven to 5 Indy 500 wins, thus they have 5 Formula 1 World Championship wins. 99 of the 100 championship entries were at this event over the 11 years it counted towards the points, the exception being one car entered at the 1959 United States Grand Prix by Rodger Ward.
F1 Summary[]
| Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyre | Drivers | Rounds | WCC Pts | WCC Pos | Test drivers | Report |
|---|
List of race wins[]
| Win Number |
Event | Driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1950 Indianapolis 500 | Johnnie Parsons | |
| 2 | 1951 Indianapolis 500 | Lee Wallard | |
| 3 | 1953 Indianapolis 500 | Bill Vukovich | |
| 4 | 1954 Indianapolis 500 | Bill Vukovich | |
| 5 | 1955 Indianapolis 500 | Bob Sweikert |
Statistics[]
| Entries | 12 |
| Starts | 193 |
| Pole Positions | 6 |
| Front Row Starts | 18 |
| Race Wins | 5 |
| Podiums | 16 |
| Fastest Laps | |
| Points | |
| Laps Raced | |
| Distance Raced | |
| Races Led | 9 |
| Laps Led | 1084 |
| Distance Led | 4360.39 |
| Doubles | |
| Hat-Tricks | |
| Grand Chelems |
Complete Indianapolis 500 Results[]
| Year | Entrant | Engine | No. | Driver | Grid | Pos. | Laps | Retired | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Wynn's Friction/Kurtis Kraft | Offenhauser | 1 |  Johnnie Parsons
|
5th | 1st | 138 | Finished | Report |
| Tuffy's Offy | Offenhauser | 4 | Walt Brown
|
20th | 19th | 127 | Finished | ||
| Tuffy's Offy | Offenhauser | 15 | Mack Hellings
|
26th | 13th | 132 | Finished | ||
| Tuffy's Offy | Offenhauser | 16 | Hal Cole
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Ted Duncan
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | ||||||
| Ervin Wolfe | Offenhauser | 17 | Joie Chitwood
|
9th | 5th | 136 | Finished | ||
| Merz Engineering/Milt Marion | Offenhauser | 23 | Sam Hanks
|
25th | 30th | 42 | Oil pressure | ||
| Wynn's Friction/Kurtis Kraft | Offenhauser | 28 | Fred Agabashian
|
2nd | 28th | 64 | Oil line | ||
| Thorne Engineering | Sparks | 33 | Joel Thorne
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Novi Mobil | Novi | 38 | Duke Nalon
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Novi Mobil | Novi | 43 | Chet Miller
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Bowes Seal Fast Racing | Offenhauser | 44 | Bill Cantrell
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Jack Hinkle | Offenhauser | 49 | Jack McGrath
|
6th | 14th | 131 | Crash | ||
| John Zink/M.A. Walker | Offenhauser | 54 | Cecil Green
|
12th | 4th | 137 | Finished | ||
| Granatelli-Sabourin/Grancor | Offenhauser | 59 | Pat Flaherty
|
11th | 10th | 135 | Finished | ||
| Cummins Diesel | Cummins | 61 | Jimmy Jackson
|
32nd | 29th | 52 | Supercharger | ||
| Peter Wales Trucking | Offenhauser | 62 | Johnny McDowell
|
33rd | 18th | 128 | Finished | ||
| Esmeralda/Leo Dorby | Offenhauser | 63 | Bob Gregg
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Joe James
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | ||||||
| Ross Page | Duray | 65 | Marvin Burke
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Norm Houser
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | ||||||
| Brown Motor Co. | Offenhauser | 69 | Duke Dinsmore
|
7th | 33rd | 10 | Oil leak | ||
| Ludson Morris | Offenhauser | 81 | Jerry Hoyt
|
15th | 21st | 125 | Finished | ||
| Grant Piston Ring/Agajanian | Offenhauser | 98 | Walt Faulkner
|
1st | 7th | 135 | Finished | ||
| Murrell Belanger | Offenhauser | 99 | Emil Andres
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Kenny Eaton
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | ||||||
| 1951 | Wynn's Friction Proofing/Walsh | Offenhauser | 3 | Johnnie Parsons
|
8th | 21st | 87 | Magneto | Report |
| John Zink/M.A. Walker | Offenhauser | 4 | Cecil Green
|
10th | 22nd | 80 | Con rod | ||
| Jack Hinkle | Offenhauser | 9 | Jack McGrath
|
3rd | 3rd | 200 | Finished | ||
| H.A. Chapman | Offenhauser | 10 | Bill Schindler
|
16th | 13th | 129 | Connecting rod | ||
| Novi Purelube/Jean Marcenac | Novi | 18 | Duke Nalon
|
1st | 10th | 151 | Stalled | ||
| Ludson Morris | Offenhauser | 23 | Cliff Griffith
|
18th | 28th | 30 | Rear axle | ||
| Peter Schmidt | Offenhauser | 25 | Sam Hanks
|
12th | 12th | 135 | Spin | ||
| Novi Purelube/Jean Marcenac | Novi | 32 | Chet Miller
|
28th | 25th | 56 | Ignition | ||
| Peter Wales Trucking | Offenhauser | 34 | Johnnie Tolan
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Marion Engineering | Offenhauser | 37 | Bob Sweikert
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Federal Engineering | Offenhauser | 44 | Walt Brown
|
13th | 26th | 55 | Magneto | ||
| Granatelli-Sabourin/Grancor | Offenhauser | 59 | Fred Agabashian
|
11th | 17th | 109 | Clutch | ||
| Bardahl/Ross Page | Duray | 64 | Frank Armi
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Automobile Shippers/Rassey | Offenhauser | 68 | Carl Forberg
|
24th | 7th | 193 | Finished | ||
| Brown Motor Co. | Offenhauser | 69 | Gene Force
|
22nd | 11th | 142 | Oil pressure | ||
| McNamara/Lee Elkins | Offenhauser | 73 | Carl Scarborough
|
15th | 18th | 100 | Front axle | ||
| George Heller | Duray | 75 | Leroy Warriner
|
DNQ | — | Failed to qualify | |||
| Jim Robbins | Offenhauser | 83 | Mike Nazaruk
|
7th | 2nd | 200 | Finished | ||
| Agajanian Featherweight | Offenhauser | 98 | Troy Ruttman
|
6th | 23rd | 56 | Ignition | ||
| Murrell Belanger | Offenhauser | 99 | Lee Wallard
|
2nd | 1st | 200 | Finished | ||