Jim Hurtubise

The preeminence of NASCAR on today's American motor sports landscape obscures one clear fact: numerous IndyCar drivers have won in the top ranks of NASCAR, but not one single NASCAR racer has won any race on the IndyCar circuit. The list of these great names consists of 14 drivers, including: A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, Tony Stewart, Tim Richmond, Parnelli Jones, Robby Gordon, John Andretti, Chuck Stevenson and Dick Rathmann. Another name on that list is Jim Hurtubise, the mercurial, good natured Indy star that got his start driving sprint cars in California during the 1950's. Burned terribly at Milwaukee in 1964, doctors gave him little chance of surviving, let alone coming back to winning major auto races. With hands horribly disfigured, the man fans called "Hercules" clawed his way back into competition. This article, which originally appeared in the 2008 Allstate 400 program, focuses on Jim Hurtibise's 1966 NASCAR Atlanta 500 victory for Plymouth.