Jim Hurtubise, "Herk"

The preeminence of NASCAR on today's American motorsports 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: A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, 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 500 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 Hurtubise's 1966 NASCAR Atlanta 500 victory for Plymouth.
 
Click thru on the attachment below and enjoy...