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AUTO RACING NOTE
Monday, July 5, 5:08 PM
*Two-time Indy 500 winner Rodger Ward dead at 83*
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INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) - Rodger Ward, one of the most dominant
drivers in Indianapolis 500 history, died Monday. He was 83.
Ward won the Indy 500 twice and during a six-year stretch from
1959-64 never finished workse than fourth. His victories came
in 1959 and 1962.
"Indy makes the race driver," he said in a 1999 interview. "You
become famous when you come here. I don't care where else you
race in the world."
Ward was the last-surviving Indy winner from the 1950s.
"Winning that race was the greatest thing that happened to me in
my life," he said earlier this year.
The trio of Ward, car owner Bob Wilke and builder-mechanic A.J.
Watson was known as the "Flying Ws." During their time
together, Ward's finishes at Indy were first, second, third,
first, fourth and second.
Ward thought he should have won the famed duel with Jim Rathman
in 1960 and his battle with A.J. Foyt in 1964.
"But I made Foyt famous," he once said. "So what the hell."
st 07-05-04 17:03 et
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