After seeing his first race at Bonelli Stadium in Saugus in 1947, he built a track roadster and arrived at Indianapolis in 1948 as a mechanic. By 1950, at 26 years old, he'd built his own car for the Indy 500 — but the cost of running it for driver Dick Rathmann drove him back to Lockheed. Back to the assembly line. Back to the steady paycheck.
For one year. Then the 1951 race approached. And Watson walked away from Lockheed. Without a word. Without punching out. Because Indianapolis was calling, and a time clock was not going to answer.
What followed was the most dominant chassis-building career in the history of the Indy 500.
Within a year, he was asked to join an Indy crew.
After a succession of drivers and owners, Watson built a car for Bob Sweikert in 1955 that claimed his first Indy 500 win.
The next year, with the track repaved, Watson knew the speeds would go up causing more tire wear. He built a much lighter, slimmer car for Pat Flaherty, who won the race.
In 1959 Watson teamed with Rodger Ward and team owner Bob Wilkie to form the potent Triple W team. Ward and Jim Rathmann finished 1-2 in Watson’s cars, then swapped positions in 1960 to give Watson his second consecutive 1-2 finish.
Ward won again in 1962, leading a parade of six Watsons in the top eight.
In all, Watson built some 23 roadsters, including the last Indy 500 victory for a front engine in 1964, driven by A.J. Foyt.
https://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/inductees/aj-watson/
I know a guy who builds race cars this well... Jason. His idea of wiggle room is about 0.001"
I know a guy who builds race cars this well... Jason. His idea of wiggle room is about 0.001"
I built machinery with him at Production Assembly Systems in Poway, that place made some big complex machinery, and had half a warehouse just for the fully equipped machine shop, they made everything in house that didn't need to be welded
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