Charles Van Acker (14 March 1912

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

– 31 May 1998

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

) was a

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driver. He first attempted to qualify for the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

in 1946 but was too slow. In 1947 he made the race and finished in 29th after a crash on lap 24. He also competed in seven more races of the

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that season and finished 4th in points. In 1948 he finished 11th in the Indy 500 and 10th in the National Championship. 1949 saw him crash 10 laps into the Indy 500 and struggle to qualify much of the rest of the season. He attempted the 1950 Indianapolis 500 but failed to qualify in what would be his last Championship Car appearance. He owned and operated the South Bend Motor Speedway in South Bend, Indiana and once after a dirt track crash in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

was declared dead. However, Van Acker claims that the reports were exaggerated and that he was not that seriously injured.Charles Van Acker
''Historic Racing'', Retrieved 2010-12-24

Motorsports career results

Complete AAA Championship Car results

Indianapolis 500 results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(

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) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Acker, Charles American racing drivers Belgian racing drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers 1912 births 1998 deaths Racing drivers from Brussels AAA Championship Car drivers Belgian emigrants to the United States