Don Edmunds (September 23, 1930 – August 11, 2020) was an American

racecar driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organis ...

and car builder.

Racing career

He changed the nose on his first Kurtis

midget car Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mo ...

from Kurtis' design to his own. Indy car builder Eddie Kuzma hired Edmunds to fix the dent in

Jimmy Bryan James Ernest Bryan (January 28, 1926 – June 19, 1960) was an American racecar driver who won the 1958 Indianapolis 500. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Bryan died as a result of injuries sustained in a champ car race at Langhorne Speedway. Career ...

’s car after the driver kicked the car.Edmunds Biography
at the

National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame is an American Hall of Fame and museum for midget cars. The Hall of Fame is located at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wi ...

He had his first start at

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United Sta ...

in 1957. He won the 1957

Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year The Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year is an annual award "presented to the driver who has performed with the most distinction among first-year drivers in the Indianapolis 500." Criteria includes "on-track performance in practice, qualifying an ...

after finishing nineteenth over

Bill Cheesbourg William Bernard Cheesbourg (June 12, 1927 Tucson, Arizona – November 6, 1995 Tucson, Arizona) was an American racecar driver who participated in six Indianapolis 500 races. Biography He was born on June 12, 1927 in Tucson, Arizona. Cheesbo ...

Elmer George Elmer Ray George (July 15, 1928 – May 31, 1976) was an American race car driver. Born in Hockerville, Oklahoma, George died in Terre Haute, Indiana. He drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1956–1963 seasons wi ...

, Mike Magill, and

Eddie Sachs Edward Julius Sachs Jr, (May 28, 1927 – May 30, 1964) was a United States Auto Club driver who was known as the "Clown Prince of Auto Racing". He coined the phrase "If you can't win, be spectacular". Early life Sachs was born May 28, 1927 in A ...

. Edmunds' Indy career ended with a serious practice accident at the Speedway in 1958. He founded Autoresearch, Inc. in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

, which specialized in building midget cars and

sprint cars Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 * Chevrolet Sprint ...

. Edmunds created the blueprints and did most of the fabrication work on the original Bill Thomas Cheetah prototype sports car racer. His chassis won several National Midget Championships in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the 1970s, Edmunds was a prolific constructor of

Formula Super Vee Formula Super Vee was an open-wheel racing series that took place in Europe and the United States from 1970 to 1990. The formula was created as an extension of Formula Vee, a racing class that was introduced in 1959. Formula Super Vee in Europe wa ...

cars. He became a collector and restorer of old race cars. Edmunds built

Evel Knievel Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel (; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motor ...

's Snake River Canyon Sky cycle.Sky Cycle
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Career awards

*Edmunds was named to the

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum is a Hall of Fame and museum for sprint car drivers, owners, mechanics, builders, manufacturers, promoters, sanctioning officials and media members. The museum is located in Knoxville, Iowa, the h ...

in 1991. *He was inducted in the

in 1994.

Death

Born in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the 13th-m ...

, Edmunds died in August 2020, aged 89 in Gold Beach, OR.

Indianapolis 500 results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

References

External links

Official website
1930 births Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year 2020 deaths National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Santa Ana, California Racing drivers from California Champ Car drivers American racecar constructors American automobile designers IndyCar Series people {{US-autoracing-bio-stub