Henry Banks (June 14, 1913 – December 18, 1994) was an American

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 ...

and "big car" driver. "Married Roseanne Eisamann, two children, John Allen Banks, and Kathryn Roseanne Banks, three grandchildren Allen Edwin Banks, Jeffrey Henry Banks and Gavin Working "

Background

Henry Banks was born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, but brought up in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along t ...

.Biography at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
He was the son of an early European race-driver. Henry began competing in 1932, when he was 19 years old, and became successful in the midget cars.

Racing career

He was the first driver to pass the qualifying "rookie test" at 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 1936. He also drove as a relief driver in 1937, 1939, and 1940, with a 21st-place finish in 1938. He won the 1941

American Racing Drivers Club The American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) is an open-wheel midget car racing sanctioning body that operates primarily in the Mid-Atlantic area of the United States. History The American Racing Drivers Club was organized in 1939, making it one of the ...

(ARDC) championship in New England. After a break during the war, when he worked at

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

’s aero-engine division, Banks’ career took off. In 1947 he won 30 midget car races. In 1950, he was the AAA National Champion and, in the same year, came second in the National Midget points. Banks later retired from racing and became USAC Director of Competitions, and was also inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame. He died at

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

in 1994.

Actor

Also at this time, Banks appeared in two films. The first wa
To Please A Lady
starring

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

. The second wa
Roar of the Crowd
starring

Howard Duff Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

Racing record

Indianapolis 500 results

Complete AAA Championship Car results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

References

1913 births 1994 deaths Champ Car champions Indianapolis 500 drivers Racing drivers from Detroit {{US-autoracing-bio-stub