James Leroy Snyder (March 10, 1909 – June 29, 1939) was an American race car driver. He also played one game for the

Milwaukee Badgers The Milwaukee Badgers was a professional American football team, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that played in the National Football League from 1922 to 1926. The team played its home games at Athletic Park, later known as Borchert Field, on Mil ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) in 1925. At the age of 16 in his NFL debut, he was one of the youngest players in NFL history. Snyder was part of the midget car " Chicago Gang" with Emil Andres,

Tony Bettenhausen Melvin Eugene "Tony" Bettenhausen (September 12, 1916 – May 12, 1961) was an American racing driver, who won the National Championship in 1951 and 1958. Bettenhausen was nicknamed the "Tinley Park Express" in honor of his hometown. He was ...

, Cowboy O'Rourke,

Paul Russo Paul Russo (April 10, 1914 in Kenosha, Wisconsin – February 13, 1976 in Clearwater, Florida) was an American racecar driver. Midget car career He started racing midget cars in 1934. He went with a contingent of midget-car drivers to Hawa ...

, and Wally Zale.Biography
for

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 ...

They toured tracks in the Midwest and East Coast of the United States. Snyder won the 1937 track championship at the Chicago Armory & Riverview.Snyder's Biography
at the

He also set a new track record at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for that season's

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 ...

. Snyder appeared in five

events. He won the pole for the

1939 Indianapolis 500 The 27th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1939. The race was won by the number two car of Wilbur Shaw, who started in the third position, driving a Maserati 8CTF. The race was notable ...

, setting another new track record in the process. He finished second in the event.

Death

Snyder died of a race-related accident on June 29, 1939 in

Cahokia The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site ( 11 MS 2) is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (which existed 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in south- ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, at the age of 30, while racing in an appearance to help a

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 m ...

promoter.

Indianapolis 500 results

References

External links

* 1909 births 1939 deaths Milwaukee Badgers players AAA Championship Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 polesitters People from Chicago Racing drivers who died while racing Racing drivers from Chicago Racing drivers from Illinois Sports deaths in Illinois {{US-autoracing-bio-stub