Phil Caliva (born January 1, 1945 in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

) is an Italian-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

racing driver who competed in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

Championship Car series from 1979 to 1984. After racing in the North American Formula Super Vee series in 1977 and 1978, he made his CART debut in 1979 driving for

Spike Gehlhausen Daniel William "Spike" Gehlhausen (born November 19, 1954, in Jasper, Indiana), is a former driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in 11 seasons (1975–1982 and 1984–1986), with 79 combined career starts, including the I ...

Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario Motor Speedway was a motorsport venue located in Ontario, California. It was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: USAC (and now In ...

. Caliva returned the next year and made five starts for

Bill Alsup Bill Alsup (July 15, 1938 in Honolulu – August 9, 2016) was an American race car driver. He was the first Championship Auto Racing Teams ( CART) Rookie of the Year in 1979 and competed in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, finishing 11th. He made 57 CA ...

and tried but failed 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 ...

. Caliva attempted a second time to qualify for the "500" for Alsup in 1981 but again failed to make the field. He made 3 more starts later that year, including his best series finish of 8th place at the Michigan International Speedway in July. He tried 3 races including the Indy 500 in 1982 but failed to qualify for all of them. He tried the Indy 500 again in 1983 and missed the field again, but made the race at Riverside International Raceway in what would be his last Champ Car start. He tried the Long Beach race and the Indy 500 again in 1984 but again missed both races. In total, Caliva made 10 starts and failed to qualify or start 10 more times, including 5 failed attempts at the Indy 500. His best points finish was 22nd place in the 1981 season.

Racing record

Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results

Indy 500 results

External links

Phil Caliva at ChampCarStats.com
1945 births American racing drivers Italian racing drivers Champ Car drivers Living people Sportspeople from Palermo {{US-autoracing-bio-stub