Abraham Jacob Watson (May 8, 1924 – May 12, 2014) was an American race car builder and chief mechanic. Competing from 1949 through 1984 in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

, he won the race six times as a car builder.

Rodger Ward Rodger Morris Ward (January 10, 1921 – July 5, 2004) was an American racing driver best known for his open-wheel career. He is generally regarded as one of the finest drivers of his generation, and is best known for winning two National Champio ...

won 18 races driving Watson cars.

Biography

Early life

Watson was born in

Mansfield, Ohio Mansfield is a city in Richland County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 47,534 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located approximately from Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, Columbus via Interstate 71, it i ...

. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War, training as a B-17 navigator. He would not see deployment before the war's end.

Motorsports career

Resettling in southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Watson came to Indianapolis in 1948 but missed the race. He returned the following year with a home-built car that failed to qualify. For the next 11 years, his cars not only qualified but were leaders in many years. From 1955 to 1958, Watson was associated with the John Zink team, and from 1959 on with Bob Wilke. Watson's first win as a car builder came in 1956 when Pat Flaherty drove the John Zink entry to victory in that year's Indianapolis 500. Watson had won the previous year as a crew chief for Bob Sweikert. Watson's cars dominated the race through 1964. Although he continued entering cars for another two decades, he was never able to regain the commanding position of his heyday. Indy500winningcar1964

In 1964, with many teams following Lotus's example and moving to rear-engined "funny cars", Watson built a pair of vehicles based on Rolla Vollstedt's successful car. These worked reasonably well, but could not reproduce the success Watson had with his front-engined "roadsters". He built

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

rear-engined cars in 1966 and 1967 with ever-decreasing success. From 1969 until 1977, Watson ran

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

and then built a small series of highly derivative new "Watson" cars in 1977, 1978 and again in 1982 based on Lightning and

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

designs before retiring. He was frequently listed on the Indianapolis 500 entry sheet as the "race strategist" for

PDM Racing PDM Racing was a racing team in the IndyCar Series and USAC Silver Crown series owned by Paul Diatlovich. Almost always a low budget team and affectionately dubbed "Poor Dumb Mechanics" by Diatlovich, it was known to make the most out of mediocre ...

, though his role with the team was largely honorary.

Personal life

For many years, Watson and his family would spend the racing season in Indiana, and the off-season in California. Eventually the family located to

Speedway, Indiana Speedway is a town in Wayne Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 13,952 at the 2020 census, up from 11,812 in 2010. Speedway, which is an enclave of Indianapolis, is the home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. H ...

permanently. Watson died in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

on May 12, 2014.

Awards and honors

* He was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1993. * He was inducted in the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is a hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles ...

A.J. Watson
at the

in 1996.

References

External links

*
Legendary Mechanic Celebrating 50th Year at Indy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, A. J. 1924 births 2014 deaths American racecar constructors Auto racing crew chiefs Formula One constructors (Indianapolis only) Indianapolis 500 International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees People from California People from Ohio