William John Vukovich III (August 31, 1963 – November 25, 1990) was an American race car driver. He was a three-time starter of 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 ...

. The grandson of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner

Bill Vukovich William Vukovich (born Vaso Vukovich, December 13, 1918 – May 30, 1955) was an American racing driver. He won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500s, plus two more American Automobile Association National Championship races, and died while leadin ...

and the son of

Bill Vukovich II William John Vukovich Jr. (March 29, 1944 – August 20, 2023) was an American driver in the championship car division of USAC and the CART series. Career Vukovich was named the 1968 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, a result of his seven ...

, Vukovich III was the

1988 Indianapolis 500 The 72nd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 29, 1988. Team Penske dominated the month, sweeping the top three starting positions with Rick Mears winning the pole position, Danny Sulliv ...

Rookie of the Year. Billy Vukovich III was killed in practice for a

CRA CRA is an abbreviation for: Companies * Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, a consulting engineering firm in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada * Convenience Retail Asia, Hong Kong * Conzinc Riotinto of Australia * CRA International, a consultancy Credit ...

race at

Mesa Marin Raceway Mesa Marin Raceway was a paved oval race track, located near the junction of California State Route 178, CA 178 and California State Route 184, CA 184 (Kern Canyon Road), east of Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield, California. It opened ...

, in Bakersfield, California, when his throttle stuck open which caused his car to swerve into the wall. He was 27 years old. Vukovich became the first third-generation driver to qualify in Indy 500 history. His grandfather was killed while leading the

1955 Indianapolis 500 The 39th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 30, 1955. The event was race 1 of 11 of the 1955 AAA National Championship Trail and was race 3 of 7 in the 1955 World Championship of Driv ...

. He got his start in racing driving for the John Runjavac racing team.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

CART/Indy Car

Indy 500 results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vukovich, Billy 3 1963 births 1990 deaths American people of Serbian descent Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year Racing drivers from Fresno, California Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in California USAC Silver Crown Series drivers