Robert John Swanson (August 20, 1912 – June 13, 1940) was an American

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Biography

Swanson won the first

Turkey Night Grand Prix The Automotive Racing Products Turkey Night Grand Prix is an annual race of midget cars. It is the third oldest race in the United States behind the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. It has been held on Thanksgiving ni ...

midget-car race in 1934. During 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 notabl ...

, he was involved in the accident that killed defending champion

Floyd Roberts Floyd Marion Roberts (February 12, 1900 – May 30, 1939) was an American racing driver. He won the 1938 Indianapolis 500 with a then-record speed of . He led for 92 laps. The following year, 1939, driving the same car, Roberts was killed in a c ...

. Thrown out of his car when Roberts hit him, Swanson lay unconscious on the track as the car overturned and caught fire. His lucky escape proved to be only a temporary reprieve, as Swanson was killed a year later while attempting to qualify for a midget car race. In a 2006 interview, motorsports reporter

Chris Economaki Christopher Constantine Economaki (October 15, 1920 – September 28, 2012) was a pioneering American motorsports journalist, publisher, reporter, and commentator known as "The Dean of American Motorsports Journalism." Working for, and later ...

called Swanson "the best racing driver he ever saw." Swanson was inducted in 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, and can be accessed during weekly Sunday races during the summe ...

Motorsports career results

Indianapolis 500 results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swanson, Bob 1912 births 1940 deaths Racing drivers from Minneapolis Indianapolis 500 drivers AAA Championship Car drivers 20th-century American sportsmen Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in Ohio