Levon "Fred" Agabashian (August 21, 1913 – October 13, 1989) was an American racer of midget cars and Indy cars.

Career

Midget car racing

Agabashian competed in his first midget car race in his teens. His first championship was the 1937 Northern California Racing Association against such drivers as Duane Carter, Lynn Deister, and Paul Swedberg.Biography at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
He captured the 1946 BCRA championship for

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

. He won the 1947 and 1948 BCRA championships for

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Championship racing

Agabashian qualified for his first

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 India ...

in 1947 and finished 9th. He made the next 11 500s with a best finish of 4th in 1953, the extremely hot race day where he was relieved by Paul Russo. He qualified on the pole in 1952 in the Cummins Diesel Special, the first turbocharged Indy race car, but it dropped out after 71 laps. Agabashian won one Championship race, a 100-mile contest at the Fairgrounds in Sacramento, CA in 1949. He retired from the sport after failing to qualify at Indianapolis in 1958.

Broadcaster

After his retirement, Agabashian did color commentary for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, serving from 1959 to 1965 and again from 1973 to 1977.

Death

He died on 13 October 1989 at Alamo, California and was cremated.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More than 14000 Famous Persons, Scott Wilson

Recognition

Agabashian 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 Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wi ...

, and in 2005, the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is an automotive museum on the grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, which houses the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. It is intrinsically linked to the Indi ...

Racing record

USAC results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Indianapolis 500 results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

References

External links

* 1913 births 1989 deaths Sportspeople from Modesto, California Racing drivers from California Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 polesitters American sportspeople of Armenian descent AAA Championship Car drivers {{US-autoracing-bio-stub