Leslie Eugene "Gene" Hartley (January 28, 1926 – March 13, 1993) was an American racecar driver. He was born and died in

Roanoke, Indiana Roanoke is a town in Jackson Township, Huntington County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,762 at the 2020 census. Roanoke is governed by a town council. Town offices include the clerk treasurer, utilities department, police depart ...

. Hartley was the son of

midget car Midget cars, also Speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small, with a very high power-to-weight ratio, and typically use four-cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most ...

driver Ted Hartley, who competed into his 60s.Biography
at 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 ...

"Auto racing is all I’ve ever known," Gene once said in an interview at the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

Racing career

He drove in the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

and USAC

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, generally and commonly known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2025, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar a ...

series, racing in the 1950 and 1952–1962 seasons with 33 starts. He raced in ten

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 ...

races, in each year but 1955 and 1958. His best finish at Indy was tenth in 1957, although he finished eleventh three times. He finished in the Top 10 nine times, with his best finish in second position in 1956 at

Langhorne Speedway Langhorne Speedway was an automobile racetrack in Middletown Township, Bucks County, near the borough of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. According to the book ''Langhorne! No Man's Land'' by L. Spencer Riggs: "With ...

. Hartley was the 1959

USAC National Midget Series The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

champion. His 33 USAC feature wins were eighth best all-time.

Promoter

Hartley co-promoted with

Leroy Warriner Leroy Earl Warriner (March 1, 1919 – January 2, 2003) was an American racing driver from Indianapolis who attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 every year from 1951 to 1958 without succeeding. Warriner only managed to qualify for a singl ...

at the Kitley Avenue Speedrome in

Indianapolis 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 ...

after his retirement. They hosted midget races at the track that was specifically built for the small cars.

Career award

*Hartley was inducted in the

in 1985.

Indy 500 results

World Championship career summary

The Indianapolis 500 was part of the FIA World Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indy during those years were credited with World Championship points and participation. Gene Hartley entered 10 World Championship races and started 8 of them, with a best finish of tenth.

References

1926 births 1993 deaths Indianapolis 500 drivers People from Huntington County, Indiana Racing drivers from Indiana {{US-autoracing-bio-stub