James H. Malloy Jr. (May 23, 1932 – May 18, 1972) was an American racecar driver. Born in

Columbus, Nebraska Columbus is the county seat of Platte County, Nebraska, situated at the confluence of the Loup River, Loup and Platte River, Platte rivers roughly 85 miles (137 km) west-northwest of Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha and 75 miles (121 km) northwe ...

, Malloy's family moved to

Englewood, Colorado The City of Englewood is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 33,659 at the 2020 United States census. Englewood is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan S ...

, where he attended grade school and high school. Malloy lettered in football and baseball in high school. He attended

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

for two years.

Early Racing Years

In 1955, Malloy started driving Semi-Modifieds at Lakeside Speedway in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. He continued racing at Lakeside through 1962. This is where he branched out and ran with the fledgling Canadian American Modified Racing Association (CAMRA), an organization that raced mainly in the Northwest

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. The CAMRA series became a series where a driver could develop their skills and move up to

Indy Car IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis 5 ...

racing and running 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 ...

. Billy Foster,

Art Pollard Artle Lee Pollard, Jr. (May 5, 1927 – May 12, 1973), was an American racecar driver. Born in Dragon, Utah, and raised in the Portland, Oregon area, Pollard drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1965–1973 seasons, with ...

Dick Simon Richard Raymond Simon (born September 21, 1933) is an American former auto racing driver and racing team owner. Simon drove American open-wheel car racing, Indy cars in United States Auto Club, USAC and Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART, and ...

and later Indy 500 winner

Tom Sneva Thomas Edsol Sneva (born June 1, 1948) is an American former race car driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1983. He primarily raced in Indy cars, and was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005. A former math teacher and juni ...

, his brother

Jerry Sneva Jerry Sneva (May 23, 1949 – January 27, 2018) was an American race driver who drove in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1977-1982 seasons, with 26 combined career starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in 1977-1980 and ...

Eldon Rasmussen Eldon Rasmussen (7 July 1936 – 5 June 2022) was a Canadian driver in the United States Automobile Club, USAC Championship Car series. He raced in the 1971 and 1973–1979 seasons, with 23 career starts, including the 1975, 1977, and 1979 Indiana ...

and Cliff Hucul raced in the Indy 500 after graduating from the CAMRA series. Malloy was no exception. He drove a modified built and prepared by his brother Jerry Malloy and in 1964 and 1965, he won the CAMRA championship.

Indy car racing

In 1967, he started driving USAC sprint cars. This is when Malloy got a huge break in his racing career. He was hired by the Jim Robbins Race Team to drive USAC Indy Cars. He ran eight races for the Robbins team that year with his best finish being a 6th at

Langhorne, Pennsylvania Langhorne Borough, formerly known as Attleboro, is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,643 at the time of the 2020 census. The mailing address "Langhorne" is used for Langhorne Borough but also broadly ...

. The Robbins team brought Malloy to Indianapolis in 1968 where he was the fastest rookie qualifier. He started 14th and finished 22nd, dropping out after 64 laps with mechanical failure. In 1969, Malloy started 13th and despite an early 22 minute pit stop he managed an 11th-place finish. In 1970, he qualified 9th, his best starting position to date. His car broke a rear constant velocity joint and hit the 4th turn wall at the end of the pace lap, putting himself out of the race even before the start. In 1971 was originally entered in a car for the M.V.S. Racing Team. But when

LeeRoy Yarbrough Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough (September 17, 1938 – December 7, 1984) was an American stock car racing, stock car racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, had 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211 ($ when adjusted for infl ...

crashed hard with one of

Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of motorspo ...

's Eagles, his injuries were severe enough that he could not compete in the Indy 500 in 1971. Dan Gurney asked Malloy to pilot the Eagle in place of Yarbrough. He drove a solid race finishing 4th, his personal best at Indianapolis. Malloy drove in the 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 1967–1972 seasons, with 61 career starts, including the 1968–1971

races. In his Champ Car career, he finished in the top ten 23 times, with his best finish in 2nd position in 1969 at the

Milwaukee Mile The Milwaukee Mile is a oval race track in the central United States, located on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Its grandstand and bleachers seats approximately 37,000 spectat ...

, driving for

Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, commonly referred to simply as Parnelli or VPJ, was a motor racing constructor and team from the United States. The team was formed in 1969 by former USAC racer Parnelli Jones and his business partner Velko "Vel" Mil ...

in a substitute role for the injured

Al Unser Alfred Unser (May 29, 1939 – December 9, 2021) was an American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser Jr. He was the second of four men ( A. J. Foyt, himself, Ri ...

Death

In 1972, Malloy signed on to drive for the Gerhardt racing team and one of the very fast 1972 Eagles. During the month of May, Malloy and the new Eagle was among the fastest cars. During the practice session on May 14, he was attempting to break the speed barrier (which other Indy drivers were trying to do at the time) when his car mysteriously cut sharply to the right and crashed head-on into the outside retaining wall confining Turn 3 at about . Malloy died in the hospital, four days after being pulled from his destroyed car. He never regained consciousness. His injuries included head injuries, second degree burns to his face, feet, and hands, and fractures to his right arm and both of his legs and hips. Malloy died only five days before what would have been his 40th birthday.

Other Racing

Malloy attempted to race in the

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

but only managed a 21st-place finish in his qualifying race and failed to make the field. Malloy also drove a 1958

Edsel Pacer The Edsel Pacer is an automobile that was produced and sold by Edsel in 1958. The Pacer was based on the shorter narrower Edsel platform, shared with Ford and the Ranger. Pacer is one of two Edsel model names reused by manufacturers other than ...

Colorado National Speedway Colorado National Speedway is a paved oval in Dacono, Colorado, spanning . The track is currently a member of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series and hosts the ARCA Menards Series West (former NASCAR K&N Pro Series West), thKing of the Wi ...

in 1968. In 1979, Malloy was inducted into the

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Malloy had a wife named Mary. Together, they had two sons, Jim and Pat, and a daughter, Cheryl.

Indianapolis 500 results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malloy, Jim 1932 births 1972 deaths Sportspeople from Columbus, Nebraska Racing drivers from Nebraska Indianapolis 500 drivers Racing drivers from Denver Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in Indiana USAC Silver Crown Series drivers