Johnny Rae (November 21, 1907 – October 20, 1960) was an American auto racing mechanic and race car builder.

Motorsports career

After an early career as a racing driver, including an attempt to qualify for the

1935 Indianapolis 500 The 23rd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1935. Despite attempts to improve participant safety by requiring crash helmets and installing green and yellow lights around the t ...

, Rae worked as a riding and general mechanic for

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 ...

teams. In 1946, he served as a mechanic on George Robson's winning car in 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 ...

. Later, Rae constructed a car owned by Alden Sampson II, with

Walt Ader Walter Ader (December 15, 1912 – November 25, 1982) was an American racing driver. During his racing career, Ader was a resident of Bernardsville, New Jersey. After his retirement from racing, Ader worked as a member of the Bernardsville volun ...

qualifying the machine 29th for the

1950 Indianapolis 500 The 34th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1950. The event was sanctioned by the AAA and served as the premier event on the calendar of the 1950 AAA National Championship Trail. ...

. Rae and Sampson campaigned the machine through the 1952 AAA Champsionship car season.

Select Indianapolis 500 results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, Johnny 1907 births 1960 deaths American Championship racing cars American racecar constructors Auto racing people Formula One constructors (Indianapolis only) Riding mechanics People from Lafayette, Indiana