Jim Hurtubise

He was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1993. Hurtubise was the 1998 pioneer selection for the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame.

Hurtubise died January 6, 1989 after suffering a heart attack near his home in Port Arthur, Texas. He was 56 years old. He is interred at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

In subsequent years he continued to attempt to get the Mallard into the field, with his final attempt in 1981. This was the final attempt for any front-engine car in the race, 13 years after the last time a car of that type had qualified for the race, and 17 years since the last time one had won.

For 1976 he was back in the Mallard. In 1978, while once again attempting to enter the roadster (a type of car which had now not qualified for the race in a decade) Tom Binford, the chief steward, refused to allow him an attempt to make the race, stating the car had not showed it was capable of race speed during practice. He then sat in entrant Bob Harkey’s car for ten minutes refusing to move. After finally leaving the car he ran on the track where he was tackled and apprehended by the police.

In 1973 through 1975 he attempted to qualify rear-engine cars, missing the field in 1973 and 1975 while qualifying 28th in 1974, finishing the race 28th after blowing the engine on lap 31. This would be the last year he would successfully qualify for the race.

In 1972, he had qualified a rear-engine car 13th. However on "bump day", he put the roadster, sponsored by Miller Beer in line to make a qualification attempt shortly before the closing deadline of 6:00 pm. The time expired before it was his turn to qualify. He then removed the engine cover to reveal that the car had no engine, but five chilled cases of his sponsor's product, which he shared with the other pit crews and race officials

From 1969 through 1971, he would continued to attempt to qualify the roadster, but failed to make the field, which was now fully rear-engined cars.

After failing to qualify in 1967, in 1968 he ran the last front engined car to date in the race. He owned and had built the car himself, and named it the "Mallard". He claimed the car was lighter than previous roadsters, which would allow it to be competitive with the rear-engine cars.

In 1966 He entered a rear-engined car, which was taking over from the front-engined roadsters as the standard for the race, and finished 17th.

In 1965 He qualified using a Novi engine, the last year that engine would be used in the race, have been considered obsolete several years before. The engine failed on the first lap, and he finished last.

Hurtubise ran in ten Indianapolis 500 races between 1960 and 1974. His best finish was a 13th in 1962.

Hurtubise raced in the USAC Championship Car series in the 1959–1968 and 1970–1974 seasons, with 97 career starts. He finished in the top ten 38 times, with 4 victories, in 1959 at Sacramento, 1960 at Langhorne, and 1961 and 1962 at Springfield. In 1964, after suffering serious burns in an accident during the Rex Mays Classic at the Milwaukee Mile, doctors asked Hurtubise how he wanted his hands shaped permanently. "Just make 'em so I can hold a steering wheel," he replied.

In 1957, Hurtubise started his NASCAR career running two races. Over the next twenty years, he would race 36 races, winning one race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and amassing eleven top ten finishes.

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. Hurtubise participated in one World Championship race, finishing eighteenth and receiving no points.

Jim Hurtubise was born on December 5, 1932 in North Tonawanda, New York, USA.