Rodger Ward drove the first rear-engine Watson to 2nd place in the 1964 Indy 500. Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Fabulous Fifties

My Friend Rodger

For the last 20 years or so of his life, Rodger Ward and I were friends. Even though I had met him only once during the fabulous fifties when he drove a customer’s Devin SS when I was the Devin distributor. We became close friends when I asked him to drive my 1968 Gilbert IndyCar at the 1985 Palm Springs Vintage Grand Prix.

Art Evans

Rodger Ward was one of those towering figures during what some now call the “Golden Age of Racing”—the fifties and sixties. Although Rodger is best known for his feats in Championship (Indianapolis-type) Cars, he drove in virtually every sort of auto racing: midgets, sprinters, stock cars, sports cars, Formula 1 and even hot rods (drag racing and speed runs on the dry lakes). Respect and admiration for his many feats made him one of racing’s icons.

Members only$29 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

Sports Car Digest Membership is for people who'd rather spend an hour with one chassis number than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • 5,000+ members-only stories

    Concours, auctions, race history, driven classics and the full archive.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • The market, every week

    Auction results and classic-car values from the people who were there.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every Sports Car Digest shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join Sports Car Digest — Keep Reading

$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY. Your membership keeps a small independent team of historians, photojournalists and racing drivers doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $29/yr

Related