Larry Dickson
American racing driver (born 1938)
Larry Dickson (born September 8, 1938, Warren, Ohio), is a former driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1965-1981 seasons, with 105 combined career starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in 1966-1969, 1971, 1978-1979, and 1981. He finished in the top-ten 44 times, with his best finish in second position in 1968 at Springfield.
Dickson was also a three-time USAC Sprint Car Series Champion in 1968, 1970 and 1975. He won 43 USAC Sprint car races and was the all-time leader in the division until Tom Bigelow broke his record. In the years 1968-71, Dickson and Gary Bettenhausen raced each other in what was billed as "The Larry and Gary Show" or "Thunder (Bettenhausen) and Lightning (Dickson)" exchanging the USAC Sprint Car title between each other during those years.
Dickson also ventured to NASCAR to drive Richie Giachetti's Ford Torino in the Daytona 500, running in the top-ten before the engine expired. He finished his career in the USAC Silver Crown car owned by his brother, Tommy and Max Brittain.
Dickson is now semi-retired, living in Indianapolis and tending to his real estate investments.
01Awards
- In 1990, Dickson was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class.
Indy 500 results
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Lola | Ford | 32nd | 32nd |
| 1967 | Lotus | Ford | 21st | 15th |
| 1968 | Brawner | Ford | 33rd | 28th |
| 1969 | Vollstedt | Ford | 31st | 9th |
| 1970 | Gerhardt | Offy | Failed to Qualify | |
| 1971 | King | Offy | 26th | 28th |
| 1972 | King | Offy | Failed to Qualify | |
| 1973 | King | Offy | Failed to Qualify | |
| 1976 | Eagle | Offy | Failed to Qualify | |
| 1977 | McLaren | Offy | Practice Crash | |
| 1978 | Penske | Cosworth | 9th | 22nd |
| 1979 | Penske | Cosworth | 24th | 24th |
| 1981 | Penske | Cosworth | 19th | 18th |
USAC Sprint Cars = Three-time National Champion1968, 1970 and 1975. USAC records, National Speed Sport News and other national racing press. uNITWS RACING CLUB - National Champion and Rookie of the Year 1964 Winner of the US Open supermodified race at Williams Grove, PA 1964
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Larry Dickson”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Larry-Dickson.jpg by Carole Clary, CC-BY-SA-2.5
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