Pete DePaolo

Peter DePaolo ( born April 15, 1898 in Roseland, New Jersey; † 26 November 1980) was an American race car driver.

1919 saw DePaolo his first car race, when his uncle Ralph DePalma and Barney Oldfield Louis Chevrolet beat. Less than a year later he was the driver mechanic for Ralph DePalma in the 500 miles of Indianapolis, 1920. Afterwards he began even to race. He destroyed five of his first six vehicles. Nevertheless, it was offered in 1924 to join the Duesenberg team. The following year, he was able to win the Indianapolis 500 with an average speed of 101.13 mph. He was thus the first to broke the 100 - mile limit. In the same year he also won the AAA National Championship.

In 1927 he founded his own racing team and qualified as a runner-up for the Indianapolis 500 in the race, however, he fell out due to technical problems. He won the 250 - mile race in Altoona and Salem and conquered again the AAA National Championship.

He drove for a further seven years race, but without achieving great success. He finished his career after an accident in Spain, after he was eleven days in a coma. At Kelly Petillos victory in the Indianapolis 500 1935 he was team manager and vehicle owners.

From 1955 up to and including 1957, he served as team owner in the NASCAR; during this period achieved its drivers a total of 21 victories and 109 top- ten finishes. To victories in his teams went here under other Ralph Earnhardt, Fireball Roberts and Joe Weatherly.

DePaolo was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.