Russell “Russ” Klar
1914 – 2005
Russ Klar of Lynbrook, Long Island, New York in the #8 Frank Curtis Offy at a Triple A sprint car race at the Harrington Fairgrounds at Harrington, Delaware on August 1, 1953. He was the ninth quickest qualifier in time trials with a time of 26.88 but then came back to win the third heat race and finish fourth in the feature - Herb Young photo from the Bill Green collection
Russ Klar in the #8 Frank Curtis Offy at a Triple A sprint car race at Illiana Motor Speedway at Schererville, Indiana on July 18, 1953. He set the second quickest time in time trials with a lap of 24.75 seconds. He then won the first heat race and the 30-lap feature event – Larry Sullivan photo from the Bill Green collection
“Russ Klar, a New Yorker, had been racing midgets since the late Thirties. He raced with ARDC until 1952 then, like many other Eastern stars, switched to Triple A to compete in a new Eastern Midget Division. He subsequently finished thirteenth in AAA Eastern Midget points and forty-first in National Midget points with one victory, a second and a third. Klar's ARDC career had peaked a year earlier in 1951 when he finished third in that association's point standings.
“After 1953, he had a long, distinguished midget career.”
- - - From an unpublished manuscript by Bill Green
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