Landy Scott

Landis George "Landy" Scott (June 21, 1919 – November 3, 2014) was an American midget car racing champion. He also served as the President of Badger Midget Auto Racing Association from 1951 to 1959.

Life

Scott was born in the small town of Oconto, Wisconsin in the northwoods of Wisconsin. His father, George, was a lumberjack. His family moved to Milwaukee in southern Wisconsin at the age of five. Landy’s dream of becoming a race driver began as a member of Wally Zale's pit crew. The Japanese had other plans and on December 7, 1941, they attacked of Pearl Harbor. Days later, Landy was a soldier in the United States Army Air Forces. After the World War II, Landy took his military mustering out pay and bought his first Midget race car. Landy, a virtual unknown competed against the nation's greatest racing stars of the 1940s and 1950s. Landy drove his #17 midget racer, powered by an unconventional Studebaker engine, on a shoestring budget to victories on oval dirt tracks everywhere.

Over a two-year span (1947–1948) Landy won an incredible twenty feature races, with fourteen second-place finishes and twelve thirds. Landy also won 33 heat races and semi-features. All totaled, Landy had 151 top 3 finishes over that two-year period.

Landy's career highlight was winning the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association's (BMARA) 1947 Championship and eventually becoming the president of BMARA.

Landy's famous #17 Studebaker powered Kurtis Kraft Midget Race Car, beautifully restored by Dave Rumsey (Holland, MI), is now back in the Scott Family where it has won the following awards on the car show circuit:

1st Place, Race Car Division - 2009 Corona Del Mar Coastline Car Classic

3rd Place, Race Car Division - 2010 Del Mar Concours d'Elegance

1st Place, Race Car Division - 2011 Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance (La Quinta, CA)

1st Place, Race Car Division - 2011 Santa Barbara Concours d'Elegance

Greatest Racing Heritage Award - 2011 Santa Barbara Concours d'Elegance

3rd Place, People's Choice Award - 2014 Winter Meet, Los Angeles Chapter, Studebaker Drivers Club

1st Place, Special Interest - 40th Annual (2014) La Palma Studebaker Car Show, Studebaker Drivers Club

Featured car - 2010 Grand National Roadster Show's "The History of the Race Car", Los Angeles, CA

As of October 2014, Landy is proud to announce that his famous #17 Midget is on display at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana.

President of BMARA

Between 1951 and 1959, while still racing, Landy served as the President of Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA). During that time Landy initiated many changes. Here are a few of the changes implemented by Landy during his tenure as the President of Badger.

Death

Landy died November 3, 2014 of natural causes at the age of 95.[1]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 09, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.