Legendary car builder A.J. Watson, whose front-engined roadster designs helped define an era at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, passed away in mid-May, just four days after celebrating his 90th birthday. Watson’s very first roadster won the 1956 Indy 500 in the hands of Pat Flaherty (above), and either his cars or variations on his basic theme would win six more 500s before the influx of rear-engined machinery brought an end to the roadster age.
In addition to Flaherty, Rodger Ward, A.J. Foyt, Jim Rathmann and Parnelli Jones all scored Indy triumphs in Watson designs, with Ward and Foyt winning twice each. Watson also won Indy in 1955 as crew chief for owner John Zink and driver Bob Sweikert—but using a Kurtis chassis. He also won AAA and USAC National Championships with Sweikert in ’55 and Ward in ’59 and ’62. Additionally, Watson-built cars won the Race of Two Worlds at Monza in 1958 and the only race for Indycars ever run at Daytona International Speedway in 1959, both times with Jim Rathmann driving.
Ohio-born Watson, whose father was a machinist, was introduced to racing by his friend Billy Scully during his sophomore year of college in 1947, and by the following year had quit his machinist’s job with Lockheed Aircraft and hooked up with L.A. area car dealer Bob Estes to work on his stable of racing cars alongside Judd Phillips. In 1950, he entered his first car at Indy, The City of Glendale Spl. with Dick Rathmann driving, but it stalled early and finished only 32nd. By 1954, he was working for Oklahoman John Zink and the next year they scooped the big prize using the latest Kurtis chassis, which Watson had modified. For 1956, employing familiar aircraft technology, he built his first roadster, longer, lower and wider than the Kurtis, and Flaherty drove it to victory at a new record speed for 500 miles.
Just as Colin Chapman would push open the door unlocked by John Cooper and Jack Brabham with the rear-engined car five years later, Watson had refined the basic roadster design pioneered by Frank Kurtis to build a better mousetrap. Zink, however, didn’t want Watson building cars for anyone else, so A.J. left to join forces with driver Rodger Ward and car owner Bob Wilke, a team that quickly became known as the Triple Ws.
All told, Watson’s simple and elegant roadsters would win 22 National Championship races, while his similarly classic upright dirt car chassis added 20 more triumphs—including three on paved ovals—and after the rear-engined revolution swept over Indycar racing, Johnny Rutherford drove Wilke’s rear-engined Watson-Ford to victory at Atlanta in 1965.
A.J. Foyt, who drove Watson’s Sprint Car to USAC’s Eastern Division championship in 1960, in addition to winning two of his four 500s in Watson roadsters, commented on his friend’s passing. “He was a pioneer. He came out against Kurtis and built the Watson roadster, and I was lucky enough to win with it. In his day at the Indy 500, there was nobody that was going to beat the three Ws: Watson, Wilke and Ward. It’s hard to believe he’s gone. I’m just glad I was able to go see him on his 90th birthday. We did talk about old times. He had a picture of me and him with his sprint car on the wall and I teased him, ‘A.J. were we ever that young?’ He said, ‘It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?’”
Watson was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2003. To his wife Joyce, their two daughters, and his many friends in the sport, Vintage Racecar extends its sincerest condolences.
by John Zimmermann
