Indy car driver Jimmy Bryan won the Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1958. After running in the 500 and a few more races the next year, he retired from racing. But he returned in 1960 for another run at Indy. He also raced at Milwaukee and picked up a top 10 finish. He was then recruited to race at the famed Langhorne Speedway as a substitute for Rodger Ward in June 1960. The decision was an ill-fated one. Bryan's car hooked a rut right at the beginning of the race, and his open-wheel roadster was tossed high in the air. Bryan was killed when the car fell and landed on him.
In February 1961, west coast race promoter and Indy car owner J.C. Agajanian promoted the Jimmy Bryan Memorial USAC stock car race in Bryan's hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. The 100-lap race was held on the one-mile dirt track at the Arizona State Fairgrounds - not Phoenix International Raceway built a few years later.
The race drew several of the bigger names from USAC's open wheel series and stock car division - drivers such as Parnelli Jones, Ward, Jim Rathmann, A.J. Foyt, Tony Bettenhausen, and Bobby Unser. A couple of other drivers entered the USAC race who would also participate in several NASCAR races in the 1960s and 1970s - Paul Goldsmith, Dick Hutcherson, and Ron Hornaday Sr.
Goldsmith won the pole, dominated the race by leading 89 of 100 laps, and captured the win. From what I can tell, he raced a Pontiac for car owner Ray Nichels. The race's only significant accident involved Ward and Parnelli. Jones was transported to the hospital but wasn't seriously injured.
John Rostek from Colorado finished second. Exactly one week after the USAC race in Phoenix, Rostek made his NASCAR GN debut with a crash and 39th place finish in his 100-mile qualifying twin at Daytona. He did not transfer to the 500. About 2 months after the USAC race, however, Rostek returned to Phoenix where he won a NASCAR GN race in only his second GN start. He raced three more NASCAR events in 1960 plus a sixth and final career start in 1963 at Riverside. In his fifth and final start of 1960, Rostek traveled all the way to Montgomery NY where he won the only GN pole of his career. He finished 7th in that race that was won by Rex White. Tim Leeming RHM:
http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/forum/topics/racing-history-minute-july-17-1960
Though Agajanian planned to make the Jimmy Bryan Memorial race an annual event, a "second annual" one never happened at the fairgrounds. When PIR opened in 1965, the memorial race was restored. The Jimmy Bryan Memorial was held regularly in the late 60s and then sporadically until the last one in 1984. However, all the memorial races held after PIR opened were all open-wheel cars meaning the first one was the only one for USAC's stock cars.
When the Jimmy Bryan Memorial race name returned in 1965, some media reports interestingly referred to it as the first annual event with no acknowledgment of the stock car race in 1961 in the same city.
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | PaulGoldsmith | 1960 Pontiac |
| 2 | JohnRostek | 1960 Ford |
| 3 | ElmerMusgrave | 1961 Ford |
| 4 | DickHutcherson | 1961 Ford |
| 5 | NormNelson | 1960 Ford |
| 6 | RonHornaday Sr. | 1961 Ford |
| 7 | DaveLundman | 1960 Ford |
| 8 | JimBlomgren | 1960 Ford |
| 9 | BrownieBrown | 1960 Ford |
| 10 | DempseyWilson | 1959 Plymouth |
| 11 | DannyLetner | 1960 Ford |
| 12 | GordonGorman | 1958 Ford |
| 13 | EddieMeyer | 1961 Ford |
| 14 | BruceWorrell | 1960 Ford |
| 15 | GeneLong | 1958 Mercury |
| 16 | JackNorton | 1959 Chevrolet |
| 17 | DickCook | 1959 Plymouth |
| 18 | JimRathmann | 1961 Ford |
| 19 | LloydDane | 1959 Ford |
| 20 | A.J.Foyt | 1961 Ford |
| 21 | RodgerWard | 1960 Ford |
| 22 | ParnelliJones | 1960 Ford |
| 23 | TonyBettenhausen | 1958 Ford |
| 24 | WhiteyGerken | 1960 Ford |
| 25 | MarvinHeinis | 1960 Ford |
| 26 | MelLarson | 1958 Mercury |
| 27 | BobbyUnser | 1960 Chevrolet |
| 28 | BillCheesbourg | 1959 Ford |
| 29 | BillSmith | 1960 Ford |
| 30 | BobHogle | 1958 Pontiac |
| 31 | WayneWeiler | 1959 Plymouth |
| 32 | BillShoulders | 1960 Ford |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM