Mel Kenyon

Mel Kenyon (born April 15, 1933, in DeKalb, Illinois) is a former midget car driver. He is known as the "King of the Midgets", "Miraculous Mel" and "Champion of Midget Auto Racing." The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America says "Many consider him to be midget car racing's greatest driver ever."

Kenyon won the 1963 Turkey Night Grand Prix. He finished second in the 1963 USAC championship points, and won his first USAC National Midget championship in 1964.

Kenyon failed to qualify for his first Indianapolis 500 in 1965. Kenyon's tenth career race in a USAC IndyCar was at Langhorne Speedway in Langhorne, Pennsylvania on June 20, 1965. Mel's engine blew up sending oil all over the car, his firesuit and the track. He lost control of the car, hit the wall and was knocked unconscious. Jim Hurtubise and Ralph Liguori slid in the oily track and ran straight into Mel's fuel tank. Joe Leonard, also involved in the crash, rescued Kenyon from the burning car. Because of severe burns, Kenyon went through multiple operations at the San Antonio Burn Center, and he lost nearly all of his fingers on his left hand. in 2003. Kenyon was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Indianapolis Raceway Park hosts the annual "Mel Kenyon Classic" midget car race in his honor, and Kenyon has raced in the televised feature event in the 2000s.

Indianapolis 500 results