Gordon Johncock, 2-time Indy 500 champion, dies at 90

Gordon Johncock, a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 whose first win at the Brickyard was overshadowed by tragedy, died on Monday. He was 90.

Johncock died at his home in South Branch, Michigan, The New York Times reported. His wife, Suzanne Johncock, confirmed his death.

Johncock competed in the Indianapolis 500 24 times and had eight top-five finishes, according to the newspaper. He also won the United States Auto Club title in 1976.

“Gordon Johncock was known for his hard-charging, no-nonsense style of racing, and he left a lasting legacy on both Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar,” IndyCar series President J. Douglas Boles said in a statement on Tuesday. “Remembered as much for his quiet life away from racing, Gordon left a lasting impact on the world of motorsports. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”

Johncock won at the Brickyard in 1973 and 1982, competing for Patrick Racing in cars sponsored by Andy Granatelli, the Times reported.

Poor weather in 1973 caused the race to be postponed for two days. Johncock started 11th and grabbed his first lead on Lap 40, but soon after that, teammate Swede Savage and crew member Armando Teran were involved in separate horrifying accidents.

The event had begun with tragedy, as Johncock’s teammate, Art Pollard, was killed in a crash during time trials two weeks before the race, the Times reported.

After the race began, David “Salt” Walther was badly burned and injured when he crashed into a wire fence and also injured several spectators, according to the newspaper.

After the race was postponed for a second day, it was delayed for more than five hours on May 30. When the race resumed, David “Swede” Savage -- another teammate of Johncock’s -- crashed into an inner wall and exploded, the Times reported.

Savage was severely burned and would die from his injuries on July 2, 1973. He was 26.

It was a double tragedy. On pit road, Armando Teran, a member of the Patrick Racing team, died after he was struck by an ambulance that was racing to the scene of Savage’s accident, according to the newspaper.

Savage’s wreck on Lap 58 caused a 75-minute delay. Racing resumed but was finally stopped on Lap 133 when rain began to fall. Johncock was awarded the win because he led the most laps in the race with 64, Times reported

“That was a bad year -- everything went wrong,” Johncock once told the speedway’s website. “My teammate got killed. The race was delayed so many times, and it was a short race.”

“I didn’t feel that race was given to us,” Johncock once told Autoweek. “If we had only led one or two laps and happened to be settin’ there when they stopped it and won it that way, then I guess you wouldn’t have earned it very well.”

By contrast, Johncock’s duel with Rick Mears in the 1982 race at the Speedway was a classic. Johncock blocked Mears’ final-lap passing attempt in Turn 1 and then outran the 1979 winner to take the checkered flag.

Johncock’s margin of victory was .16 of a second, a record at the time and now the seventh-best in the race’s history.

“By far the biggest thrill of my racing career was winning Indianapolis in 1982,” Johncock once said, according to The Associated Press. “The way it happened, the competition, so many near wins after 1973 and it all came together and the car lasted in 1982. Plus, I’ve got amazing respect for Rick Mears -- one of the very best. He was never my teammate, but I think we could have been good ones.”

The closest finish came this year, when Felix Rosenqvist edged David Malukas by 0.0233 seconds.

Gordon Walter Johncock was born on Aug. 5, 1936, in Hastings, Michigan. After quitting school as a teen, he began competing at small tracks, according to the Times.

By the 1960s, Johncock was racing sprint cars before he made his Indy race debut in 1965 and finished fifth.

His last appearance at the Brickyard came in 1992.

During his career, Johncock competed in 261 races, winning 25 times and capturing the pole 20 times.

Johncock also competed on the NASCAR circuit, starting 21 races, the AP reported. He took fifth at the Daytona 500 in 1973.

Johncock was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002.

©2026 Cox Media Group