Vukovich, Kenyon, Pratt & Pawl Join AAA/USAC Midget Hall of Fame
20 August 1998
Four more members have been elected to the AAA/USAC Midget Racing "Hall of Fame" and will be honored in ceremonies prior to the start of the "Hut Hundred" Midget race September 2 at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track.The AAA inductees are Ralph Pratt and Johnny Pawl and the USAC inductees are Don Kenyon and Bill Vukovich, Jr.
Their inductions bring to 67 the total of inductees since the "Hall' was inaugurated in 1984.
Kenyon, brother of USAC's 7-time National Midget Champion Mel Kenyon, has been involved in nine USAC Car Owner titles and has fielded cars for most of his brother's 111 USAC National feature victories. His 92 feature wins rank second only to the 98 amassed by the late Doug Caruthers. He won four consecutive USAC owner's titles from 1965 to 1968 and added titles in 1974, 1979-80-81 and 1985. In 1987 he was presented the "Jim Blunk Memorial Award" at the USAC National Awards Dinner for his many contributions to auto racing and served as a member of the USAC Advisory Board for many years.
Vukovich, whose father won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500 and the 1950 AAA National Midget title and son Billy was the 1988 Indianapolis 500 "Rookie of the Year," won 23 USAC National Midget races during his career. He also won a pair of USAC Sprint car races and in 1973 finished second to Gordon Johncock in the rain-shortened Indianapolis 500.
Pratt, who died in 1981, was the Kansas City indoor Midget champion in 1940 but excelled just after the war, scoring 142 wins from 1946-1949. On May 30, 1948 he won three races in one day at different tracks! He was the 1948 and 1949 AAA Ohio/Michigan Champion, the 1946-47 Fort Miami track titlist, and in 1949 won the Chicago Amphitheater indoor championship. He was also the first alternate for the 1949 Indianapolis 500.
An owner, mechanic, bulder and sponsor, Pawl bought the Kurtis Kraft Midget business in the late-1950s. His personally-entered Midget was at its best on the big mile tracks, driven by the great Duke Nalon and Teddy Duncan. His support of the sport extends beyond his participation at the tracks as he has assisted in the production of numerous publications chronicalling the sport.
