ART  WATTS   -   11/25/1917 - 3/19/1967

Watts Cup win - Portland 1957

Art Watts was a driver from Portland, OR.  Watts first Cup start came in 1954 at Oakland Stadium (CA) in March.  He would start sixth but have a tie rod break and finish 25th. His next start would also came at Oakland in August.  He started seventh and finished the race in 11th place.  He followed that with a ninth place start at Bay Meadows Speedway in San Mateo CA.  He would finish 28th after a head gasket failed.  He made his only start in the Southern 500 as his final run in 1954.  It would be his only start not on the West coast in his entire career.  Here he started 19th, and finished 21st.  He did not race in the Cup series at all in 1955, and made six starts in 1956.  His first start came at Portland where he finished 13th.  He was tenth at Eureka Speedway (CA) in May, after starting 20th.  His best run of the year came the next race at Portland.  He started 16th and would finish seventh in a race won by Johnny Kieper.  He would finish no better than 14th in his other three starts.  1957 was a great year for Watts.  He made five starts, and in all five starts of 1957, Watts started on 

the pole, a NASCAR record for pole percentage.  His car owner was Al Schmidhamer for all five of those races.  It would be the only races that Schmidhamer would field a car, so he has a 100% record for pole positions as a car owner.  Their first start together came at Portland, which was a 1/2 mile paved track.  Watts jumped into the lead at the start, and led all 100 laps as he battled Eddie Pagan for the win.  George Seeger finished third, as the top three all finished on the lead lap.  Watts next two starts at Portland saw him finish 11th in both events.  He finished ninth at 

Sacramento, and would have his final top five finish at Kitsap County Airport in Bremerton WA.  It was an 80 lap race, and even though Watts won the pole, Danny Graves would lead the first lap.  Graves held on to the lead for 74 laps, before his motor gave out just six laps from the finish.  Parnelli Jones was there to step in and take the lead at that point and lead the final laps to claim the win.  Lloyd Dane was second and Watts third.  1958 was Watts make just one start, coming at Riverside.  He would start tenth, but fall out and finish 14th, when his differential failed 25 laps from the end.  He skipped racing in 1959, and 

made one start in 1960.  It was at Marchbanks Speedway in Hanford CA.  He started seventh and finished seventh, winning $525, the second biggest pay-day of his career.  He ran just one race in 1961, it again came at Hanford.  He would start eighth; but blew an engine on lap 85, falling out and finishing 26th.  He made his final start in 1963.  It would come at Riverside.  He would start tenth, but could not keep pace with the likes of Dan Gurney, and AJ Foyt.  Watts finished 14 laps behind in 17th spot; while Gurney and Foyt finished first and second.  Watts died on March 19, 1967.

 

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