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Paul Goldsmith
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Paul Goldsmith (born October 2, 1925 in Parkersburg, West Virginia) is a motorcycle Hall of Famer and former USAC and NASCAR driver.
smith was a famous AMA motorcycle racer during the late 1940s through the mid-1950s. His first victory came in 1952 aboard a Harley Davidson at the Milwaukee Mile in Harley's hometown. Paul was a full-time worker at a Chrysler plant in Detroit.
His most famous victory was at the 1953 Daytona 200.
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Encyclopedia
Paul Goldsmith (born October 2, 1925 in Parkersburg, West Virginia) is a motorcycle Hall of Famer and former USAC and NASCAR driver.
Motorcycle career
Goldsmith was a famous AMA motorcycle racer during the late 1940s through the mid-1950s. His first victory came in 1952 aboard a Harley Davidson at the Milwaukee Mile in Harley's hometown. Paul was a full-time worker at a Chrysler plant in Detroit.
His most famous victory was at the 1953 Daytona 200. Later in 1953, he won a event at the grueling Langhorne (Pennsylvania) cinder track. He was awarded the Most Popular Rider of the Year Award for his efforts.
In 1954, Goldsmith had one victory at Charity Newsies at Columbus, Ohio, and four podium finishes. He finished second in the first year of the Grand National Series behind his former pupil Joe Leonard.
In 1955 he won his final AMA event at Schererville, Indiana. He was frequently running stock cars. He left motorcycle racing because he was pressured to run only stock cars by General Motors.
NASCAR and USAC stock car career
He was the winner of the final race at the famous Daytona Beach Road Course in 1958. He was also the only driver to win the Daytona Beach Road course both in a stock car and on a motorcycle.
Goldsmith was the 1961 USAC champion, with 7 poles, 10 wins, 16 top-five finishes in 19 races.
Goldsmith won his second consecutive USAC championship in 1962 with 6 poles, 8 wins, and 15 top-five finishes in 20 races.
Championship Car career
Goldsmith competed in 8 races in the USAC Championship Car series, between 1958 and 1963 with 6 of those starts in the Indianapolis 500. He finished in the top five twice at Indy, following up a 5th place finish in 1959 with a 3rd in 1960.
Indy 500 results
|-
!Year
!Car
!Start
!Qual
!Rank
!Finish
!Laps
!Led
!Retired
|-
!1958
|31
|16
|142.744
|24
|30
|0
|0
|Crash T3
|-
!1959
|99
|16
|142.670
|19
|5
|200
|0
|Running
|-
!1960
|99
|26
|142.783
|27
|3
|200
|0
|Running
|-
!1961
|10
|17
|144.741
|25
|14
|160
|0
|Connecting Rod
|-
!1962
|53
|26
|146.437
|26
|26
|26
|0
|Magneto
|-
!1963
|99
|9
|150.163
|5
|18
|149
|0
|Crankshaft
|-
|colspan=6|Totals
|735
|0
|
|}
|-
!Starts
|6
|-
!Poles
|0
|-
!Front Row
|0
|-
!Wins
|0
|-
!Top 5
|2
|-
!Top 10
|2
|-
!Retired
|4
|}
>>
World Championship career summary
The Indianapolis 500 was part of the FIA World Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indy during those years were credited with World Championship points and participation. Paul Goldsmith participated in three such World Championship races, finishing on the podium in the 1960 event which earned him six World Championship points.
External links
- note: The Motorcycle HoF bio is incorrect; Paul never won the Daytona 500, but instead, won both automobile and motorcycle races on the beach/road course.
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