EDDIE KOSTENUK 2004 INDUCTEE

Born on October 12, 1925, Victoria-born Ed Kostenuk was drawn to auto racing in his teens and at the age of 23 he drove the Chuck House-owned #25 car and also the #5 “Dalby Special” and managed a third place finish in the Labour Day finale race main event at Langford in 1948. At Langford’s season opener the following year, he set second fast time, was second in the helmet dash and won his heat race.

On May 16^th 1950, he piloted Grant King’s car to a fifth place finish at Portland Speedway and the following week was third at Langford, a finish he repeated on July 5^{th .} Ed recorded a main event win at Langford on July 30^th and during that year also regularly travelled to Vancouver’s Digney Speedway where he competed in the Midget division, scoring a clean sweep on June 7^th which was followed by many other wins and good finishes that season which ended with his being crowned the Points Champion, a feat which he repeated the following year.

Competing in the Big Car division at Shearing Speedway in 1953, Ed won the June lst trophy dash and heat race and placed second in the main event, winning the July 2^nd heat and main and capping the season off with a clean sweep at the final race on October 13^th. He scored many top three finishes in 1954 including wins at newly-opened Western Speedway on June 6^th, July 18^th and Aug 1^st along with a second place at the Sept 13^th Western Canada Big Car Championship.

Ed won the Big Car main at Western on July 8^th 1956 and in 1957 also took the wheel of a 1934 Ford Stockcar at Western which was built and owned by Grant King. In 1959 he became the President of a newly-formed Gokart racing association which ran on a track at Island View Beach, winning the inaugural race there on July 14^th. In 1960 he posted second place finishes in the dash, heat race and main event at the BC Sprint Car Championship. Driving his own Ranger aircraft engine powered roadster in 1961, Ed won the last Big Car race that was held at Western Speedway on July 29^th of that year.

At the age of 33 in 1962, he moved up to the “United States Auto Club” (USAC) , passed his rookie test and entered the “Indianapolis 500” joining fellow “Leader Card” roadster teammates Roger Ward and Len Sutton. Unfortunately his chance to qualify for the race was shattered when he was struck in the goggles by a bird while on a practice run at 140 miles an hour. Following his recovery, he entered the “Centennial 100” Modified race in Victoria at Western where he won the Saturday evening race and also set a new track record.

In 1963 with local financial assistance which included funds supplied by the “Vancouver Island Track Racing Association” (VITRA), Ed again attempted qualify for the Indy 500, but a lack of funding forced him to turn his “City of Victoria Special” over to then-rookie driver Johnny Rutherford.

During his USAC years he made appearances at DuQuoin, Syracuse, Trenton, Milwaukee and Phoenix with his best finishes being an 11^th and a 12^th.

Ed passed in September of 1997.