Mickey Rupp, who started the 1965 Indianapolis 500 but gained even more acclaim as a recreational vehicle and sport fishing equipment entrepreneur, died on August 20. He was 87.
Rupp, a native of Mansfield, Ohio, qualified 15th and finished sixth in the No. 81 G.C. Murphy Gerhardt/Offy rear-engine car in 1965. He passed his rookie test in a front-engine Chapman Special Offy roadster that year before moving to the rear-engine car for practice, qualifying and the race.
That sixth-place performance would have earned Rookie of the Year honors in many editions of ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,’ but the 1965 rookie class was arguably the strongest in Indy 500 history. Mario Andretti finished third and Gordon Johncock fifth ahead of Rupp. Future 5Indy 00 legend Al Unser and future Indy pole winner and USAC national champion Joe Leonard were among the eight other rookies in the field that year who finished behind Rupp.
Rupp’s IndyCar Series driving career was quite short, with just five starts overall in 1964 and 1965. But he finished in the top 10 in three of those five races, with a best result of fifth at Milwaukee a week after he finished sixth at Indianapolis.
His commitment and responsibilities to his growing recreational vehicle empire pulled Rupp from the driver’s seat.
Rupp started building kart kits in his basement in the late 1950s and then began manufacturing his designs that included such innovations as step frames, improved braking systems and eventually four-wheel independent suspension. His Dart Karts immediately became very popular and were produced through the late 1960s, and his brother-in-law – legendary Indianapolis 500 chassis designer A.J. Watson – appeared in a magazine ad for the 1959 Dart Kart.