Art Cross is best remembered as
the first man to receive the Indianapolis 500 “Rookie of the
Year” award when he placed 5th in the 1952 race behind Troy
Ruttman. His Indy ride came on the heels of winning both the
AAA National Midget Championship and the Midwest point battle
in 1951. Cross began racing midgets in
1938 on the East Coast. He was awarded the purple heart for
his service during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II and
returned to midget racing after the war.
Among his midget rides was one of Pappy Hough’s famous “Little
Iron Pigs.”
In 1953 he placed 2nd to Bill Vukovich in one of the
hottest 500 Mile races on record, a race in which Carl
Scarborough died from the heat. Cross, like Vuky, ran the
entire distance without relief. His car that day was the
Springfield Welding Special owned by Bessie Lee Paoli, the
only female car owner at Indy at the time.
Art purchased a farm near LaPorte, Indiana after his
first 500 and quietly retired there after leading both the
1954 and the 1955 races.
