A Tribute to the Late Dorie Sweikert

Delores Sweikert-Holt, widow of 1955 Indianapolis 500 winner Bob Sweikert, passed away in Hayward, California, on Jan. 11, 2016. 

Dorie (as she preferred to be called) wrote a compelling book in 1998 titled “Along for the Ride,” which chronicled her life with the charismatic and dynamic 1955 “500” winner, AAA National champion and Midwest Sprint Car champion. Beautifully written and containing many a haunting passage, the work was quite remarkable in that she wrote it solely by herself with no editorial assistance. 

The Sweikerts were quite a glamorous couple but their life after winning the “500” was tragically cut short barely 12 months later on June 17, 1956, when he perished in a USAC Sprint Car accident at Salem, Indiana. 

Dorie left Indianapolis only a short time after that accident and moved back to California, not returning to Indianapolis for some 30 years. At a function to honor A.J. Watson a couple of days before the “500” sometime in the mid-1980s, Dorie made her first appearance at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in three decades. Emotions ran high that afternoon and many a gasp was heard as she came through the door.