A Tribute to the Late Jim Travers

Jim Travers, the colorful co-chief mechanic on Bill Vukovich’s Indianapolis 500-winning Fuel Injection Special of 1953 and 1954, passed away in Kanab, Utah on Monday, Feb. 10, four days after being injured in a fall. He was 95.

Known variously as “The Keck Kids” and “The Rich Kids,” Travers and his partner, the late Frank Coon, jointly ran the ultra-successful racing team for the reclusive and rather eccentric oil millionaire Howard Keck. 

Already a powerhouse in West Coast midget car racing, Travers and Coon arrived at Indianapolis in 1948 with an Emil Diedt-built front-drive car which utilized several revolutionary innovations such as Halibrand magnesium wheels and fuel injection developed by another friend and fellow crew member, Stu Hilborn. After top-10 finishes (10th and sixth) with Jimmy Jackson in 1948 and 1949, three-time “500” winner Mauri Rose came on board to finish third in the rain-shortened race of 1950. Ever the innovators, Travers and Coon then collaborated with car builder Frank Kurtis on the building of the first of the so-called “roadster” design, that nickname given the new car by its driver Bill Vukovich, who said the car strongly resembled the hot rod he had driven as a teenager.

After dropping out of the 1952 “500” with a steering failure while leading with nine laps to go, Vukovich bounced back to win the race in 1953 and 1954.

In 1957, two years after the untimely passing of Vukovich in a multi-car accident in the 1955 “500,” Travers and Coon formed Traco Engineering which “hopped up” Chevrolet engines for sprint cars and sports car racing. Traco sponsored A.J. Foyt’s USAC sprint car in 1963 and 1964, and also was heavily involved with Roger Penske’s early Chevrolet-powered Can-Am sports cars.

Travers and Coon were jointly inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.

There were to be no services.