George Reggie "Little George" Amick (October 24, 1924 – April 4, 1959) was an American racecar driver, mainly competing in the American National Championship. He was killed in a crash in a USAC race at Daytona International Speedway.
Racing career Amick began racing in jalopies in the Northwestern United States before switching to midget car racing. He competed in USAC National midgets for three seasons, finishing in the top-ten points each season, and won 16 feature races. He totaled 38 wins including the 1957 Turkey Night Grand Prix.
Amick moved to Indy cars and won three times in 43 starts. In his rookie appearance at the Indianapolis 500 in 1958, Amick was assigned a "lay-down" roadster commissioned by car owner Norm Demler, designed by Quin Epperly, and based upon George Salih's 1957 race-winning design. Amick found himself running a comfortable second to leader Jimmy Bryan with just 20 laps remaining. Demler and his team felt Amick was in a position to catch Bryan and perhaps even win, but decided against pushing their rookie driver into a potentially fatal mistake, and Amick came home an easy second. He was named the 1958 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.
Death
Amick was competing in the only Indy Car race ever run at the Daytona International Speedway and was killed in an accident on the final lap. He is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in section 235, lot 723 () in Indianapolis.
Awards Amick was inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2009.
Racing record Complete AAA/USAC Championship Car results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Rank Points Ref 1955 Emmett Malloy INDY MIL7 LAN18 9th 750 Lindsey Hopkins Jr. SPR4 MIL20 DUQ3 PIK SYR3 ISF3 SAC12 PHX3 1956 Cole INDY MILDNQ 4th 1050 Pete Salemi LAN1 DAR4 ATL13 SPRDNQ MIL6 DUQ5 SYR5 ISF12 Lindsey Hopkins Jr. SAC13 PHX1 1957 Federal Engineering INDYDNQ 3rd 1400 Lindsey Hopkins Jr. LAN5 MIL6 DET2 ATL1 SPR3 MIL5 DUQ16 SYR5 ISF3 TRE3 SAC4 PHX11 1958 Peter Schmidt TRE6 2nd 1640 Norm Demler INDY2 Lindsey Hopkins Jr. MIL6 LAN14 ATL2 SPR18 MIL4 DUQ18 SYR2 ISFWth TRE19 SAC4 PHX15 1959 George Bignotti DAY4 TRE INDY MIL LAN SPR MIL DUQ SYR ISF TRE SAC PHX 36th 120
Indianapolis 500 results
YearCarStartQualRankFinishLapsLedRetired19589925142.71025220018RunningTotals20018
Starts1Poles0Front Row0Wins0Top 51Top 101Retired0
Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 WDC Points 1957 Federal Engineering Snowberger Offenhauser L4 ARG MON 500 FRA GBR GER PES ITA NC 0 1958 Norman Demler Epperly Indy Roadster Offenhauser L4 ARG MON NED 500 BEL FRA GBR GER POR ITA MOR 15th 6
References