Cliff Griffith

6/2/1916 - 23/1/1996

Record updated 06-Feb-07

American racing driver who competed mainly on dirt ovals. Raced at Indy four times with a best finish of 9th in 1952.

Cliff Griffith was born in Nineveh, Indiana, America and was a racing driver who mostly raced on dirt ovals.

He raced in AAA and USAC Champ Car series between 1950 and 1952 as well as the 1956 and 1961 seasons. He made a total of 19 starts and finished in the top ten 8 times. His best finish was a 4th at Springfield in 1950.

He never won the Indy 500 but ran there four times. In 1951 in a Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser dropping out with rear axle problems. He returned the following year in the same car crossing the line in 9th, his best finish at Indy. The starting field in 1952 included 16 drivers who would eventually be killed in racing incidents. In 1953 he took a Kurtis KK-500B but he crashed it in practice and it burned and could not be repaired in time for the race that year. In 1956 he drove a Stevens-Offenhauser finishing 10th. He didn't return to the Brickyard again until 1961 in an Elder-Offenhauser. He went out with engine problems.

Well respected locally in Rochester, Indiana, he had a street named after him and died there in 1996.



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