Fred Lecklider

9/6/1895 - 10/1/1964

Record updated 09-Jun-07

Primarily a dirt track driver, Lecklider raced in the Indy 500 three times, twice, 1926 and 1927, having qualified and once, in 1930, as relief for Leslie Allen.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Lecklider rented garage space from Johnnie Parsons' uncle. He was primarily a dirt track driver who started racing in the early 1920s driving the Ohio Special against the likes of Leon Duray. 

In the mid 1920s Fred Lecklider aquired the two Miller Junior Specials, one of which was in parts haveing been crashed in 1922 by George Wade. Fred took the cars to California.

He had some success racing in the IMCA series winning on the dirt track at Ascot Park twice in 1924 driving a Duesenberg. He raced a few times on board tracks at Altoona and Culver City but without notable results.

Lecklider himself qualified for the Indy 500 on two occasions. In 1926 he raced one of Earl DeVore's supercharged Millers, going out after 24 laps with mechanical failure and the following year, when he hit the wall on lap 49. That year, 1927, Fred gave Louis Schneider his first start at Indy. Schneider was an ex-traffic policeman who went on to win the 500 in 1931. Fred ran Schneider for a couple of years and picked up a number of wins with him on the dirt track at Hammerton

Lecklider tried to qualify for the Indy 500 in 1930 but failed, though he drove relief for Leslie Allen from lap 51 to 115, with Allen finishing 9th.



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