8/10/1910 - 27/1/1990
Record updated 27-Jan-22
He was known to his friends as "Webbie". In 1948 he surprised many when he won the middle west big car championship sanctioned by the American Automobile Association. He ran at Indy 5 times with a best finish of 19th in 1953
Travis L "Spider" Webb did not have a great success in Indianapolis. Born in Joplin, Travis began his career in the AAA National Championship in 1939 on the dirt oval at Milwaukee. Nicknamed Spider for obvious reasons, he then had to wait until 1946, after the Second World War, to be able to race again.
In 1948 He put in some good qualifying sessions though he didn't get pole anywhere, and none of the races he entered resulted in anything other than retirements due to mechanical failure. At Indy he qualified in 30th spot and went out with an oil leak.
In 1949, he took pole position in Syracuse and finished 3rd in the race, then had a second place at Detroit behind Bettenhausen. At Indy he failed to take the start due to transmi
ssion problems.
In 1950, at the Indy 500 he qualified in 14th position in a Maserati, but the race was stopped before the end because of the rain. He finished 20th, 12 laps behind Parsons. It was the last time he finished, all subsequent attempts ending in retirement or failure to qualify.
He missed 1951 and returned to Indy again in 1952, after having failed to qualify a Deidt, he qualified in the Granatelli Racing Enterprises Bromme. However an oil leak put him out, as it did again in 1953 in the Lubri-Loy Kurtis Kraft 3000, after he was relayed by Thompson and Holmes, and agin in 1954 he retured with fuel pump problems in the Advance Muffler Bromme. In 1955, his last attempt, he failed to qualify marking the end of his AAA career.
Apparently he had a bar in the trunk of his car at all times and was known for his free spirit and his humor. Travis "Spider" Webb died on January 27, 1990 in McMinville, 79 years of age.
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