Robin Miller's IndyCar Memories: Jerry Karl

He never won a race or a pole, and his career-best finish was seventh at the old Ontario Motor Speedway.

But Jerry Karl embodied the little guy in IndyCar racing from 1969-'82 and parlayed his spirit and guile into a successful career that saw him qualify six times for the Indianapolis 500.

Karl came out of Pennsylvania sprint cars and caught the eye of Smokey Yunick, and they raced together at Indy in 1973 and 1975. His best ride was in 1975 when Lindsey Hopkins put him in a year-old Eagle and he got up to fifth before a punctured tire sent him into the wall.

When ground effects descended on IndyCar in 1979, Karl re-worked a seven-year-old McLaren and stuck it in the show at IMS in 1980 and 1981. But his highlight came in 1980 at Phoenix, when he qualified 19th in his homemade ground effects car with a stock-block Chevy and stormed to the front – passing Mario Andretti in Roger Penske's car for second place before his engine went sour.

Karl died in a highway accident in 2008 at age 66.

ROBIN MILLER'S INDYCAR MEMORIES:

• Robin Miller on Parnelli Jones