Resta, Dario
Auto Racing
b. 1884, Milan, Italy
d. Sept. 2, 1924
Raised in England from the age of two, Resta began racing there, setting a record of 95.7 mph in a half-mile run. He was brought to the United States by Alphonse Kaufman to drive Kaufman's Peugeot in 1915, and he promptly won the Grand Prize and the Vanderbilt Cup that year. He finished second in the Indy 500 after a long duel with Ralph DePalma that ended when one of Resta's tires blew.
In 1916 he won both the Indy 500 and the driver's championship. He raced little after that year. But in 1923 he was at Indy again, forced out of the race after 225 miles. He was killed in a crash at Brooklands in England when a tire blew and threw his car out of control.