Johnny Mauro was Colorado’s first born and raised driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He accomplished that feat in 1947 driving an Alfa Romeo he purchased just days before the event and ended up finishing 8th. Two of Johnny’s cars that he competed with at the speedway, reside in the hallowed displays of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. Some of Johnny’s other achievements in racing, included driving in a total of 14 Pikes Peak Hill Climbs, coming very close to winning that event several times. He also competed in and won the first compact car endurance race staged in the United States. That was a 6 hour event held at Colorado’s Continental Divide Raceways in 1959. As it turned out, that race was the forerunner to what eventually became, after several years and many twists and turns to the SCCA rule books, the wildly popular Trans-Am road race series of the ‘60’s and early ‘70’s.
Johnny died in 2003.