Pat Flaherty

Pat Flaherty, an American driver born in 1926, is credited with a Formula 1 World Championship victory through the Indianapolis 500, which counted toward the championship from 1950 to 1960. All six of his championship starts, made between 1950 and 1959, came at the great American oval.

After early appearances in Kurtis Kraft and Kuzma machinery between 1950 and 1955 that brought no points, Flaherty's breakthrough came in 1956 at the wheel of a Watson. He won that year's Indianapolis 500, a result that alone earned him eight points and fifth place in the World Championship standings.

His record also includes a pole position, and his career figures — one win, one podium and one pole from six starts, for a win rate of 16.7 per cent — mark him out as one of the more successful of the American oval specialists to appear in the championship's records during the 1950s.