Travis Leon “Spider” Webb (8 October 1910 – 27 January 1990) was an American racing driver best known for his success in sprint cars and his repeated appearances at the Indianapolis 500. A free-spirited character as well as a serious competitor, Webb won the 1948 AAA Midwest Sprint Car championship and became a familiar name across American dirt tracks and Championship Car racing.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | American |
| Birthplace | Joplin, Missouri, USA |
| Born | 8 October 1910 |
| Died | 27 January 1990 |
| First Grand Prix | 1950 Indianapolis 500 |
| Last Grand Prix | 1955 Indianapolis 500 |
| Years Active | 1950, 1952–1955 |
| Current/Last Team | Kurtis Kraft |
The nickname “Spider” followed him throughout his career, while his personality made just as much of an impression as his driving. Webb was known for travelling with a portable bar in the boot of his car and for bringing a healthy dose of humour wherever he went.
Early life
Webb was born in Joplin, Missouri, where his father worked as a cabinet maker.
In 1923, the family moved west to Los Angeles, California, placing Webb much closer to the rapidly developing Southern Californian racing scene that would help shape his career.
Racing career
Webb began racing in 1928 on Muroc Dry Lake, now known as Rogers Dry Lake.
It was there that a car owner gave him the nickname “Spider”, and it stuck.
The long, flat-out runs of dry-lake racing eventually lost their appeal, and Webb turned his attention instead to the dirt ovals of Southern California. He competed at venues including Legion Ascot Speedway, initially racing in its “B” class.
The move suited him.
Sprint cars
In 1936, Webb and fellow driver Jimmy Wilburn were offered opportunities to race “Big Cars” in the Central States Racing Association.
Both accepted and relocated to Indianapolis, putting Webb at the heart of the Midwestern racing scene.
His first significant CSRA success came at the end of the 1938 season, when he won the final race at Winchester Speedway.
In 1941, Webb switched to the AAA Midwest series and immediately proved competitive, finishing fourth in the championship standings.
The Second World War then brought organised racing to a halt.
When competition resumed, Webb returned in excellent form.
Late in 1947, he won three consecutive AAA Midwest races at Dayton Speedway, Salem Speedway and Winchester. Another victory at Salem helped him finish second in the championship behind Johnny Shackleford.
That campaign set up an even stronger 1948.
Webb began the season with a remarkable run of seven victories and one second place from the opening eight races. Even though he missed several events while competing in Championship Cars, he still accumulated enough points to win the AAA Midwest title.
It was the defining championship success of his career.
For 1949, Webb initially raced a new sprint car that he partly owned himself, but by June he had returned to machinery owned by Johnny Vance.
He remained a front-runner, finishing second at the Michigan State Fairgrounds in Detroit and third at the Syracuse Mile. Those results helped him take third place in the final AAA Midwest standings.
Webb followed that with fifth in the 1950 championship.
A completely different kind of mishap then put his racing career on hold. After the season, he injured his thumb while at a friend’s workshop and was forced to miss the entire 1951 campaign.
Championship cars
Webb’s first AAA Championship Car start actually came several years before his sprint-car title.
In 1939, he made a one-off appearance at the Milwaukee Mile. Starting last in a 17-car field, Webb worked his way through to finish seventh.
He returned for two Championship Car races in 1946, taking tenth at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and eighth at Milwaukee.
The Indianapolis 500 soon became a regular target.
In 1948, Mutt Anderson offered Webb a drive for the race, but Webb initially failed to qualify. At almost the last moment, another opportunity emerged, this time in a Bromme dirt Championship Car.
Webb made the field in 30th position.
His first Indianapolis 500 lasted only 27 laps before an oil-line failure forced him out, leaving him classified 27th.
He returned in 1949 and qualified 26th, but the race was even shorter. A transmission failure struck before he had completed a single lap, and Webb was classified 33rd and last.
Later that season he switched to a Charles Bowes-owned car after Mel Hansen became unavailable.
The change brought some of Webb’s strongest Championship Car results.
He started from pole at Syracuse and finished third, then added second place at Detroit and eighth at the Springfield Mile.
For the 1950 Indianapolis 500, Webb reached the finish of a rain-shortened race and was classified 20th when proceedings were stopped after 138 laps.
The rest of that Championship Car campaign proved difficult. He failed to qualify for four races and finished 18th in his only other start, at Springfield.
After sitting out 1951 because of his thumb injury, Webb returned to Indianapolis in 1952.
Again, qualifying became a last-minute drama.
He was initially bumped out of the field before Bromme called on him for another attempt. Webb made the grid and went on to finish 22nd after an oil leak forced his retirement late in the race.
He was back again in 1953, starting 29th and finishing 22nd.
Elsewhere that season, he failed to qualify for five Championship Car events, although he did make the field at Springfield and finished 15th.
Bromme once again called Webb in at short notice for the 1954 Indianapolis 500. He qualified 29th and was ultimately classified 30th.
One final attempt came in 1955, but Webb failed to qualify.
Across his career, Webb started six Indianapolis 500s, making him part of a generation of drivers for whom simply getting into the field could be as demanding as the race itself.
World Drivers’ Championship
Between 1950 and 1960, the Indianapolis 500 counted towards the FIA World Drivers’ Championship, despite being run under AAA and later USAC regulations rather than Formula One rules.
As a result, Webb’s Indianapolis appearances during this period were also officially recorded as World Championship starts.
He participated in four World Drivers’ Championship events at Indianapolis, with a best classified finish of 19th, and scored no championship points.
It is one of those statistical quirks of early Formula One history: Webb never raced a conventional Grand Prix car, yet his name still appears in the World Championship record books.
After racing
After leaving competition, Webb settled in Norwalk, California.
He bought earthmoving equipment and moved into construction work, including involvement in the building of the Los Angeles Zoo.
Webb died in McMinnville, Oregon, on 27 January 1990 at the age of 79.
Awards and honours
His contribution to American sprint-car racing was formally recognised in 1997, when Webb was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
The statistics tell one part of the story – an AAA Midwest championship, six Indianapolis 500 starts and a long career spanning dirt tracks and Championship Cars.
But Webb was also one of those racers remembered as much for the character as the results. Fast, colourful and seemingly never too far from a joke or his travelling bar, “Spider” Webb belonged to an era when racing drivers were expected to be tough on the track and entertaining everywhere else.
The nickname “Spider” followed him throughout his career, while his personality made just as much of an impression as his driving. Webb was known for travelling with a portable bar in the boot of his car and for bringing a healthy dose of humour wherever he went.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 5 |
| Race Starts | 4 |
| Did Not Start | 0 |
| Best Race Start | 14th |
| Best Race Finish | 19th |
| Retirements | 1 |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | 0 |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 1 |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | 5 |
| Reached Q3 | 0 |
| Q2 Eliminations | 0 |
| Q1 Eliminations | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 1 |
Stats by Season
| Year | Constructor | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Maserati | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14th | 20th | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1952 | Bromme | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 29th | 22nd | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1953 | Kurtis Kraft | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18th | 19th | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1954 | Bromme | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29th | 30th | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1955 | Kurtis Kraft | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | 0 | NC |
