Midget car career Russo started racing
midget cars in 1934. He went with a contingent of midget-car drivers to
Hawaii in the winter of 1934–35. He was the 1938
AAA Eastern Midget Champion. Russo won the first race held at the
Nutley Velodrome in
New Jersey in 1938. Russo was part of midget racing's "Chicago Gang" with
Emil Andres,
Tony Bettenhausen,
Duke Nalon,
Cowboy O'Rourke,
Jimmy Snyder, and
Wally Zale. These racers toured tracks in the Midwest and East Coast of the United States.
Indy car career Russo drove in the
AAA and
USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1940–1941, 1946–1954, 1956–1959, and 1962 seasons with 81 starts, including the
Indianapolis 500 every year excluding 1951 and 1952. He finished in the top ten 49 times, with two victories: at Springfield (1950) and Detroit (1951). He also won a non-points race at Williams Grove (1952). Russo's best finish in the Indianapolis 500 was fourth, in 1957 when he was at the wheel of a Novi Special. In 1955, Russo co-drove with
Tony Bettenhausen to a second-place finish. Russo's brother
Joe and nephew
Eddie also competed in
Championship Car.
World Drivers' Championship career The
AAA/
USAC-sanctioned Indianapolis 500 was included in the
FIA World Drivers' Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indianapolis during those years were credited with World Drivers' Championship participation, and were eligible to score WDC points alongside those which they may have scored towards the
AAA/
USAC National Championship. Russo participated in eight World Drivers' Championship races at Indianapolis. He finished in the
top three once, and set one fastest leader lap. He scored eight and one-half World Drivers' Championship points. == Death ==