| Don Freeland | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Name: | Donald Lloyd Freeland | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 25 March 1925 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Death Place: | San Diego, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Don Freeland[1] (March 25, 1925 – November 2, 2007) was an American racecar driver who is best known for competing in the Indianapolis 500 eight times.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Freeland served in the Navy as a mechanic during World War II. After the war, he began racing. He raced in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series from 1952 to 1962, with 76 career starts. He finished in the top ten 41 times, with a best finish of second place occurring 3 times.
Freeland competed in the Indy 500 each year from 1953 to 1960. He appeared headed for a second-place finish in 1955 before a transmission failure ended his day 22 laps prior to the end of the race. He came back with a best Indy finish of third the next year. He also finished in the top ten in 1954 and 1958.
Freeland died in San Diego, California at age 82.
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | INDY | MIL | RAL | SPR | MIL | DET | DUQ | PIK | SYR 6 | DNC 14 | SJS | PHX | 33rd | 80 | ||
| 1953 | INDY 27 | MIL 16 | SPR 3 | DET DNQ | SPR 7 | MIL 5 | DUQ 12 | PIK | SYR 3 | ISF 4 | SAC 17 | PHX 6 | 7th | 750 | ||
| 1954 | INDY 7 | MIL 9 | LAN 9 | DAR 18 | SPR 3 | MIL 9 | DUQ 17 | PIK | SYR 2 | ISF DNQ | SAC DNS | PHX DNQ | LVG DNQ | 10th | 760 | |
| 1955 | INDY 15 | MIL 12 | LAN 3 | SPR | MIL 12 | DUQ 18 | PIK | SYR 13 | ISF 6 | SAC 6 | PHX 16 | 14th | 315.2 | |||
| 1956 | INDY 3 | MIL 6 | LAN 7 | DAR 10 | ATL | SPR 2 | MIL 24 | DUQ 17 | SYR 11 | ISF 9 | SAC 2 | PHX 13 | 3rd | 1.280 | ||
| 1957 | INDY 17 | LAN 13 | MIL DNQ | DET 8 | ATL 6 | SPR 8 | MIL 15 | DUQ | SYR 12 | ISF 16 | TRE | SAC DNQ | PHX 14 | 24th | 190 | |
| 1958 | TRE | INDY 7 | MIL DNQ | LAN 6 | ATL | SPR 3 | MIL 21 | DUQ 9 | SYR 18 | ISF 16 | TRE 14 | SAC DNQ | PHX | 13th | 560 | |
| 1959 | DAY | TRE | INDY 22 | MIL 8 | LAN 8 | SPR 9 | MIL 3 | DUQ 15 | SYR 17 | ISF 7 | TRE | SAC | PHX | 11th | 480 | |
| 1960 | TRE 21 | INDY 22 | MIL DNQ | LAN | SPR DNQ | MIL 4 | DUQ | SYR DNS | ISF | TRE | SAC | PHX | 24th | 240 | ||
| 1961 | TRE | INDY DNQ | MIL 9 | LAN | MIL DNQ | SPR | DUQ | SYR | ISF | TRE | SAC | PHX | 33rd | 40 | ||
| 1962 | TRE | INDY DNQ | MIL | LAN | TRE 11 | SPR | MIL | LAN | SYR | ISF | TRE | SAC | PHX | 32nd | 30 | |
| 1963 | TRE | INDY DNQ | MIL | LAN | TRE | SPR | MIL | DUQ | ISF | TRE | SAC | PHX | - | 0 | ||
| Year | Car | Start | Qual | Rank | Finish | Laps | Led | Retired | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | 38 | 15 | 136.867 | 12 | 27 | 76 | 0 | Crash T4 | |
| 1954 | 7 | 6 | 138.339 | 17 | 7 | 200 | 0 | Running | |
| 1955 | 12 | 21 | 139.866 | 14 | 15 | 178 | 3 | Transmission | |
| 1956 | 16 | 26 | 141.699 | 22 | 3 | 200 | 4 | Running | |
| 1957 | 3 | 21 | 139.649 | 33 | 17 | 192 | 0 | Flagged | |
| 1958 | 26 | 13 | 143.033 | 17 | 7 | 200 | 0 | Running | |
| 1959 | 15 | 25 | 143.056 | 14 | 22 | 136 | 0 | Valve spring | |
| 1960 | 73 | 11 | 144.352 | 14 | 22 | 129 | 0 | Magneto | |
| Totals | 1311 | 7 | |||||||
| Starts | 8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Poles | 0 | |
| Front Row | 0 | |
| Wins | 0 | |
| Top 5 | 1 | |
| Top 10 | 3 | |
| Retired | 4 |
The Indianapolis 500 was part of the FIA World Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indy during those years were credited with World Championship points and participation. Don Freeland participated in 8 World Championship races. He started on the pole 0 times, won 0 races, set 0 fastest laps, and finished on the podium 1 times. He accumulated a total of 4 championship points.