Anzer, Jerry

Early years

Jerry Anser Jr. was the eldest of the four sons of Jerry Anser Sr. Communication with the world of cars from him, like his brothers, began with the management of a Ford A car, bought by their father. Soon, also with his brothers, he began racing on short tracks, and quickly gained popularity. In 1952, he was drafted into the army and spent the next two years in Hawaii, performing in local races in his spare time. Demobilized, he settled in Albuquerque, where he worked in his father’s car shop, and in his spare time, he was preparing for the race at Pikes Peak. In 1956 he married, and soon two sons were born - Jerry and Johnny.

Racing Performances

The first successes in racing accompanied Jerry while still serving in the army - in 1953 he won the championship title in racing serial cars in Hawaii. After the service, the first serious competition was the "race to the clouds" of 1955. The performance ended successfully for the debut - Anzer became the fourth. The next year, Jerry was completely successful - he won the race in the production car class, and a year later he repeated this achievement. In 1958, he first tried to take part in the 500 miles of Indianapolis. Having replaced three cars, he was able to achieve 24th place at the start, but he did not last long in the race - on the first lap there was a blockage of 13 cars, Jerry’s car flew over the outer wall of the track and only by pure chance the driver got off with a light fright. Other members of the blockage were less fortunate - Pat O'Connor died.

Such an accident did not change Anzer's attitude to racing. Within a few weeks, he again took part in the race at Pikes Peak, and due to a dislocation of his shoulder, he had to drive a car and shift gears with one hand. Such a peculiar way of driving could not give good results - he had an accident and broke his nose. The next year, he again showed up for the race in Indianapolis, but at the very beginning of May he had an accident on the starting line. The car’s tank was damaged, Jerry suffered severe burns and died 17 days later in the hospital.

Jerry Anser Jr. belongs to one of America's most famous racing dynasties. All three of his younger brothers were engaged in racing in one form or another. Jerry's twin brother - Louis - twice excelled at Pikes Peak in the category of production cars, worked for him as a manager and mechanic. Bobby, the third of the brothers, won the Indikar championship three times and excelled in the Indy 500 three times, and the youngest of the brothers, Al, is the three-time Indikar champion and four-time Indy 500 winner. The brothers' grandfather, Louis Sr., was engaged in the design of internal combustion engines and automobiles based on them, and his father, Jerry Sr., owned a repair business and a gas station. One of his uncles, Louis Jr., is a nine-time winner of the Pikes Peak race, the other - Joe - intended to participate in Indianapolis with his brothers, but died while testing a car on a local highway. Due to the early death of Jerry, his sons did not participate in races, only the youngest son Johnny Anzer participated in Indikara, sports cars and endurance races. Jerry's nephews, almost all born after his death, as well as two grand-nephews - Al Anzer III and Jason Tanner - are also involved in various types of motorsport.

Formula 1

Indie 500

• Jerry Anser (rus.) At wildsoft.motorsport.com
• Anzer, Jerry at historicracing.com