Team story
Origins
Mike Nazaruk had already taken second at Indianapolis in 1951, in a Kurtis, when he drove the Turner in 1953. The Kalamazoo Special was entered by Lee Elkins and powered by Offenhauser: driver, entrant and constructor were three separate identities.
The Formula 1 journey
Nazaruk started twenty-third and covered 146 laps. IMS’s official record lists the car as stalled and places him twenty-first. He therefore did not complete the race’s 200 laps, and that position does not describe a finish over the full distance.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Turner
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · Indianapolis 500
Mike Nazaruk · Indianapolis 500 1953. The recorded position is P21; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Indianapolis 500
Mike Nazaruk · Indianapolis 500 1953. The recorded position is P21; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This marks the first win or podium where one exists, otherwise the highest recorded placing for this constructor.
Latest recorded appearance · Indianapolis 500
Mike Nazaruk · Indianapolis 500 1953. The recorded position is P21; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
Turner identifies the chassis used in this American appearance, not the engine marque or the commercial name Kalamazoo. The race archives clearly document the car and who used it, but are not enough to reconstruct a wider organisation behind the constructor.
What remains
Its world championship presence is confined to the 1953 Indianapolis 500. Indianapolis counted towards the drivers’ championship from 1950 to 1960, while retaining the American championship’s rules and entrants. Nazaruk’s earlier podium belongs to Kurtis: it adds no result to Turner’s record.