George J. Viola better known by his racing name George Rice, was a Midget

Midget

A midget is a short person with relatively average bodily proportions in comparison with other human beings. The term is often improperly used to describe a person with the medical condition dwarfism. The two terms are often used synonymously because both terms originate as words defining small...

 race car driver from Milford, Connecticut

Milford, Connecticut

Milford is a coastal city in southwestern New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between Bridgeport and New Haven. The population was 52,759 at the 2010 census...

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Personal life

George fathered two daughters, Sarah and Glorianna, and a son, Edward, with his wife Bess.

George Rice's real name was George J. Viola. When he started racing, he drove sprints, not midgets. When he heard about midgets he wanted to try them but his club at that time would not have permitted it. So he changed his last name to Rice after a friend, Charlie Rice. He loved the midgets and decided to stick with them and continued to use the name George "Georgie" Rice. When his younger brother, John, decided to race midgets also, he took the name Johnny Rice and the pair became known as the "Rice Brothers".

Auto Racing

In the 1940s in particular he was very successful. In 1947 alone he won the Midget track championship at Danbury (CT) Fair Racearena, Deer Park (NY) Speedway, and won his second consecutive title at West Haven (CT) Speedway. He was the 1947 ARDC Midget champion. In 1948 he won the Bridgeport (CT) Speedway Midget track championship.

• • Source:1948 "Midget Auto Racing Souvenir Program" article by Nat Kleinfeld

George also raced in LeMans, France, with the Briggs Cunningham team 1951.