Man, I just saw that Gary Bettenhausen died unexpectedly yesterday at age 72. My heart sank. Growing up in Indianapolis, the Bettenhausen name was well respected. Saw him race at Indy several times. I probably remember his 1972 Indy 500 race the most as he was teammates with my favorite driver at the time, Mark Donohue. I was not at the 1972 race, but remember listening to it on the radio with my Dad. Gary led 138 laps that day (over 100 more than anyone else), but his car let go with 25 laps left. Mark Donohue ended up winning, but I remember feeling really bad for Gary.
This past year many Indy legends of my childhood have died: Andy Granatelli, George Bignotti, now Gary Bettenhausen. I guess I am officially old. Thanks for the memories Gary!
Gary Bettenhausen 1972 Indy 500
http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/mo ... d/6515585/1972 Indy 500 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Indianapolis_500
First half
Tony Hulman gave the command to start engines, and the field began to pull away for two pace laps. A. J. Foyt, however, stalled and did not pull away. His crew hurriedly wheeled the car to the south end of the pit, and tried to figure out what was wrong with the machine. With the rest of the field gone, Foyt was possibly out of the race before the green flag. As the field was coming out of turn four, the starter held up one finger, indicating that the pace car should take the field on a second pace lap. However, at that moment the crew got Foyt's car running, and quickly pushed him away. The starter waved the pace car off the track and abruptly dropped the green flag, catching many drivers in the wrong gear to go racing and making for a ragged start.[8] With Foyt slowly coming up to speed on the apron, the field blasted by him into turn one.
Bobby Unser grabbed the lead in the first turn, and led the first 30 laps. Unser set a blistering pace with Mark Donohue and Jerry Grant running close behind. On lap 31, Bobby Unser slowed and headed to the pits with a broken ignition rotor. Unser was out of the race, and Gary Bettenhausen took the lead.
A. J. Foyt was forced to play catch-up from the onset, but was running fast laps in the 180 mph range. His day was short, however, as he blew the turbocharger and eventually dropped out. Among the early outs were Peter Revson (started 2nd) and Johnny Rutherford (started 8th). During a pit stop around lap 42, Jerry Grant and Mark Donohue battled side-by-side as they existed their stalls, and Donohue nearly crashed into the scoring pylon. Meanwhile, a fire broke out in the pit area of Wally Dallenbach, but he was able to continue.
Mike Mosley took the lead on lap 54. Two laps later, he loses a wheel and crashed into the outside wall in turn four. The car catches on fire as it slides down the mainstretch. Mosley unbuckles before the car comes to a rest, and jumps from the car trying to put out the flames. Mosley suffers burns, but is not seriously injured.
On lap 81, for the second time, Wally Dallenbach had a fire in the pits.
At the halfway point, 13 cars were out of the race. Gary Bettenhausen continued to dominate the race, and led at the halfway point. After completing 94 laps, Jim Hurtubise ran out of fuel in turn two. When the safety truck went to tow him back to the pits, they proceeded to tow him through the infield and the garage area gate rather than directly around the track back to his pit stall.[9][10] He refueled and rejoined the race, but was subsequently disqualified for leaving the race track.[2] Some feel it was a "payback" gesture by USAC for Hurtubise's antics on bump day regarding his 'beer engine.'[2]
Second half
Gary Bettenhausen continued to lead, pushing record speeds. Attrition began to take its toll on the field. By the 400-mile mark, eighteen cars were out of the race.
Wally Dallenbach has his third fire in the pits on lap 151.
With 25 laps to go, Gary Bettenhausen suddenly started slowing in the north end of the track. After leading 138 laps, he car quit with ignition trouble. Jerry Grant blasted by to take the lead, and Mark Donohue was now in second place.
Finish
With 13 laps to go, Jerry Grant led Mark Donohue and Al Unser, Sr. Grant was forced to the pits for a bad tire on lap 188. Grant entered the pit area, but he overshot his own pit stall and pulled into the pit box of his teammate Bobby Unser. Grant's crew carried their equipment to Unser's pit and changed Grant's right front tire, and in the confusion Unser's crew refuelled Grant's car with fuel from Unser's pit tank. By the time Grant went back out on the race track he had lost the lead to Donohue.
With Grant's unscheduled pit stop, Mark Donohue took the lead on lap 188, and Grant dropped to second place on the track. Donohue led the final 13 laps, and scored his first Indy 500 victory, and the first victory for car owner Roger Penske.
Race car driver Gary Bettenhausen, who died Sunday, could have been an Indy-car legend, but he preferred driving anything and everything that was great in his era.
The son of racing great Tony Bettenhausen, he was one of Roger Penske's earliest Indy-car drivers, nearly winning the 1972 Indianapolis 500 after leading 138 laps. He still finished 14th after ignition failure knocked him out after 182 laps.
But Bettenhausen, among the most talented drivers of his generation, never became one of Penske's 500 winners — like Rick Mears, the Unsers or Helio Castroneves — because he continued racing the short-track cars he loved so much.
In a violent dirt car crash in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1974, Bettenhausen badly injured his right arm. Penske, who was against Bettenhausen racing in sprints, midgets and dirt cars, fired him.
Bettenhausen's brother, Merle, noted that Frank Sinatra's classic "My Way" was not only his favorite song but his life motto.
"That's the way he lived, and that's the way he raced," Merle said.
Bettenhausen continued to compete in the 500 with various teams through 1993, finishing as high as third in 1980. He ran his final race, in CART's inaugural U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway in 1996, at age 54. The car was fielded by Bettenhausen Motorsports, which was owned by his youngest brother, Tony.
The longtime Monrovia, Ind., resident died unexpectedly at his home. He was 72.
Originally from Tinley Park, Ill., Bettenhausen was the oldest of the three racing sons. Tony, an 11-time 500 starter, along with his wife, Shirley, and two Indianapolis businessmen were killed in a 2000 airplane crash in Kentucky.
The patriarch of the family, Melvin "Tony" Bettenhausen, a two-time national champion, died in a 1961 practice-day crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bettenhausen had his father's championship pedigree. He won four titles with USAC, an Indianapolis-based sanctioning body: Ttwo each in sprint cars (1969 and '71) and the championship dirt cars (1980 and '83). His first USAC race was in a stock car at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1963. He finished 14th.
Three-time 500 starter Steve Chassey remembers first meeting Bettenhausen in 1968 when Bettenhausen borrowed the sprint car owned by Chassey's father at Clovis (Calif.) Speedway.
Chassey said Bettenhausen drove as hard as anyone — then or now.
"He was a gunfighter, that's for sure," Chassey said. "I don't think there are anymore (drivers) like him. His dad and him; they were the last of that kind."
Bettenhausen is survived by his wife, Wavelyn, and sons Gary, Cary and Todd, brother Merle and sister Sue. Services are pending.- Curt Cavin, curt.cavin@indystar.com
