Tony Bettenhausen Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tony Bettenhausen Jr.
Born(1951-10-30)October 30, 1951
Joliet, Illinois
DiedFebruary 14, 2000(2000-02-14) (aged 48)
Harrison County, Kentucky
Cause of deathPlane crash
Champ Car career
113 races run over 14 years
Years active1979–1993
Best finish6th (1981)
First race1979 Coors 200 (Milwaukee)
Last race1993 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles
0 1 0
NASCAR Cup Series career
33 races run over 3 years
Best finish20th (1974)
First race1973 Atlanta 500 (Atlanta)
Last race1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 (Michigan)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0

Tony Lee Bettenhausen Jr.[1] (October 30, 1951 – February 14, 2000) was a Champ Car team owner and driver who died in a 2000 plane crash. He was the son of former 14-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Tony Bettenhausen and the brother of 21-time Indy racer Gary Bettenhausen. Another brother, Merle Bettenhausen, was maimed in his only Indy Car start.

Career[]

As a driver, he started 11 Indianapolis 500 races, scoring a best finish of 7th his rookie year in the 1981 race. He took his trademark No. 16 into team ownership in 1985, initially using March and Lola chassis, then purchasing year-old Penske chassis and then entering and qualifying two new Penskes for the 1993 race. One, number 76, was driven by himself, the other by former Formula One driver Stefan Johansson. A number of successful drivers passed through Bettenhausen's Alumax car, including Johansson for the first few years as well as four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Hélio Castroneves and former IndyCar rookie of the year Patrick Carpentier.

Bettenhausen also competed in 33 NASCAR Winston Cup Series events in his career, most coming in 1974 when he scored a career best 7th-place effort at Richmond International Raceway.

A difficult 1999 plagued by a lack of sponsorship and a series of pay-drivers saw the team take on a new look in 2000 with the hiring of Michel Jourdain Jr. and his sponsorship.

The family holds the dubious distinction of the most combined starts in the famous race without a victory.

Death[]

Bettenhausen died in a light plane crash en route from Indianapolis to Homestead, Florida that went down in Harrison County, Kentucky. Bettenhausen's wife Shirley, the daughter of former Indianapolis racing star Jim McElreath, as well as business associates Russ Roberts and Larry Rangel were also killed. His legacy of the team lived on under the ownership of former Pacific Racing F1 team owner Keith Wiggins and was renamed Herdez Competition in 2001, with the No. 16 replaced by Herdez's preference for the No. 55 early in 2002. The team has subsequently gone through further changes in ownership, was once Paul Stoddart's Minardi Team USA, and became Wiggins' HVM Racing competing in the IndyCar Series until the end of the 2012 season. On 11 November, 2015 the team was listed as up for auction officially listing the team as defunct.[2]

He is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.[3]

Motorsports career results[]

NASCAR[]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series[]

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 NWCC Pts Ref
1973 84 Dodge RSD DAY RCH CAR BRI ATL
40 		NWS DAR MAR 54th - [4]
38 Chevy TAL
30 		NSV CLT DOV TWS
23 		RSD MCH
32 		DAY BRI ATL TAL NSV DAR RCH DOV NWS MAR CLT CAR
16
1974 9 RSD
17 		DAY
33 		RCH
12 		CAR
19 		BRI
29 		ATL DAR
18 		NWS
14 		MAR
29 		TAL
30 		NSV
23 		DOV
34 		CLT
21 		RSD
31 		MCH
36 		BRI
26 		NSV
11 		ATL
24 		POC
27 		TAL
32 		MCH
25 		DAR
11 		RCH
7 		DOV
15 		NWS
25 		MAR
14 		CLT 20th 601.69 [5]
Langley Racing 64 Ford DAY
14
Ulrich Racing 40 Chevy CAR
20 		ONT
1982 Gordon Racing 24 Buick DAY RCH BRI ATL CAR DAR NWS MAR TAL NSV DOV CLT POC RSD MCH DAY NSV POC TAL MCH
24 		BRI DAR RCH DOV NWS CLT MAR CAR ATL RSD NA 0 [6]
Daytona 500[]
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
1974 Chevrolet 26 33

American Open-Wheel racing results[]

PPG Indycar Series[]

Indianapolis 500[]

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish
1979 Eagle Offy Failed to Qualify
1980
1981 McLaren Cosworth 16th 7th
1982 March 27th 26th
1983 9th 17th
1984 17th 26th
1985 Lola 29th 29th
1986 March 18th 28th
1987 27th 10th
1988 Lola 24th 33rd
1989 Failed to Qualify
1990 Buick 13th 26th
1991 Penske Chevrolet 20th 9th
1992 Failed to Qualify
1993 22nd 20th

References[]

  1. ^ 1980 Indianapolis 500 Daily track Report
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2015-11-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Indianapolis Auto greats" (PDF). Celebrating Automotive Heritage at Crown Hill Cemetery. Crown Hill Cemetery. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  4. ^ "Tony Bettenhausen Jr – 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  5. ^ "Tony Bettenhausen Jr – 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  6. ^ "Tony Bettenhausen Jr – 1982 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 23, 2015.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""