Comments on: The Bettenhausens: Tough Choices & Hard Luck

By: Jim Stringfellow

Jim Stringfellow — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:05:19 +0000

As a young man I saw Tony drive at Milwaukee many times. He not only was the 1958 USAC Indy Car National Champion, but finished third in points for the 1960 USAC Stock Car season. My Dad really enjoyed watching Tony ride the rim when the Milwaukee Mile was a dirt track.

Ironically Tony drove the number 98 Agajanian Special at Indianapolis in 1953 – one year too late.

Great story that brought back a lot of memories.

By: Ron Ford

Ron Ford — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 22:06:58 +0000

Thanks for the excellent piece about Tony Bettenhausen George. Don Davidson quality! I learned some new things about Tony’s career. Tony Bettenhausen was a beloved racer here in the Milwaukee area. For many years the 200 mile race at the Milwaukee mile was named after Tony.

Year after year my dad and I would go down to Indy thinking this will be Tony’s year to win; kind of like Cub fans I suppose. Like many other good drivers, it was bad luck and bad choices that kept him from winning. Much like Tony Kanaan and Greg Moore, he was often electrifying to watch.

Fire was an ever-present danger in those days and left many drivers dead, scarred or otherwise injured as what happened to Merle Bettenhausen. Seeing Simona’s car on fire this year brought back horrible memories of the Eddie Sachs fire at Indy and the Ed Elisian fire at the Milwaukee mile.

Thanks again for the trip down memory lane. It should be interesting and fun to see what the Speedway has in store for us during this 100 year celebration.

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:58:56 +0000

Its a tenuous connection, especially after they stopped using the traditional #16 after Milwaukee in 2002, but Tony Jr’s team does still live as HVM Racing.

I find it pretty remarkable, actually, that the Bettenhausen team was able to survive after that terrible plane crash (the CART/IndyCar community lost too many too soon in 99-00) and that it is still running. Especially now that we’ve seen former IndyCar stalwarts like Dan Gurney, Pat Patrick, Jim Hall, Carl Hogan, Derrick Walker, Gerry Forsythe, and Bobby Rahal shutter their teams.

By: The Lapper

The Lapper — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:57:55 +0000

Excellent George. Excellent. I was well aware of Tony Sr. from my parents who, like all of us, talk about their favorite drivers, past and present. Same about Bill Vukovich. They spoke of them with reverent tones, too. The name Bettenhausen is very much a part of the great history of The 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

By the way, I would include Eddie Sachs in the group of the great drivers who never won Indy. Sachs could very well have been the best of that group.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:06:37 +0000

Thanks for that post. And all the others.
So many good reads, so little time. Damn it.