Name Tony Jr. | Role Car racer | |
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Died February 14, 2000, Kentucky, United States | ||
Ryan Holman's IndyCar Drivers Born on October 30
Tony Lee Bettenhausen Jr. (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. The family holds the dubious distinction of the most combined starts in the famous race without a victory. Another brother, Merle Bettenhausen, was maimed in his only Indy Car start.
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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 three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio 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 Herdez sponsorship.
Death
Bettenhausen never got to see that happen following a light plane crash en route from Indianapolis to Homestead, Florida that went down on Ann Milton Adams' farm 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 legendary No. 16 replaced by Herdez's preference for the No. 55 early in 2002. The team has subsequently gone through additional changes in ownership, was once Paul Stoddart's Minardi Team USA, and is now Wiggins' HVM Racing competing in the IndyCar Series.
He is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)