Tony Bettenhausen Jr.

Tony Lee Bettenhausen Jr. (October 30, 1951 – February 14, 2000) was an American 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 500 racer Gary Bettenhausen. Another brother, Merle Bettenhausen, was critically injured in his only Indy Car start.

Career As a driver, Bettenhausen 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 Herdez 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 Homestead, Florida to Indianapolis, Indiana 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.

Bettenhausen is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

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 Pts Ref 1973 Buster Davis 84 Dodge RSD DAY RCH CAR BRI ATL40 NWS DAR MAR 54th - Gordon Van Liew 38 Chevy TAL30 NSV CLT DOV TWS23 RSD MCH32 DAY BRI ATL TAL NSV DAR RCH DOV NWS MAR CLT CAR16 1974 9 RSD17 DAY33 RCH12 CAR19 BRI29 ATL DAR18 NWS14 MAR29 TAL30 NSV23 DOV34 CLT21 RSD31 MCH36 BRI26 NSV11 ATL24 POC27 TAL32 MCH25 DAR11 RCH7 DOV15 NWS25 MAR14 CLT 20th 601.69 Langley Racing 64 Ford DAY14 Ulrich Racing 40 Chevy CAR20 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 MCH24 BRI DAR RCH DOV NWS CLT MAR CAR ATL RSD NA 0

Daytona 500 Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish 1974 Gordon Van Liew Chevrolet 26 33

American Open-Wheel racing results

USAC Championship Car (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rank Points 1979 Gilmore Racing ONT TWS9 INDY MIL9 POC13 TWS13 MIL15 17th 185

PPG Indycar Series

Indianapolis 500