Tony Bettenhausen Jr.

Born

October 30, 1951
Joliet, Illinois

Died

February 14, 2000 (aged 48)
Harrison County, Kentucky

Cause of death

Plane crash

Champ Car career

113 races run over 14 years

Years active

1979–1993

Best finish

6th (1981)

First race

1979 Coors 200 (Milwaukee)

Last race

1993 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)

Wins	Podiums	Poles
0	1	0

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career

33 races run over 3 years

Best finish

20th (1974)

First race

1973 Atlanta 500 (Atlanta)

Last race

1982 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. 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.

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.^[2]

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	Buster Davis	84	Dodge	RSD	DAY	RCH	CAR	BRI	ATL 40	NWS	DAR	MAR																						54th	-	^[3]
1973	Gordon Van Liew	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			54th	-	^[3]
1974	Gordon Van Liew	9	Chevy	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	^[4]
	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	^[5]

Daytona 500

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

American Open-Wheel racing results

PPG Indycar Series

PPG Indycar Series results
Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos.	Pts
1979	McElreath Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser t	PHX	ATL	ATL	INDY DNQ	TRE	TRE	MCH	MCH	WGL	TRE	ONT	MCH	ATL	PHX				NA	-
1980	Medlin Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser t	ONT	INDY DNQ	MIL DNQ	POC 32														63rd	5
1980	Agajanian Grant King Racers	Kingfish 73	Chevrolet V8					MDO DNQ	MCH	WGL DNS	MIL	ONT	MCH	MEX	PHX						63rd	5
1981	Bettenhausen Racing	McLaren	Cosworth DFX V8 t	PHX	MIL 12	ATL 7	ATL 11	MCH 2	RIV DNS				MEX 11	PHX 19							6th	107
		Longhorn LR-1								MIL 14
		Phoenix									MCH 10	WGL 8
1982	Bettenhausen Racing	March 82C	Cosworth DFX V8 t	PHX 12	ATL 19	MIL 12	CLE	MCH 10		POC 5	RIV 18	ROA 7	MCH 4	PHX 6							10th	80
1982	Bettenhausen Racing	Phoenix	Cosworth DFX V8 t						MIL 20												10th	80
1983	Bettenhausen Racing	March 83C	Cosworth DFX V8 t	ATL 10	INDY 17	MIL 10		MCH 18		POC 10	RIV 8		MCH 9	CPL 21		PHX 18					17th	19
1983	Bettenhausen Racing	March 83P	Cosworth DFX V8 t				CLE 18		ROA 12			MDO 14			LAG 14						17th	19
1984	Provimi Veal Racing	March 84C	Cosworth DFX V8 t	LBH DNQ	PHX 22	INDY 26	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MCH 15	ROA	POC 16	MDO	SAN	MCH	PHX	LAG	CPL		NC	0
1985	All American Racers	Lola T900	Cosworth DFX V8 t	LBH	INDY 29	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MCH	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	LAG	PHX	MIA			59th	0
1986	Bettenhausen Racing	March 86C	Cosworth DFX V8 t	PHX	LBH	INDY 28	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MCH	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	ROA	LAG	PHX	MIA	50th	0
1987	Bettenhausen Racing	March 86C	Cosworth DFX V8 t	LBH 11	PHX 15	INDY 10	MIL DNQ	POR	MEA 13	CLE 20	TOR DNQ	MCH 11	POC 22	ROA 15	MDO 25	NAZ	LAG	MIA			29th	7
1988	Bettenhausen Racing	Lola T8700	Cosworth DFX V8 t	PHX 6	LBH DNQ	INDY 33			CLE 15			MCH 4	POC 15	MDO 16	ROA 16		LAG 26	MIA			17th	25
		March 86C	Cosworth DFX V8 t				MIL 19	POR		TOR 17	MEA 8
		Lola T8700	Judd AV													NAZ 13
1989	Leader Card Racing	Lola T8900	Cosworth DFX V8 t	PHX	LBH	INDY DNQ	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MCH								50th	0
1989	Dale Coyne Racing	Lola T8900	Cosworth DFX V8 t											POC 26	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG			50th	0
1990	Bettenhausen Racing	Lola T8700	Cosworth DFX V8 t	PHX	LBH DNQ											MDO 20	ROA DNS	NAZ 22	LAG		24th	4
1990	Bettenhausen Racing	Lola T8700	Buick 3300 V6 t			INDY 26	MIL 13	DET 16	POR 17	CLE 12	MEA 10	TOR 26	MCH 22	DEN 24	VAN						24th	4
1991	Bettenhausen Racing	Penske PC-19	Chevrolet 265A V8 t	SRF 10	LBH 12	PHX 18	INDY 9	MIL 12	DET 13	POR 13	CLE 13	MEA 21	TOR 11	MCH 5	DEN 10	VAN 18	MDO 18	ROA 13	NAZ 10	LAG 16	14th	27
1992	Bettenhausen Racing	Penske PC-20	Chevrolet 265A V8 t	SRF 13	PHX 11	LBH 15	INDY DNQ	DET	POR 21	MIL 18	NHA	TOR	MCH 9	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG		24th	6
1993	Bettenhausen Racing	Penske PC-22	Chevrolet 265C V8 t	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY 20	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MCH	NHA	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG		47th	0

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1979	Eagle	Offy	Failed to Qualify
1980	Eagle	Offy	Failed to Qualify
1981	McLaren	Cosworth	16th	7th
1982	March		27th	26th
1983			9th	17th
1984			17th	26th
1985	Lola		29th	29th
1986	March		18th	28th
1987	March		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

↑ 1980 Indianapolis 500 Daily track Report
↑ "Indianapolis Auto greats" (PDF). Celebrating Automotive Heritage at Crown Hill Cemetery. Crown Hill Cemetery. 2011. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
↑ "Tony Bettenhausen Jr – 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
↑ "Tony Bettenhausen Jr – 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
↑ "Tony Bettenhausen Jr – 1982 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 23, 2015.

External links

Tony Bettenhausen Jr. driver statistics at Racing-Reference

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