I’ve driven many types of cars, Indycars, NASCAR, Sprint Cars, the whole bit; I started at the old Devil’s Bowl Speedway, Dallas, Texas, on a third of a mile dirt track driving a 1932 Chevrolet Coupe. The car was pretty basic, no fenders, and a Chevrolet V-8 engine; I raced there every Friday night. It was a great time and taught me many things I took into my career later in life.
I suppose I’m best known for the time I spent Indy car racing—it was the top of the heap, and it was where I wanted to graduate to from the time I first started in that old ‘32 Chevy. I used to listen to the Indy 500 on the radio as a youth; my racing started in 1959, and I was able to get to my first Indy 500 as a spectator, in 1960. That was a magical day. My hero driver was Tony Bettenhausen, who seemed to be able to set a racecar up and made it all look very easy. I wanted to be just like him.
