Page 1 of 2 Almost every Friday I eat lunch at The Pit Stop in Brownsburg with some tough hombres from days gone by. Lee Kunzman dodged the Grim Reaper twice in three years in the early '70s, Pancho Carter survived a deadly crash at Phoenix, Merle Bettenhausen had his right arm torn off in his IndyCar debut a decade after his dad died at Indianapolis and Bill Vukovich lost his father and then his only son in racing accidents 35 years apart. They've been burned, broken, mangled, crippled and devastated, but never harbored a bitter word about the sport – and quitting wasn't in their vocabulary. They viewed death as one of the hazards of their job, just nothing they planned on experiencing....
Full Story »