First off, have to
admit that I missed the original memo 'Wayback on May 16, 2014 announcing USAC
Sprint Car Stand-out Bryan Clauson's plans to return to
Mother Speedway for his second Indy 500 "Rodeo" this May...
For
longtime or Diehard Indy 500 Fans, the name Jonathan Byrd should be familiar to
Yuhs, albeit probably capturing its most notoriety during the 1996 Indy Racing
League season, when the famous Indiana Cafeteria owner co-sponsored "The
Flying Dutchman's" racecar. When Arie Luyendyk wheeled Fred Tredway's
Reynard 95i Ford Cosworth XB to the current fastest One and Four-lap qualifying
speeds at the famed Brickyard. As ironically, Luyendyk's original Pole speed
laps were disallowed after his racecar was discovered to be 7lbs under weight
and hence, Arie needed to requalify the following day when he went faster than
anybody in Speedway history!
Supposedly
the powers to be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, would like to see IndyCar
shatter Luyendyk's benchmarks at next year's
100th running of the Memorial Day classic, ironically also the 20th anniversary
of Arie's tremendous feat! Which the legendous' Dr. Who was The Flying
Dutchman's engineer for.
I had
the good fortune of dining at the World's largest Cafeteria 'Wayback in
'Twenty-oh-Nine when attending my debutant Indy 500, as Indiana's own Danny
Bridges, beat sports & racing scribe for the Indiana Recorder took Mwah to
the famed restaurante in Greenwood, Indiana that May, prior to my admittance
into IMS's media centre, which I labourisly scribbled 'bout in the largish'
four-part tome titled;
Alas,
whilst trying to find a little more about Messer Byrd, (the restaurateur, not
the rocker...) whom died in 2009, I came across the IndyStar's story noting how
the cafeteria portion of the restaurant has been shuttered...
Meanwhile, I'll confess that I've never really followed
this local Greenwood legend's racing exploits, especially since they weren't particularly
successful, albeit winning multiple Sprint Car titles with the late Rich
Volger, as their Open Wheel Racing ledger attests, i.e.; two victories to date:
1996's Phoenix's Duralube 200, the second ever Indy Racing League event with
Arie Luyendyk at the wheel; Hmm? That wasn't the year that 'Ol SuperTex (A.J.
Foyt) gave Arie a "LUV-TAP" on duh Nose was I-T? Hooah! And then John
Paul Jr's lone IRL victory at Texas Motor Speedway in '98, where the year prior
Foyt had given Arie that shiner!
Yet Jonathan
Byrd's Racing (JBR) did sponsor "Gentleman John" for his
"Double" feat in 1994, when John Andretti was the very first driver
to successfully complete the arduous task of
racing at Indianapolis and 'RASSCAR's Charlotte World 600 on the very
same day 21yrs ago!
Also,
from the "Honor Roll" of JBR Alumni garnered from their official
website, I notice that they sponsored the "Brothers Lazier," albeit
in different years, whilst they partnered many well known IndyCar owners,
including A.J. Foyt and Dick Simon amongst others.
As
Dick Simon Racing (DSR) probably had its best year ever in 1993 when its
fulltime drivers Raul "Boom-Boom, Brahma!" Bosel finished fourth
ahead of team-mate Scott Brayton's Jonathan Byrd's racecar coming home P6 with
some Dude named "superMario" (Andretti) being the meat filling in the
DSR pie; Hooah!
JONATHAN BYRD
RACING DRIVERS
1985-89 Rich Volgler, 1991 Gordon Johncock, 1991 Buddy Lazier, 1991-92
Stan Fox, 1993 Scott Brayton, 1994 John Andretti, 1995 Davy Jones, 1996 Arie
Luyendyk, 1997-98 Mike Groff, 2001
Jaques Lazier and 2005 Buddy Lazier.
Thus
its GURR-REAT! That Jonathan Byrd's Racing resumes its rightful resumption of
sponsoring Indy Cars at the hallowed Speedway this May, as I'll be sportin' my
No. 20 Bryan Clauson T-Shirt at Mother Speedway over the race weekend...
GOOD LUCK BRYAN AND JBR!
