West Coast.
I don’t want our west coast friends to feel left out so I want to introduce you to another race car acquaintance of mine. In the mid 1970’s I worked with Gary Beck and his top fuel dragster and Gary introduced me to another Edmonton associate, Eldon Rasmussen. Eldon had begun circle track racing on dirt tracks in the early 1960s. It turned out that Eldon came from the same stock car heritage as I had with super modifieds a decade or so earlier. Early on Eldon drove a similar car to what we raced with Joe Hlywka only I think he ran mainly in Victoria, BC. Eldon competed in more than 50 USAC Sprint Series races and then moved on to the USAC National Championship in 1971.
He progressed into building and driving USAC Champ cars in the 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978 seasons, although he generally only appeared for the longer races at Indianapolis, Ontario, Pocono and Michigan. He qualified and raced three times in the Indianapolis 500 Unfortunately his claim to fame there was the spectacular crash with Tom Sneva. In lap 125 of the 1975 race
Tom Sneva, attempting to lap Rasmussen, ran over his left front wheel and was launched into the Turn 2 wall, exploding and disintegrating before tumbling to a stop. The spectacular nature of the accident, and the fact that Sneva escaped serious injury, have led to its being replayed on television.
Eldon decided to hang up his helmet and retire from active racing after a severe wreck at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania where he was knocked unconscious after colliding head on with the wall. He also suffered broken bones and a concussion. Eldon ended his driving career and then worked full time at his shop in Indianapolis where he focused on his work as an engineer, designer, builder and manufacturer of race car parts and chassis. He also designed and built aerodynamic parts for different Indy cars and rear fins or wings for both circle track and NHRA Top Fuel Dragsters. It was a modification to a wing for Gary’s top fuel dragster that I got to be associated with Eldon.
Eldon Passed in June 2022 just shy of his 86th birthday. RIP.
I am sure you Alberta and BC guys, or anywhere, have more stories and pictures to add to these circle track and racing driver memoirs.