Richard Raymond Simon (born September 21, 1933) is retired American auto racing driver and racing team owner. Simon drove

Indy cars INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis 5 ...

in USAC and CART, and made 17 starts at the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

. At the 1988 Indianapolis 500, Simon set a record as the oldest driver in Indy 500 history (54 years, 251 days), a record that was later broken by

A. J. Foyt Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American retired auto racing driver who has raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes United States Automobile Club Champ cars, sprint cars, and midget cars. H ...

. Simon was a longtime car owner, founding

Dick Simon Racing Dick Simon Racing was a race team owned by racer Dick Simon that competed in the CART Championship Car series from 1983 to 1995 and the Indy Racing League from 1999 to 2001. CART The team was founded in 1983 when Simon decided to bring his spons ...

, helping to begin the Indy car careers of Stéphan Grégoire,

Arie Luyendyk Arie Luijendijk (anglicised as Arie Luyendyk; born 21 September 1953), nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman," is a Dutch former auto racing driver, and winner of the 1990 and 1997 Indianapolis 500 races. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Sp ...

Raul Boesel Raul de Mesquita Boesel (, born 4 December 1957) is a Brazilian former racing driver who raced for the March and Ligier Formula One teams and later raced in Champ Car and the Indy Racing League. He won the 1987 World Sportscar Championship and t ...

Lyn St. James Lyn St. James (born Evelyn Gene Cornwall; March 13, 1947) is an American former race car driver. She competed in the IndyCar series, with eleven CART and five Indy Racing League starts to her name. St. James is one of nine women who have qualifi ...

, and many others. Simon had a notable record at the Indy 500. Of the many rookies he entered at Indy over the years, not a single one failed to qualify for the race. Simon never won a race as a driver or as an owner. His best finish as a driver was 3rd at

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and as an owner he had six second place finishes. Simon had a best finish at the Indianapolis 500 of 6th in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

(as a driver), and 4th in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

as an owner with Boesel. Simon sold his race team to Andy Evans who formed Team Scandia in 1997. He returned to Indy car racing in the late 1990s and entered cars in 2000 and 2001.

Driving career

Simon was born in

Sandy, Utah Sandy is a city in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, located in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. The population of Sandy was 87,461 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth-largest city in Utah. The population is currently estimated ...

, and made his first driving appearance at

Pacific Raceways Pacific Raceways is a mixed-use road racing and drag racing facility near Kent, Washington. The race track was constructed in 1959 and opened in 1960. The track was originally named Pacific Raceways, then became known as Seattle International Race ...

in October 1969, but he failed to qualify. Simon was an adventurist and enthusiast. He was an experienced

skier Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

, scuba diver, registered

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, sky diver, and parachutist. He was a national champion parachute jumper, and made over 1,600 jumps during the 1960s. In 1970, he left a desk job at an insurance company to pursue a career in auto racing. Simon made his racing debut in 1970 driving a second-hand Vollstedt chassis at Phoenix International Raceway but was sidelined by

magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

failure after only 4 laps. He made his

debut that year and finished 14th position. At Ontario Motor Speedway that September, Simon captured his career-best finish of 3rd place and he finished 10th in the 1970 USAC

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

. Simon would continue to be marginally competitive throughout the 1970s, never matching his finishes of the 1970 season. In 1979, Simon sided with USAC during its split with CART. In being one of the few drivers to complete the USAC schedule, Simon finished 8th in the Championship. In 1980 Simon moved to CART and continued to have little success throughout the 1980s while remaining marginally competitive. He logged his best CART season in 1987 when he made 11 starts and logged two top-tens including a 6th place at the Indy 500, good enough for 20th in the CART championship. A partial season in 1988 where Simon logged a solid 9th-place finish in the Indy 500 was his last as a driver. Simon's driving career includes 183 starts (115 in USAC, 78 in CART) over 19 seasons spanning from 1970 to 1988. Among those starts are 17 Indianapolis 500 appearances. He completed 1,954 laps in the Indianapolis 500 without leading any, the second highest total ever.

Team ownership

Dick Simon fielded his own race team beginning in 1983 and shortly thereafter began fielding cars for

pay driver A pay driver is a driver for a professional auto racing team who, instead of being paid by the owner of their car, drives for free and brings with them either personal sponsorship or personal or family funding to finance the team's operations. Th ...

s, Dick Simon Racing being one of the most competitive teams offering race seats to such drivers almost always fielded current-year

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

and

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola ...

chassis and had a competitive engine package. In 1989 the team fielded two fully funded drivers in

Scott Brayton Scott Everts Brayton (February 20, 1959 – May 17, 1996) was an American race car driver on the American open-wheel circuit. He competed in 14 Indianapolis 500s, beginning with the 1981 event. Brayton was killed in practice after qualifying ...

and

as the team moved towards the front of the pack. Simon fielded a car in the

1992 Indianapolis 500 The 76th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday, May 24, 1992. The race is famous for the fierce battle in the closing laps, as race winner Al Unser Jr. held off second place Scott Goodyear fo ...

for

who became the second woman to drive in the race.

finished 5th in points with three runner-up finishes in 1993, the team's best season result. The team had a difficult 1995 and Simon sold the team to Andy Evans who turned it into Team Scandia. Simon returned to ownership in the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

in 1999 but saw little success. The team was shut down after the team's driver Stéphan Grégoire failed to qualify for the

2001 Indianapolis 500 The 85th Indianapolis 500 (aka “the 2001 Indianapolis 500”) was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 27, 2001. Race rookie Hélio Castroneves, a three-year veteran of the CART series, led the final 52 lap ...

Personal life

Dick Simon was once questioned by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

under the suspicion of being the airplane hijacker

D. B. Cooper D. B. Cooper is a media epithet for an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft operated by Northwest Orient Airlines, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portl ...

. He proved that he was discussing sponsorship with the president of

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

in Upstate New York on the date of the hijack.Simon's Stress
- Nrian Schmitz, The Orlando Sentinel, 24 May 1994

Motorsports career results

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American open-wheel racing

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

USAC Championship Car

PPG Indy Car World Series

=Indianapolis 500

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

=Daytona 500

References

External links

Article
at latimes.com
Dick Simon - 80th Birthday - Indy Racing Years Photo AlbumDick Simon - 80th Birthday - Indy Racing Years Video Album:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Dick 1933 births Living people Racing drivers from Utah Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers IndyCar Series team owners People from Sandy, Utah SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants