Dick Simon (born September 21, 1933 in Sandy, Utah) is one of the oldest men to ever have raced in the Indianapolis 500. During an Indy-car race in Riverside, California in 1982, Dick Simon has very serious crash. He was running fourth at Riverside, despite having to fight the same kind of outdated equipment that had characterized his career to that point. Suddenly, while traveling along a straight stretch in which his car reached 190 miles per hour, the left rear suspension broke, sending the car up an embankment and over, and over, and over again, 12 times in all. Simon got out without a scratch. In fact, he took his grandchildren to Disneyland the next day.
The crash all but convinced Simon of two things: "I kind of felt like maybe I was immune to getting hurt and it spurred me on to do something about starting my own program in state-of-the-art equipment."
He learned better a short time later, when he and his wife, Dianne, went to England to look into the purchase of a 1983 March race car. While traveling in a passenger car at 35 mph, the Simons were involved in a head-on collision. Dick, who was not wearing a seatbelt, got hurt worst. "My sternum was torn away from the rib cage; I broke the upper femur, tore open my chest and cut open my mouth," he said. With one of his beliefs shattered by the experience, Simon went ahead and bought a March. He came back to race, qualified at Indianapolis, where he started 20th and finished 15th. He ran eight other Indy-car events and never finished higher than 11th, leaving him with a 141-race career in which he has finished among the top five only four times and in the next five 33 times.
Simon, though, is not easily put off. This is the same man who once was president of two insurance companies, then chairman of a holding company - and gave it all up for the uncertainty of Indy-car racing. Instead of backing off, he decided to stand on the gas even harder for 1984; and, so far at least, the decision has been a good one. He put together a sponsorship package with Break Free lubricant and Duracell batteries, purchased two 1984 Marches and got set for what he hopes will be the year he's been looking forward to since he frist drove a race car 21 years ago.
Simon's Riverside crash, and also the accident in England, were turned into something with a positive ending when Vermont American, the tool company which sponsored Simon's car in 1982, put together a safety film. "They even showed my knee to illustrate what can happened from a crash at 35 miles per hour, without a seatbelt. It turned out to be tremendously beautiful recognition for us."
He was 55 years old during his final Indy 500 start in 1988. A multiple starter and top-ten finisher in the race, he also became a car owner, founding Dick Simon Racing helping to begin the IndyCar careers of Stéphan Grégoire, Arie Luyendyk, Raul Boesel, and others. Simon also fielded cars for Lyn St. James. He sold his race team to Andy Evans who formed Team Scandia in 1997. He was back in the game in the late 90's and entered cars in 2000 and 2001.
Simon made his first driving appearance at Pacific Raceways in October 1969. He failed to start the race and failed to qualify for the other two races that he attempted that season. He made his race debut the following spring driving a second-hand Vollstedt chassis at Phoenix International Raceway but was sidelined by magneto failure after only 4 laps. He made his Indianapolis 500 debut that year and finished in the 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.
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 USAC and 78 CART) over 19 seasons spanning from 1970 to 1988. Among those starts is 17 Indy 500 appearances.
The crash all but convinced Simon of two things: "I kind of felt like maybe I was immune to getting hurt and it spurred me on to do something about starting my own program in state-of-the-art equipment."
He learned better a short time later, when he and his wife, Dianne, went to England to look into the purchase of a 1983 March race car. While traveling in a passenger car at 35 mph, the Simons were involved in a head-on collision. Dick, who was not wearing a seatbelt, got hurt worst. "My sternum was torn away from the rib cage; I broke the upper femur, tore open my chest and cut open my mouth," he said. With one of his beliefs shattered by the experience, Simon went ahead and bought a March. He came back to race, qualified at Indianapolis, where he started 20th and finished 15th. He ran eight other Indy-car events and never finished higher than 11th, leaving him with a 141-race career in which he has finished among the top five only four times and in the next five 33 times.
Simon, though, is not easily put off. This is the same man who once was president of two insurance companies, then chairman of a holding company - and gave it all up for the uncertainty of Indy-car racing. Instead of backing off, he decided to stand on the gas even harder for 1984; and, so far at least, the decision has been a good one. He put together a sponsorship package with Break Free lubricant and Duracell batteries, purchased two 1984 Marches and got set for what he hopes will be the year he's been looking forward to since he frist drove a race car 21 years ago.
Simon's Riverside crash, and also the accident in England, were turned into something with a positive ending when Vermont American, the tool company which sponsored Simon's car in 1982, put together a safety film. "They even showed my knee to illustrate what can happened from a crash at 35 miles per hour, without a seatbelt. It turned out to be tremendously beautiful recognition for us."
He was 55 years old during his final Indy 500 start in 1988. A multiple starter and top-ten finisher in the race, he also became a car owner, founding Dick Simon Racing helping to begin the IndyCar careers of Stéphan Grégoire, Arie Luyendyk, Raul Boesel, and others. Simon also fielded cars for Lyn St. James. He sold his race team to Andy Evans who formed Team Scandia in 1997. He was back in the game in the late 90's and entered cars in 2000 and 2001.
Simon made his first driving appearance at Pacific Raceways in October 1969. He failed to start the race and failed to qualify for the other two races that he attempted that season. He made his race debut the following spring driving a second-hand Vollstedt chassis at Phoenix International Raceway but was sidelined by magneto failure after only 4 laps. He made his Indianapolis 500 debut that year and finished in the 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.
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 USAC and 78 CART) over 19 seasons spanning from 1970 to 1988. Among those starts is 17 Indy 500 appearances.
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