RIP Tony & Shirley Bettenhausen, Russ Roberts, and Larry Rangel
16 February 2000
RIP Tony & Shirley Bettenhausen, Russ Roberts, and Larry Rangel The racing community mourns the sudden death of CART franchise owner TONY BETTENHAUSEN, his wife SHIRLEY, CART team partner RUSS ROBERTS, and Indianapolis restaurant-owner LARRY RANGEL, in a small plane crash Monday morning. Bettenhausen, who is an instrument rated pilot, was flying his twin engine Cessna Beech Baron out of Tri-City Airport in Blountville TN on a pre-determined flight plan home to Indianapolis. They were returning from CART's Spring Training in Homestead FL when the accident occurred near Leesburg KY at 11:45am. The plane went down in a field and burned. The cause of the crash is still under investigation by the FAA and NTSB. The joint families will be holding a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Arrangements are pending for the Bettenhausens at Conkle Funeral Home in Indianapolis. Bettenhausen, 48, and Roberts owned the single-car CART team, which this year was fielding MICHEL JOURDAIN in the No.16 Herdez/Viva Mexico! Mercedes-Benz IC108F Lola B2K/00 under the auspices of Herdez/Bettenhausen Motorsports. The team will "carry on in the wake of this tremendous loss," said JACK ROGERS, business partner of Bettenhausen and Roberts. Rogers and RUSS BREEDEN, both partners in Bettenhausen Motorsports plan to continue the CART team plans including next week's testing at Sebring. The three men, plus JACK BREEDEN, formed Bettenhausen Motorsports in 1985, started racing in 1986 and bought their CART franchise in 1988. "Tony's love for the sport has driven us all to make Bettenhausen Motorsports what it is today and we plan to continue with Tony's dream to be a championship contender. His passion lives on in all of us and we hope to honor his and Russ' memory by continuing his work with the team." Among the thirteen drivers who have raced with Bettenhausen are: PATRICK CARPENTIER, HELIO CASTRO-NEVES, and STEFAN JOHANSSON. Both Carpentier and Johansson won Rookie of the Year with Bettenhausen, Carpentier in 1997 and Johansson in 1992. Shirley Bettenhausen, 47, daughter of indy car driver, JIM McELREATH, was very active in CARA (Championship Auto Racing Auxiliary) Charities Tony is survived by his mother, Val, brothers Gary and Merle, sister, Sue, daughters, Bryn, 18, and Taryn, 13. Tony and Shirley were married in 1978. Shirley Bettenhausen is survived by her daughters and mother, Shirley and father, Jim McElreath. Roberts, a central Indiana food-market operator, is survived by his parents, brother and longtime friend MaryAnn Urbancic. Rangel, 48, owned La Margarita Mexican Restaurant in Indianapolis, and was a long time friend of the team and family, and golfing partner of Bettenhausen. He is survived by his wife Lori, seven children, mother and father, Angel and Maria Rangel of Guanajuato, Mexico and his five brothers and three sisters. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Initially posted to http://www.racingpr.com/snoop on Tue Feb 15 17:02:14 2000 PST. Copyright 1999, Lynne Huntting. You can reach Lynne at snoop@racingpr.com. For press releases and other racing coverage visit the RacingPR home page.