NorthernLight IRL: Blueprint Racing Legend Featured on History Channel
16 June 2000
BEDFORD PARK, IL., June 16, 2000 - Blueprint Racing engine manager Louis “Sonny” Meyer, Jr. will be featured on an upcoming showing of the History Channel’s award-winning “Modern Marvels” series. “Race Cars, Evolution of Indy Cars” will air on Monday, June 19 at 10 PM (EDT)/ 9 PM (Central) featuring in-depth discussions with Meyer of the Big Daddy’s BBQ/ Blueprint Racing’s team. Additional airings will follow. The series- which began taping for the program in Orlando, Florida during the Delphi Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway, the opening race of the Indy Racing Northern Light Series, and continued on at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum- focuses on modern technologies and how they have evolved. “Race Cars, Evolution of Indy Cars” discusses the development of Indy Racing cars since 1911 from a variety of angles. The show also addresses the progression of the modern stock car and drag racing car. Meyer speaks on a variety of subjects about Indy Racing, including safety developments, technological advancements and the involvement of families in auto racing. Much of Meyer’s revelations of the development of Indy Racing comes from first-hand experience. The Meyer family has been invovled Indy Racing since the 1920s. Meyer’s father, Louis Meyer, Sr., was a three-time Indianapolis 500 winning driver and, with his son, directed Meyer and Drake Engineering. Sonny Meyer’s son, Butch, currently heads the engine department for Team Menard. Meyer was lured out of retirement earlier this year by the offer to direct the in-house engine program developing and building the Oldsmobile IRL Racing Auroras for Blueprint Racing Enterprises. To his credit, Meyer, Jr. has 45 years of Indy car experience. In that time he has amassed a record that few will ever surpass including 13 pole positions and 18 wins. His record at Indianapolis includes victories with Sam Hanks, Mario Andretti and Gordon Johncock. “The show was a lot of fun to help with,” said Meyer of Crawfordsville, Indiana. “I just talked about old times and it brought back a lot of wonderful memories of my dad, of my racing and how things have changed. The sport is a lot different than when I got started but, in some ways, it isn’t that different.” “This program was so much more than I had hoped for,” commented Luke Ellis of Actuality Productions who wrote and produced “Race Cars.” “The people I met, the personalities, were bigger than life. People like Sonny Meyer. People who do interesting things and live interesting lives. I just thoroughly enjoyed myself doing this.” Currently, Big Daddy’s BBQ/ Blueprint Racing is one of only three teams developing and building their own engines in the Northern Light Series. Meyer works with Ed Rachanski Sr., Frank Russo, Jack Bochler and John Farkonas at Blueprint Racing Engines based here in Bedford Park, Illinois. The engines power Blueprint Racing Enterprises’ #27 Big Daddy’s BBQ/ Founders Bank/ Blueprint Racing Special driven by Jimmy Kite. The Big Daddy’s BBQ/ Founders Bank/ Blueprint Racing G Force/ Oldsmobile is in action June 18 at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The Radisson 200 can be seen live on ABC at 4 PM (EDT)/ 3 PM (Central). Check your local listings, or visit www.historychannel.com, to verify show times and to find additional air times of the “Race Cars, Evolution of Indy Cars.”