Hard luck, but no hard feelings
A winner elsewhere, Ruby was never deflated by Indy failures12:19 AM CDT on Sunday, March 29, 2009
When Lloyd Ruby's hometown of Wichita Falls dedicated an overpass in his honor three years ago, a few old racing buddies showed up to try it out.
Fort Worth's Johnny Rutherford came, and so did Parnelli Jones and the Unser brothers, Al and Bobby, legends all.
And if the class of drivers Ruby hung out with didn't tell you enough about him, Al Unser gave you an idea when he told the locals he hoped the overpass didn't turn out to be an underpass instead.
If the punch line needs an explanation, it's in the title of a biography:
Lloyd Ruby: The Greatest Driver Never to Win the Indy 500.
As the title implies, the reason wasn't a lack of talent. Like A.J. Foyt and Dan Gurney, other stars of his era, Ruby won on all sorts of tracks. He won on road courses. He won USAC races. He won so many times in midgets, he stopped counting at 200.
But in 18 consecutive Memorial Day starts from 1960-77 at what was then the crown jewel of racing, he drew an 0-fer at Indy.
Between 1966 and '71, he led the race in five out of six starts until something invariably went wrong.
Example: In 1969, he was leading late when he stopped for fuel. His crew finished, or so he thought, he dropped the clutch, the car lurched ... and the hose ripped the fuel tank out of the car.
In his biography, he responded to the fiasco in typical fashion, saying,
"It was just one of those things."
At Indy, it was always something: fuel hose, busted cam, drive gear, gears, piston (twice), oil leak, accident, out of fuel.
His bad luck in Indianapolis even extended outside the Brickyard. A few days before he was to race at Le Mans in '66, the light plane he was in crashed out of Indianapolis, knocking him out of Le Mans.
And how did he respond to his run of bad karma? Maybe this story will give you an idea.
When Ruby competed in endurance races, instead of cranking up on coffee while awaiting his turn at the wheel, he'd set up a cot in the pits. Fifteen minutes before he was scheduled to go, he told crew members, be sure to give him a nudge.
One of the most respected drivers of his era, Ruby retired to his auto shop in Wichita Falls, where he entertained old friends every day before dying of cancer last week at 81.
And as for his take on his no-luck legacy at Indy? Get this: Visitors to his shop got an autographed copy of his book, How to Drive and Win the Indy 500, which didn't have a word in it.
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