Lloyd Ruby, Racing Legend

Born January 12, 1928, Ruby is too often remembered as one of the greatest drivers never to win at the Brickyard. He raced there every year from 1960 through 1977 and came close numerous times--always just a mechanical failure or minor mistake away from victory. With a little more good luck and a bit less bad, he coulda/woulda/shoulda won it three or four times. It matters little, as he's one of many in that regard. But there's so much more to his story.

During Ruby's nearly 20 years running USAC champ cars (late 1958 through mid-1977), he won seven races, finished on the podium 29 times, and captured eight poles. There were numerous road-racing and sprint-car race wins along the way. He drove stock cars, even Formula 1. Midget-car victories? Ruby himself stopped counting at 200. Ask guys like Andretti, Shelby, or Foyt, and they'll likely tell you Lloyd Ruby is a Southern gentleman who let his driving skills do the talking. He's a husband, father, and grandfather. His dry sense of humor and penchant for practical jokes are as legendary as his quiet-yet-fierce competitiveness.

Ruby did a stint with Shelby American during the heyday of the factory-backed Ford GT program and teamed with the late Ken Miles to win three major endurance car races: the three-hour Daytona Continental in 1965 and the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Daytona 24-hour race in 1966. We chatted with Lloyd Ruby about his life and career on the 40th anniversary of those sports-car victories.

Motor Trend Classic: Why racing?
All during school, I was riding motor scooters, then motorcycles. Then I got to racing motorcycles. Some people built a track here in Wichita, and I knew the guy that ran it. They were out there playing around with midgets one Sunday afternoon and asked me if I'd like to take a ride in one. I got to running pretty good, so he asked me if I wanted to run it in the races the next weekend. That was awfully fun for me, just 18 years old at the time. I ended up running for him the rest of that year [1946]. By year's end, I had a little money saved up, and I thought, "This here's gonna beat the heck out of working," so I just continued racing.