Lloyd Ruby Dies At 81

[NismoZ]

I chose to put this one in the sportscar forum because that's where I first saw Lloyd Ruby race. Meadowdale, USAC Formula Libre, 1959. Jim Jeffords in the Nickey (with a backwards K) Nouse ex-Reventlow Scarab, Jim Rathmann in a pristine Lister Corvette, a kid named Augie Pabst with a little red 2.5 Ferrari, even Roger Ward in his wild road racing midget. (fresh from a victory at Lime Rock over the likes of George Constantine in an Aston Martin) Also 16 year old Ricardo Rodriguez in his new Porsche RSK... and Lloyd Ruby driving an ex factory team 4.5 litre "Micro-Lube" Texas Racing Team Maserati. That thing sounded SO tough...almost as good as the Scarab!:)

Ruby destroyed that beautiful Maser in Saturday practice, up against the T-1 wall of the "Little Monza" and was able to crawl out just before it ignited and melted to the ground! He was OK. Took the team car, a 3.0, I think, and raced it the next day. Jeffords handled everyone with the Scarab on Sunday, Ward broke the suspension of his midget on the notoriously bumpy Monza Wall but Ruby and Augie put on a great show. Lots of nose-to-tail stuff in the sweepers with Ruby stretching it out on the straights. Rathmann lost brakes and rolled that beautiful new Lister (8 times according to the local press) into a crumpled ball of junk after intentionally spinning to scrub speed before hitting that wall in T-1. My buddy and I even went to the hospital on Monday to try to see him but were turned away. Fool kids!:) He wasn't seriously hurt, surviving "the most wrecked car ever seen" (local press again) to win the Indy 500 the following May. Phew!

Lloyd Ruby instantly became one of my favorites, along with Rathmann and especially Augie Pabst who went on to race the Scarab to the USAC sportscar title the very next year! Rathmann got his 500, but Ruby never did. No matter, he was one of the best. Yeah, thanks, Lloyd...you are one of the big reasons I'm still a race fan to this day! RIP, Lloyd. :thumbup:

[Andrew Longman]

Nizmo, that reads like it is straight out of The Last Open Road.

Nicely done :thumbup:

RIP Lloyd. :(

[Don Quixote]

:(
I would root for him to win the 500 every year, and every year, it seems something would happen to break his heart.

[Michaelhatesfans]

Thanks, Nismo. I was a bit young for that era, but over the years I've always noticed that many of my heroes rated him quite high - Mario and Gurney in particular.

I had the impression that he was kind of the American Chris Amon - always considered one of the guys that you had to beat, but just seemed to have a hell of a time with reliability.

[pchall]

:(
I would root for him to win the 500 every year, and every year, it seems something would happen to break his heart.

Ruby was one of two Texans I rooted for as a kid in the 60s when sports racing cars were the coolest thing on the planet. He was the reason I listened to the Indy 500 radio broadcast for the first time.

[oddlycalm]

Sorry to see Lloyd go but I'm glad he had the opportunity to grow old as many of those he raced against didn't. His skill was only rarely matched by luck.

I had a chance to have an extended chat with an elderly Roger Ward while we were both killing time at the Silver State Classic outside Ely, NV and while we mostly talked cars I did ask him what drivers he most respected. Lloyd Ruby was near the top of that list. :thumbup:

oc

[mueber]

Ruby hung in there for a long time when that could get you killed, and I never heard or read an unkind remark about him. Godspeed Lloyd.

[NismoZ]

I neglected to mention in that same race, Ricardo Rodriguez clipped one of those half-buried tires on the apex of an uphill right hander and flipped that little RSK across the track and into a ditch on the opposite side. He kicked the door open, crawled out, looked at his scraped up bloody arm and climbed up an embankment. I didn't see the Ruby or Rathmann wrecks but did see this one. I remember he was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a half-coverage helmet!:shakehead I distinctly remember what my dad said shortly after the dust settled. "See what I mean?" (During Saturday practice and qualifying I had expressed wonder for how good and fast Ricardo looked and my dad said, "Oh, he could be a GREAT one, if he lives.":()