As the middle of the three boys following in their late father's revered footsteps, Merle Bettenhausen won five USAC midget races en route to a coveted Indycar ride in 1972. But a devastating accident in his first big league race that summer changed everything, and Merle had to watch from the sidelines as big brother Gary and little brother Tony Jr. pursued the family's dream of winning the Indy 500.

Merle played a pivotal role this past season in keeping Bettenhausen Motorsports together following the plane crash last February 14 which claimed Tony and Shirley Bettenhausen, team principal Russ Roberts and cohort Larry Rangel. The team somehow perservered, with Michel Jourdain, Jr. earning a career-best 7th at Surfer's Paradise and leading in Fontana until his Mercedes engine blew for the umpteenth time last year.

Before Fontana, Merle talked about the team's rebuilding process and transformation from a mom-and-pop operation to a corporate entity owned by sponsor Herdez, concerns about finding a new engine supplier (prior to Ford officially coming on board in January), his additional role as executor of Tony's estate and guardian of his daughters (with a huge auction held December 2 in Indianapolis for their benefit), and the open wheel split which his family straddles.

For more on the new Herdez/Bettenhausen organization and comments from Jourdain, Tom Brown and Keith Higgins, please see the article "Tony's Team" in the February/March 2001 issue of Champ Car magazine.

Question: For starters, please explain your role on the team this year.

Merle Bettenhausen: I, being executor of the estate, basically was the man in control of the team, because Tony was the principal owner of Bettenhausen Motorsports, along with Jack Rodgers, Russ Breeden and Russ Roberts. Tony had controlling interest in the team. It was Tony's team to start with way back in 1986, and these other gentlemen had just been with Tony all through Alumax, AMAX, Epson and everybody else going through this year. I, being executor of the estate, stepped in and really had controlling interest of most things that took place this year.

Question: At what point did you no longer become involved in the day-to-day operations?

Merle Bettenhausen: Well, as far as day-to-day, I was never involved in that. The only thing that happened when Tony died - all the people were in place to run the day-to-day operations. In other words, I came in and oversaw bigger decisions, corporate things; I went to the racetrack and tried to be a positive influence and reassured everybody that the team wasn't going to fold. And just do what a good owner does, and that's just be a very positive cheerleader and get the best possible out of all the employees and let them know even though Tony was not here, that the Bettenhausen Motorsports team was going to move forward.

Question: Since you were working with Tony on the Provimi team in the early '80's, you haven't really been a prominent figure in the garage area. Is that primarily because of your job with Ray Skillman?

Merle Bettenhausen: In 1983, I managed the Provimi Veal racing team. At that particular time, my entire life had been involved in motorsports. I had an opportunity at the end of the 1983 season to take over the Waukesha County Airport in Waukesha, WI. I had some pretty good people in place to take care of the racing team with Tony and thought that it was a great opportunity for me to step away from racing and get some experience in some other facets of life and business, so I managed the Waukesha County Airport from 1983 to 1986. There were some corporate decisions made that put me in the position of becoming unemployed at the airport, and at that particular time I started in the automobile business and have progressed to Ray Skillman from that point.

Question: What specifically have you done and do you do for Ray Skillman?

Merle Bettenhausen: After managing the Waukesha County Airport, someone made the joke that 'you know Merle, I think the Bettenhausens are more used to having tires on their vehicles than airplane wings.' So I got into the car business, being more familiar with cars than airplanes. So I started selling cars and then became a sales manager in the Wilde Automotive Group in Milwaukee and around the Milwaukee area. I became the sales manager in about a year and a half. After that, I realized that meant working every Saturday morning, and my son at that particular time was quite involved in basketball, and I was missing all his basketball games. So I kind of made a lateral move in the automobile business. I started my own company and did automotive sales training from about 1989, in Wisconsin, up until 1995. That was called Automobile Dealer Services of Wisconsin, and I was the president of the county and basically went around different automobile dealerships and did sales training.

All this time, Tony was telling me that I ought to come back to Indianapolis and go to work for Ray Skillman, because at one particular time in the mid-80's, Tony had sold cars for Ray Skillman. Ray also was involved in Tony's initial purchase of their first car when they started Bettenhausen Motorsports in 1986. So Ray and Tony were very, very, very good friends, and Tony kept telling me what a magic guy this Ray was, so he basically set up an interview with myself and Ray. I think that was February 4, 1995.

Through Tony, I came down here and met with Ray, and Ray said, 'you know what, Merle? I think I need a guy like you. I don't really know what I'm gonna do with you yet, but I need you in my automotive group.' So I started on April 1 and started off doing sales training. My position right now is as a sales trainer, but really my main concern is as advertising manager. We have seven different car lines here and quite an extensive automotive group, and it's about 60 hours a week right now.

Earlier this year, it was quite rough on me going to all the races and still working full time with Ray, because my job never changed here, even though I was involved that heavily in the racing team at the beginning of the season. So I told Ray, 'you know Ray, when we reach the point in time that I'm not needed at every race, I'll be full time back at Ray Skillman and not going to all these races every weekend or every other weekend.' Chicago was the last race I went to, and we had things pretty well in place that I came back to what my real full-time job is.

Question: You've been a pretty public figure this year. How come we haven't seen very much of Gary this year? I understand he's gotten involved with real estate or land development.

Merle Bettenhausen: Gary has about 60 acres out in Monrovia, which is about 40 miles west of Indianapolis. Several years ago he bought a D8 CAT. This particular 60 acres that he owns is heavily wooded, and it has some little lakes and different things. And he decided that instead of driving race cars, he was going to get involved and start developing the property into lots and sell lots to people who really wanted a beautiful lot close enough to drive to Indy, yet far enough so that they could be secluded and have that privacy in a nice wooded area. So he's developed his own area with his own D8 CAT, and it's really a beautiful area. Gary's kind of a one-man band: he's the real estate developer, he's the D8 CAT driver, he deals with the banks and the lots, putting electricity and the water in. His job there is a pretty full-time job.

Tony respected my knowledge and judgement enough that (Gary) said, 'Merle, I trust you're going to do the best you can do, and you don't really need me there to help.' So it was kind of put in my lap, and I think we've had a dynamite year. Maybe our results could've been better, but all things considered, I'm very, very happy with what we've done.

Question: How difficult was it for you personally to assume to role of executor and to bring the spirits up at the team?

Merle Bettenhausen: I was put into a double position right here, because I was the executor of his estate and the guardian of his children and the trustee of his personal estate, so I had double hats I had to wear. I had to wear a hat that put me basically in charge of the racing operation, which was one entity of his estate, and then I had his children and their worth and being a minor and everything else. I kind of had to do a balancing act - it would've been nice just to have the racing team to worry about and concentrate just on keeping that successful, but then I had the value of his estate and many, many years of hard work that belongs to his children now. So every time I made a decision, I had to think of the first priority - making sure the children got what's due them at the time when all the dust settles and the estate taxes are paid and everything else. So that's been my primary concern - making sure that they take care of it. But on the other hand, I was still making sure the racing operation was held together.

I'm a pretty positive person. I lost my arm in 1972 in my very first Indycar race, and I've had people tell me in the past - I'm pretty upbeat all the time, and they say, 'don't you ever have a bad day?' And I say, 'you know what? I had a bad day; that was July 16, 1972. That's when I crashed in Michigan and was burned over 20 percent of my body and lost my right arm.' But you know what? I've not had a bad day since then. That's the way I look at life. Maybe it's not perfect, but not being a perfect day's a long way from being a bad day. So that's just kind of the way my personality is, and I kind of try to keep everyone smiling and happy and thinking on the positive side.

Question: What kind of reaction or feedback have you gotten from fans this year when you've been able to go to the racetrack?

Merle Bettenhausen: I don't think I've had one negative word of anything in respect to our team and how we've performed or anything about us. The biggest thing is that everyone misses Tony's smile, Tony's jokes and just the wonderful personality and the fine gentleman that Tony was. I miss him probably more than anybody.

We were very close; now that I look back, we didn't spend nearly enough time together.

I couldn't be a Tony, but I knew what Tony stood for, and in all my power and strength, I've done whatever I could possibly have done to maintain everything that Tony stood for and go as far as I could go with the position I was in.

Question: What do you feel Keith Wiggins brings to the table for the team?

Merle Bettenhausen: I think Keith brings a vast amount of experience and knowledge, whether it be oval track racing, Indycar racing, and as far as Formula 1 and all different types of European racing. We've talked many times about the caliber of drivers and what we look for. We discussed several drivers and basically had the same opinion on talent or lack of the same. Keith's stepping in there is probably about as positive as anything that could be done with that team to make it move forward in the future and be even more successful than it's ever been in the past.

Question: Financially speaking, how would you say Herdez rescued the team after all its troubles in 1999?

Merle Bettenhausen: I don't know if it's a rescue or if it's a team event, but it's a positive force for both sides. Tony did have a terrible, terrible year. But if you've got a great baseball player, someone who's been doing something for a number of years, and all at once he has one bad year, that doesn't make him a bad baseball player. Different circumstances happen to everybody, whether it be a team or an individual, and you have bad years. 1999 was a bad year for Tony, and I think it would've been a wonderful year had Tony been here. But it was Tony's negotiating in putting the whole package together that I think made both sides very happy, very positive, and he put together something that hopefully will last many, many, many, many years.

Question: Do you feel Michel has made progress as a driver this year?

Merle Bettenhausen: I think Michel has made tremendous progress. I know we've let him down a few times. We've had mechanical\ problems that have kept him from probably showing his true potential. But I think he's a fine young man; he's done a fine job, and I think he's going to have a fine future.

Question: Could you explain why this team has historically seen little turnover among its staff, particularly during this tumultuous year?

Merle Bettenhausen: Everything starts at the top, and nothing rolls uphill. When you've got quality people that are honest with your employees and can look them in the eye and say, 'we can do that, we can't do that,' that's what keeps people loyal. There's a lot of people that can go get a better job and maybe earn a few more dollars and and be more than happy with their state of mind and their state of working conditions.

One thing you can say about Tony, and if I can quote Robin Miller, who did his eulogy: 'he wasn't the best race driver, he wasn't the best owner of a team or the best businessman, but he was the best person I've ever known.' When you've got someone with Robin's vast knowledge of racing people and how they deal with people and everything, and he makes that statement, I think it's as true a statement as can be made or said about Tony Bettenhausen. The type of people that Tony drew into his little company - when you know you've got that at the top, you're maybe not going to win, but your heart's going to win, and you know you've got a guy who appreciates hard work and the successes that you have.

Question: Do Tony's daughters have any interest in maybe becoming more involved with the team or in racing in the future?

Merle Bettenhausen: I don't think so. One's in college, one's fourteen years old, and racing was a part of their lives because of their mother and father, but I don't see any burning desire that they would want to maintain and keep this racing team going. It's such a full-time job, and at this point in life, at nineteen and fourteen, there's more than race cars that make them happy.

Question: What are your thoughts about the Bettenhausen family not being involved with the team from this point on a full-time basis?

Merle Bettenhausen: When I moved to Wisconsin and got away from Provimi and managed the airport, my heart and my soul never left racing. But when you had a five-year-old and a seven-year-old to raise, and you had a wife, and your wife was working and you were working 50-60 hours a week, and you had to raise children, even though you weren't at the racetrack and you weren't involved day to day, my heart was always in racing. Trust me, as long as we live, the Bettenhausens will be involved in racing. Our hearts will be in racing. It's what made everything for my dad starting in 1938.

But life comes along, changes happen, things out of your control take over, and even though your heart might be somewhere, that doesn't mean that you can physically do everything that your heart wants to do. You have to decide going down this road which is the road that will take you to the best future. And I believe the relationship with Herdez and Bettenhausen Motorsports, with Herdez as the driver and controller right now, into an area that quite possibly Bettenhausen Motorsports on its own could never have attained.

Question: Are you concerned at this point about the team's lack of an engine deal for 2001?

Merle Bettenhausen: Quality and character will always win out in the end, and right now there's nothing that's confirmed; there's nothing on paper. But when you take the overall picture and the quality of this team and the perseverance it's had and what it's done in the past, I have no concern at all that we're not going to have a quality team and a quality engine next year and be even more competitive than we've ever been in the past.

Question: Do you feel the family still has unfinished business at Indianapolis?

Merle Bettenhausen: It's been unfinished since my dad died in 1961, and that was part of what his three sons had in mind. The initial goal was whoever won at the Speedway first, whether it be Gary, Tony or myself, the first one was going to be for my dad, and then the next wins were going to be for ourselves. It's unfinished; it will always be unfinished. Does that mean we're unsuccessful or not the best we can be? I don't necessarily think that's true. Sometimes in life things go your way; sometimes in life they go a difficult way.

Life's not determined by wins - life's determined by character, the quality of an individual and the track record you've set for yourself as you lived your life. I can say very positively that we never won Indy, but we had enough quality and character that Bettenhausen in auto racing will be a name that will always be remembered and always be loved. Whether we win or not, we've been very successful, and racing's been very helpful and very successful at making the Bettenhausens what they are today.

Question: Do you believe there is any room for a so-called family team in modern day Champ Car racing?

Merle Bettenhausen: If the family team comes from a dynasty of lots of dollars! But it's just like everything else. Nothing's the same as it was last year; nothing's the same as it was five years ago or whatever else. Times change; things change. I remember when we'd go to a Champ Car race in an open wheeled trailer and drive up and get there at nine o'clock on Sunday morning, race and go home, and the race was over. It's not that way anymore, and racing will never be that way anymore. Is it better? Is it worse? It's different. It's new; it's like the rest of the world. It's a faster pace, with different people involved; more corporate investments, more things that make racing high-tech and high-dollar, and never more exciting and never more competitive.

My first year at Indianapolis was 1950, and as hard as I can remember - and I can remember all the stars of the 50's - Johnnie Parsons won it in 1950, and Bill Vukovich won it a couple of years. When I think of all the talented drivers that raced and all the close races I watched, none of it - none of the 50's, none of the 60's, none of the 70's, none of the 80's, none of the 90's have been as competitive and been as better racing than it is right now, this year, in the year 2000.

Now, is it different? Yes, it's different. Are there a lot of diehards that don't want to adjust to new things? Yes, there are. But you know what? Change is a vitamin of life. Every time you live through a change and you're successful at it, It makes you stronger; it makes you better; it makes you wiser. It makes the future brighter when that happens.

No, there will never be (another) family that I know of that would invest into a racing team to make it like it was. That doesn't mean what's happened is wrong. It's the way it is. If anyone can see something better than this year's racing, with nine or ten different winners and a points race where it comes down to five guys possibly winning it in the last race, I've never heard of that in my life. All you've got to do is go watch if you don't believe what I'm saying. There's a whole lot of people that, if they ever got the bug to go racing with today's race cars and the type of driving caliber that we have - it is truly phenomenal.

Question: Personally, where do you stand on the debate between CART and IRL?

Merle Bettenhausen: I talk to people about the IRL, and it's kind of unique. They'll talk about the stories of giving the little guy a chance - giving the sprint car driver an opportunity to make it; giving the midget guy an opportunity. The reality is, that's no different than in the '60's and '70's when I grew up. There were very few opportunities even back then for a midget or sprint car driver to make it.

The problem with today's racing - Indycar racing, CART racing, with American drivers, whatever it is - it boils down to this. If we want the caliber of drivers that come out of Europe, Brazil or every other South American country, then from the time the child starts driving race cars, they have to have a race car built with the engine in the back. And they have to race with that car with the engine in the back and race on road courses and with different caliber cars, keeping the engine in the back.

The problem with today's racing is that the guy that becomes famous as an open wheel star races a car on an oval with the engine in the front and only turning left. Then all at once he becomes very famous, and he becomes an Indycar racer - an IRL racer or tries to make it as a CART racer. Now all those feelings and all that experience he learned with the engine in the front is now absolutely useless - not completely, but mostly useless - when he sits with the engine in the back. Having been there and done it, the car is completely different when you go from front-engined to back-engined, and all the things you have to do and the way you feel the car and run right on the edge is really lost when you go to a rear-engined car.

If someone would be wise enough, whether it be CART or Tony George, to develop a series - whether you want to call it a National Formula Vee circuit or Super Vee or Formula 2000 - and have a car made just like an IRL car or a Champ Car, and have all the drivers learn in that car and never go into a front-engined car, then you will develop drivers that will be better than the rest of the world.

Truly, nobody races more in the world with every different type of vehicle than they do in America. But most of our racing, whether you look at stock cars - Busch Grand National or Winston Cup - wherever you look, in most of the racing's that's done in this country, up to IRL or CART, the engine's in the front, and it's very difficult to flip-flop and go from the front to the back and be a superstar. You're spotting the guys from around the world 2-3 years of experience, at least.

That's what I've determined is the problem is our racing. If someone would ever get wise - and it wouldn't take a lot of money - and take all these tracks...even half-miled paved ovals. If they ran all rear-engined cars there and make the sprint cars rear-engined, The drivers in America would crawl out of the woodwork and be famous stars.

Question: I assume you'd say that's the reason why guys like Scott Pruett and Robby Gordon, who are making the transition now from Champ Cars to Winston Cup, are struggling, and why John Andretti struggled for a number of years after making that change.

Merle Bettenhausen: It went both ways. Robby was an off-road racer, then he went to rear engines; now he's back the other way.

The driving of a race car comes from the seat of your pants, and the seat of your pants has a great memory. The more you use the seat of your pants, the more it memorizes the way a car feels, and you understand that seat-of-the-pants feeling. A rear-engined car has one seat-of-the-pants feeling, and a front-engined car is different. When you start flip-flopping from car to car, it takes a guy with a tremendous amount of ability to do that.

What about Tony Stewart? Well, he was a midget driver and sprint car driver, then he became an IRL driver and then a NASCAR driver. Well, Tony Stewart's about one in every five thousand race drivers that come down the road. With his natural ability, he's just someone very special, and there aren't very many like him.

Why do you think in the past few years there have been so many guys go from sprint car racing in USAC or midget racing in USAC, and then to NASCAR? Because a stock car feels like a midget and sprint car. It's just a bigger, heavier feeling; it's not the same as going to a rear-engined car. So if we, early in these guys' careers, develop that feeling of a rear-engined car, then when they come out of the smaller engined cars, whether it be sprint cars or midgets or whatever, then go into Indy Lights or Toyota Atlantic and then CART or IRL, there will be a horsepower change more than a race car feeling change.