Summer 2024 has been rough on us older race fans. In June Parnelli Jones, 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner, died at the age of 90, and last Friday Paul Goldsmith, two-time USAC stock car champion and six-time 500 starter who finished third in the 1960 race, left us at the age of 98.

Jones and Goldsmith had something in common with just three other drivers still alive. The five were the last to drive front engine cars in the Indianapolis 500. The remaining three are all multiple Indianapolis 500 winners- A. J. Foyt, age 89; Gordon Johncock, 87; and Johnny Rutherford, 86. The trio has nine 500 victories between them, as many as the Unser family.

The front engine cars of the 1950s and 60s were tanks, built with little regard to driver safety. Stepping into one of these cars knowing that any run could be your last one, took a certain amount of fearlessness The front engine design had probably reached its top speed at the Speedway, a touch over 150 miles per hour, as the rear engine cars quickly pushed them aside in the mid ‘60s.

The drivers mentioned survived one of the deadliest 20 year periods in the sport’s history, and the three still living all are within shouting distance of their 90^th birthdays. Is there a correlation between getting through that difficult era of racing and being extremely talented?  How much can be ascribed to good fortune?

Both Foyt and Rutherford suffered severe injuries on the track. How Foyt survived his accidents at Road America and Riverside is nothing short of miraculous.

On the other hand, there are drivers just as gifted as these three who had fatal injuries on track- Bill Vukovich, Bob Sweikert, Ted Horn, Rex Mays, and Jimmy Bryan- to name a few.

Racing needs to do more to honor these three living pioneers of the modern era.  While IndyCar’s popularity is just a shadow of what it once was, it would probably have disappeared had it not been for the efforts of these men and a few others. Foyt alone brought some new life to IndyCar with his incredible success in the early 60s. I hope all three are still here next May.  Foyt will be 90 by then, and Johncock and Rutherford will be one year closer to their 10^th decade. I would like to see IMS go all out to give these men, and the other drivers of front engine cars their due, as a thank you.

Because of drivers like Jones, Foyt, Johncock, Rutherford, and Goldsmith, IMS and auto racing went through a renaissance, and we older fans should be able to cheer for them one more time. If you are an old timer like me, and you are at the track, seek out Foyt or Rutherford to say hi and thank them \. Johncock rarely ventures to IMS.

90 isn’t too far away for some of us either.