RIP Eldon Rasmussen

[Belanger99]

Learned Eldon Rasmussen has passed away.

Made the show
Excellent Fabricator
Great Guy

RIP Eldon

[Pelican Joe]

He put an Antares into the show in 1979.

[Jamski]

He put an Antares into the show in 1979.

I'd still like to know the whole story of that little adventure. I know he had to have done a lot of rebuilding on that car.

These are the guys I miss. The Phil Kruegers, the Jerry Karls, the John Martins. I realize, those days are gone and they're not coming back...more's the pity.

[Pelican Joe]

I'd still like to know the whole story of that little adventure. I know he had to have done a lot of rebuilding on that car.

These are the guys I miss. The Phil Kruegers, the Jerry Karls, the John Martins. I realize, those days are gone and they're not coming back...more's the pity.

I believe one major piece of work was a redesign of the rear suspension.

[MS]

More to his racing career than having Tom Sneva trip over him in 1975. Sounds like a very smart mechanic and driver.

[JThur1]

Another graduate of the CAMRA (Canadian-American Modified Racing Association) super modifieds in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and Canada, where he raced alongside Billy Foster, Jim Malloy, Art Pollard, Dick Simon and Sneva, and other standout racers, some of whom got to USAC, some of whom stayed in the Northwest.

Big props to him for taking that pig of a car, the Antares, and re-working it to get it into the race when it was 7 years old!

[The JP]

Oh my. I just googled Eldon Rasmussen 1979 and came up with a photo of the Bivouac Vans Antares/Offy. If ugly was fast, he would have started from pole.

[Pelican Joe]

Oh my. I just googled Eldon Rasmussen 1979 and came up with a photo of the Bivouac Vans Antares/Offy. If ugly was fast, he would have started from pole.

He has a Ras-Car that year (which was a modified & improved version of Gene White's Atlanta). Frank Weiss had the Antares, but ran out of time to complete his rookie test. Eldon, who had done work on the Antares for Weiss, stepped in and qualified the car.

[JThur1]

He has a Ras-Car that year (which was a modified & improved version of Gene White's Atlanta). Frank Weiss has the Antares, but ran out of time to complete his rookie test. Eldon, who had one work on the Antares for Weiss, stepped in and qualified the car.

Weiss is another guy that ran CAMRA super modifieds.

[Speedbump64]

He put an Antares into the show in 1979.

He also made the Antares look like a decent car.

[Shadow101]

I'd still like to know the whole story of that little adventure. I know he had to have done a lot of rebuilding on that car.

These are the guys I miss. The Phil Kruegers, the Jerry Karls, the John Martins. I realize, those days are gone and they're not coming back...more's the pity.

He wrecked his RasCar earlier in the month and took over Weiss’ team car. I recall reading somewhere - perhaps a Robin Miller piece- that “whistling” the pop off valve was rampant in 79. This was the initial salvo in the USAC- CART civil war and there were several brouhahas in qualifying - Wayne Woodward, Penske/Unser/Alsup engine, Alsup/Loquasto driver switch at the last chance session, etc. and that a few teams may have tweaked their pop off valves on the last day to find some previously not seen speed. Eldon and Phil Threshie were mentioned in the article as beneficiaries, for example.

But then again, what is lore and what is fact😁
Eldon drove in three more 500’s than I ever have. Godspeed racer!

[Jamski]

He wrecked his RasCar earlier in the month and took over Weiss’ team car. I recall reading somewhere - perhaps a Robin Miller piece- that “whistling” the pop off valve was rampant in 79. This was the initial salvo in the USAC- CART civil war and there were several brouhahas in qualifying - Wayne Woodward, Penske/Unser/Alsup engine, Alsup/Loquasto driver switch at the last chance session, etc. and that a few teams may have tweaked their pop off valves on the last day to find some previously not seen speed. Eldon and Phil Threshie were mentioned in the article as beneficiaries, for example.

But then again, what is lore and what is fact😁
Eldon drove in three more 500’s than I ever have. Godspeed racer!

I might believe the BFM team fiddling with the popoff...Threshie though...his plant was a Chevy. No popoff. Now then, there have also been reports of certain non-turbo teams using nitrous...

Still and all, it took some nerve to hustle a seven year old sled around the track at qualifying speed. Eldon Rasmussen was a Racer.

[Pelican Joe]

I might believe the BFM team fiddling with the popoff...Threshie though...his plant was a Chevy. No popoff. Now then, there have also been reports of certain non-turbo teams using nitrous...

Still and all, it took some nerve to hustle a seven year old sled around the track at qualifying speed. Eldon Rasmussen was a Racer.

Woodward tried to sue USAC over his disqualification.

[Belanger99]

He wrecked his RasCar earlier in the month and took over Weiss’ team car. I recall reading somewhere - perhaps a Robin Miller piece- that “whistling” the pop off valve was rampant in 79. This was the initial salvo in the USAC- CART civil war and there were several brouhahas in qualifying - Wayne Woodward, Penske/Unser/Alsup engine, Alsup/Loquasto driver switch at the last chance session, etc. and that a few teams may have tweaked their pop off valves on the last day to find some previously not seen speed. Eldon and Phil Threshie were mentioned in the article as beneficiaries, for example.

But then again, what is lore and what is fact😁
Eldon drove in three more 500’s than I ever have. Godspeed racer!

I'm not sure this was the "initial salvo"-there were other things, the CART Big 6 controversy and lawsuits, the leaking of information about Dick King to the media (information his family did not know, heck the formation of CART alone and the Gurney white paper all might be considered previous shots. The qualifying controversies were just part of the battle.

But please despite my silly little post, let's stay on track-this is about a guy who was a good guy, made the show when bumping meant something, and was a well respected fabricator.

[DaveL]

Eldon Rasmussen was part of the story that got me hooked on the Indy 500 at a very young age.

I was watching the final hour on ABC. Eldon was on the bubble in '76 when Jan Opperman bumped him as the gun went off. Jan basically pulled four laps out of his butt to do it and he was the third different driver that car had that month.

I was so intrigued by the drama of Bubble Day that when time trials ended as Opperman was in the field and Rasmussen was out, I got on my trusty bicycle and road to the parking lot directly behind my house. I lapped the lot with the hope I could find the speed to bump my way into the 500. That became an annual ritual for me for a few years after each Bubble Day.

I can assure you, I was the only kid not only in my fourth grade class but in the entire school who knew who Eldon Rasmussen and Jan Opperman were.