Lloyd Ruby: America’s Most Underrated Driver Ever?

HAMMOND, IN: Legendary racer Lloyd Ruby will probably be best remembered as “the greatest driver never to win the Indy 500”. But, the true talent of “Old Rube” goes much deeper than that.

In the decade following WWII, America’s great southwest produced some of the most extraordinary racing talent we would ever see. The rough and tumble midget and stock car circuits of post-war Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma churned out a batch of bad-ass racers that dominated American motorsports for years to come. These legends, worthy of any Hall of Fame, included Jimmy Bryan, Cecil Green, Jud Larson, Jimmy Reece, Johnny Rutherford, A.J. Foyt and, of course, Lloyd Ruby. Sounds like one hell of a Trophy Dash line-up!

Almost from birth (January 12, 1928), the family and friends of Wichita Falls, Texas native Lloyd Ruby just knew that he would turn out to be some kind of daredevil. Starting as a motorcycle racer in 1946, the teen aged Ruby soon discovered the wild and woolly Texas midget circuit, and quickly became a consistent winner. It wasn’t long before Ruby expanded his field of operations to the Midwest, where his reputation as one of the country’s top midget chauffeurs was made. By the late ’50’s, Ruby’s path to achieving his goal of becoming an Indy 500 competitor appeared to be right on track.

It was at about at this point that dirt track midget driver Lloyd Ruby’s racing career took an unexpected twist: Ruby became a sports car road racer!

Giving the racing world a hint of things to come, Ruby obtained a ride in a semi-factory Maserati for the short-lived USAC Road Racing Championship of 1959, which was sort of a pre-Can-Am type series. Proceeding to run strongly all season, Ruby won a feature at Meadowdale, IL and finished second to veteran Augie Pabst in the final point standings. Four spots behind Ruby in the standings was Englishman Ken Miles, who would later join Ruby for some of his greatest sports car successes. Although few realized it at the time, one of America’s greatest road racers had been born that season!

The following year, Lloyd Ruby’s amazing Indy 500 career began. In his rookie appearance at the Speedway, driving for the great J.C. Agajanian, Ruby was running strongly in third place late in the event when a pit miscalculation forced a fuel stop, dropping him to seventh. Had he finished third, it’s quite likely that he would have been co-Rookie of the Year with Jim Hurtubise. Apparently, the specter of bad luck at Indy was upon Lloyd Ruby from the very start.

However, in other arena’s of motorsports, he proved himself to be a true winner.

Although Ruby is usually remembered as a front-running Champ Car (Indy Car) driver, with 7 career victories to his credit, it must also be recalled that he was, beyond a doubt, one of the greatest road racers that America ever produced. Just ask Dan Gurney!

In the pre Can-Am sports car era in the early ’60’s, Ruby was a constant front-runner and winner, racing against and beating the likes of Sterling Moss, Gurney, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jim Hall and some guy named Foyt. In 1961, Lloyd Ruby actually drove a Lotus-Climax in the U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Yes Lloyd was a road racer!

His greatest road racing successes came in endurance racing during the mid-sixties.

When the Ford Motor Company and Carroll Shelby set out to beat Ferrari at Le Mans, they wisely partnered old pals Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby in one of their Ford GT’s, and the rest is part of racing history. Victories at Daytona and Sebring followed, and the Ruby/Miles combo became known as racing’s “Odd Couple”. The loud Englishman and the quiet Texan were probably the greatest co-driving pair of all time. Sadly, the ultimate goal of victory a Le Mans was derailed by the untimely death of Ken Miles during a test session.

The story of Ruby’s hard luck at Indy is well known. There are those who feel that he should have won three or four 500 milers, and I couldn’t agree more. In 1968, he took over during the last half of the Race, passing Joe Leonard’s leading turbine before the engine went sour. On three other separate occasions at Indy (1969, 70, 71), Ruby was leading and seemingly in control only to fall out through no fault of his own. However, the real hard luck in Lloyd Ruby’s Indy career may have come near the end.

In 1975, Ruby landed a ride with Team McLaren as a partner to the previous year’s winner, fellow Texan Johnny Rutherford. Finally, a car and team that could bring him that long sought Indy Victory. Unbelievably, however, a rare mistake by a McLaren crew member resulted in a blown piston after only 7 laps! Ruby’s best shot ever at the Borg-Warner Trophy was over almost before it began

Finally, in 1978, it appeared that Lloyd Ruby would have one more great chance to win the Indianapolis 500, when he was assigned to one of the Vel’s-Parnelli Jones cars as a teammate to Danny Ongias. But, sadly, Old Rube’s Speedway swan song went totally off-key when Ongias crashed the team’s primary car, and Ruby’s ride was “repossessed” before the great veteran even sat in it. And, quietly, Lloyd Ruby’s incredible Indy 500 saga was over.

In an era when versatility was the norm among American racers, Lloyd Ruby was perhaps the most well-rounded of the lot. With all due respect to A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and Parnelli Jones, Lloyd Ruby’s exploits in a wide variety of race cars would stand up to any comparison. Dirt or pavement, Indy Cars, midgets, sprints, stock cars, sports cars, even Formula One; Lloyd Ruby had “been there and done that”.

And, even beyond his many accomplishments in racing, Lloyd will always be remembered and a quiet, fun-loving family man with a legion of loyal friends and fans and a well-developed sense of fair play. Also, anyone who dared to play gin rummy with Lloyd Ruby for money would quickly find himself on a express train to the poorhouse!

It’s not likely that his kind will ever pass this way again.

RacingNation Crew

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