INDYCAR: Bill Alsup 1938 - 2016

SPOTLIGHT: ALSUP'S 1979 INDY 500 - THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Alsup's month of May in 1979 has to rank as one of the most frustrating, uplifting and devastating in IMS history.
A 40-year-old rookie with an old McLaren/Offy and not much money, Alsup lost four engines and couldn't reach qualifying speed in his own car, so he worked up the courage to ask Roger Penske about borrowing a spare motor on the final Sunday of time trials.
The Captain did one better: he offered Alsup a ride in his third PC-7 - the slick ground-effect chassis already qualified by Rick Mears and Bobby Unser. In 10 hot laps the '78 Super Vee champ was already running 187mph, and he qualified an hour later with a 189 mph average, which would have been good for Row 3 a week earlier. But as he was celebrating, Alsup got the news that USAC was disqualifying his car because he'd used the same engine as Unser to qualify. Penske disputed it and filed a protest, but it was denied.
So early in the week Alsup was packing up to head back to Vermont when he heard that USAC was going to allow a special round of qualifying on Saturday - the day before the race! In the wake of all the cheating during the month with the pop-off valve to gain horsepower, USAC ruled that several drivers would get one shot at running 184mph to make the show.
Spike Gehlhausen offered Alsup a ride in his older but updated Eagle, and after a few practice laps he went for it. His opening lap was 186, followed by a 189 and he was easily going to be in the field until he slammed the wall in Turn 1 at the start of his third lap.

"The car felt good at 189 and you're supposed to drive them fast,so I'm not apologizing," he he said afterwards.
Alsup would get bumped in 1980 and make his only Indy start in 1981 - driving for Penske (BELOW) - when he finished 11th.