Another Byrd-sponsored driver, Stan Fox, suffered a serious head injury in a horrific crash at the start of the 1995 Indianapolis 500. Fox survived that crash but was later killed in an auto accident in New Zealand.
“Not a lot of people know this, but we had signed Billy Vukovich III to race in the 1991 Indianapolis 500 and the day dad was supposed to be signing his contract, he was at his funeral,” Jonathan admitted. “It’s obviously a dark side to the business and to the sport and it is amazing how the community rallies together.”
The elder Jonathan Byrd was active as a team sponsor and later a team owner until 2001.
After that, Byrd focused on missionary efforts. He was disabled by a stroke in 2004 and suffered a fatal heart attack on Aug. 20, 2009.
“After my dad got out in 2001, we took a step back and then my brother and I put together a program in 2005 with Panther Racing and Buddy Lazier, and that is the closest we ever came to taking the checkered flag,” David Byrd recalled, referring to Lazier’s fifth-place finish in the 2005 Indianapolis 500. “Then, it was a long hiatus of 10 years and to come back with Bryan Clauson for a couple of years; what Rich Vogler was to my dad, Bryan Clauson was to me and my brother.
“The same background, résumé and level of success in short-track racing. He was mega-talented. All he really needed was an opportunity to show it. To do what we did to him and the short- track world and his development, he had not even come into his peak yet, honestly. He was starting to show what he could do and was verging on legendary status.”
Clauson died from injuries suffered in a crash during the Belleville Midget Nationals on Aug. 6, 2016. He died the following night.
“To lose Bryan was tragic,” David Byrd said. “We took a step back.”
The Byrd family stepped back but did not step out. They returned with driver James Davison at the Indianapolis 500 from 2018 to ’20.
Jonathan Byrd II is now the track president and general manager of the Indianapolis Speedrome and Circle City Raceway, a dirt track located at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Indianapolis.
“At Circle City we had 32 shows on our original schedule and have raced everything from winged 410s, to USAC midgets to sprint cars to World of Outlaws late models, modifieds, hornets and front-wheel drives and super stocks,” Jonathan said. “We still have the ASCS 360s coming and we have races for 305s. If you name it and it races on dirt, we’ve had it on our track.
“We have a Summer Nationals race and we are trying to finish our season with a huge, $21,000-to-win 410 winged sprint car race. I’m trying to lead the charge and be the leader of bringing winged sprint car racing to the state of Indiana on a semi-regular basis.”
David Byrd is overseeing his 21-year-old son Nathan’s racing career.
Nathan Byrd is competing in numerous types of cars this season including SPEARS late models and modifieds, USAC Silver Crown cars, midgets and the Road to Indy USF2000 Series.
“The relationship with SPEED SPORT coalesced around that,” David Byrd said. “With SPEED SPORT getting the streaming rights to the Speedrome and Circle City Raceway, we made a Byrd package deal around that. Jonathan is busy from March to the end of October with the two race tracks, then he slows down a little bit from the beginning of November until the end of February. He’s not involved in the family business and I oversee the family businesses and our investment schedule as well. We use the racing as a business development tool so all the partners you see on our cars, we are involved with them in business at some model.
“We are using the Roger Penske model to make racing sustainable,” he added. “That makes racing much more sustainable and not much of a drain on the resources as one might think.”
The cafeteria closed on Mother’s Day in 2014, but the company still runs a large catering business and banquet facility. The Byrds also own four hotels in Goodyear, Ariz.
Running successful businesses allows the Byrd family to continue their racing legacy with Nathan ready to add to that history.
“I tell Nathan that at some point in time, he needs to run on dirt and that will help at Circle City Raceway and if he wants to try Figure-8 racing, we’ll do that at the Speedrome, too,” his father said. “Then, he will be the most completely diverse race driver, hands down.
“If some year down the road he can run the Chili Bowl, the 24 Hours of Daytona, Daytona 500, Sebring, Indy 500, Le Mans, Knoxville, the World 100 and the Bathurst 1000 and fill the schedule with a bunch of other stuff, that would be a pretty cool goal.”