European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 13, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january 13,1989 the stars and stripes Page 23 heart attack ends Hurtubise s run by Mike Kupper los Angeles times no one Ever called Jim Hurtubis stubborn simply because that normally adequate word did not begin to describe the extent of his obstinacy. Give up driving just because a fiery crash had left him with a nose like a Falcon s beak hands like talons and body so covered with skin grafts that Ordinary sweating was impossible Don t be silly. Switch to a rear engine car just be cause the rest of the racing world had shown it to be Superior ridiculous. Give up battling the establishment even after faded stardom had reduced a Roar to a whine absurd. You get in the car and you go As fast a you can. And you say what s on your mind. And you do things the Way you do things because that s the right Way. An when the racing and the hollering and arguing Are Over you go out and have Abeer. That was Jim Hurtubise and it Proba Bly will be some time before the world sees one like him again. Hurtubise died Over the weekend import Arthur Texas his Hometown the last several years after suffering a hear attack. He was 56. That also was the number he put on his race cars. He was a tremendous Talent Sai Parnelli Jones Winner of the 1963 Indi Anapolis 500. He was in the same category As . Foyt a four time indy win Ner Rodger Ward a two time indy win Ner remembered his Talent too. He could be awfully Good War said. Sometimes he got to going a Little faster than he knew what to do with Buthe had his moments of  indeed when Hurtubise hit the Indi Anapolis Speedway As a Rookie in 1960 a sprint car Hotshot who had drive Nall of two indy car races he stood the old track on its ear setting a qualifying record and nearly breaking the then magic 150-Mph Barrier. His four Lap qualifying Speed of149.056 and his single Lap Mark of 149.601 stamped him As a Star in the making. But Hurtubise never won the 500.and he never reached the stardom that had been so widely predicted. On a hot june Day in 1964 in Milwaukee barely a week after Eddie Sachs and Dave Macdonald had been burned to death in a flaming crash at Indianapolis. Hurtubise too was burned. He did t die in that crash but his career did. It was the 52nd Lap of a 100-Lap Racoon the Milwaukee mile. Ward Foyt and Hurtubise running 1-2-3, so close to Gether that they might have been in a single car came roaring out of the North West turn heading for the main straight away. Suddenly Ward s Lead car experienced a transmission problem and he raised his hand to warn the others that he had los Power. Foyt braked hard and squeezed around him and Hurtubise nearly go Clear too. But not quite. The left front wheel on his car Rode upon the right rear of Foyt a and Hurtubise suddenly was airborne. I just looked up and there he was going Over the top of me said Foyt who later won the race. Hurtubise s car hit the outside retain ing Wall burst into a Ball of fire then rolled Down to the top of the main Jim Hurtubise takes the wheel of the last front engine car to run for nine stubborn laps in 1968 in the Indianapolis 500. The doctors told me that they were going to have to pin my hands in place and they asked me How i wanted them pinned. I told them to make them so that i could hold a Beer can that s All. But i knew that if i could hold a Beer can i could hold a steering wheel Jim Hurtubise Straightaway where track firefighter quickly put out the fire. Even so Hurtubise was injured badly suffering second and third degree Burns on his face neck hands arms legs and Back As Well As a punctured lung and three broken ribs. Almost 50 percent of his body had been seared by the flames. I had the fuel tank in the wrong place Hurtubise said years later. The fuel tank was in the front so when i hit the Wall it broke and fuel went All Over me. In those Days nobody wore the fire retardant underwear or gloves. If i had had gloves on i could have saved my  after initial treatment in Milwaukee Hurtubise was flown to the Burn Center at the Brooke army Hospital at san an Tonio Texas where he underwent nearly three months of rehabilitation and Mas Sive skin grafts. Before the grafts could begin though the dead skin had to be dealt with. Sitting in a special Whirlpool that Loos ened it and pulled it away from his body Hurtubise Sang you Are my Sunshine As loud As he could to keep from scream ing in pain. There never was any question in his mind about the future though. He was racer and racers race. His badly burned hands had to be fixed in a permanently curved position the better to fit a steering wheel the Story went. Not so Hurtubise later said. The doctors told me that they were going to have to pin them in place and they asked me How i wanted the pinned. I told them to make them so that i could hold a Beer can that s All. But i knew that if i could could hold a Beer can i could hold a steering  in any event Hurtubise was Back at the race track watching a Stock car race from the pits in Milwaukee before the season was Over. And by the next March he was driving again finishing fourth inthe 1965 season indy car opener at Phoe Nix Ariz. He drove in 14 indy car races that year including the 500, won a race on the United states Auto club s Stock car circuit and finished fourth in the stand Ings. Often however he tired in the late stages of a race because he could t per spire properly. In 1966, he accepted a ride in a rear engine car for the 500 but that car lasted Only 29 laps and the experience apparently soured Hurtubise on that style car. The next year Long after the rear engine revolution was accepted he showed up at the Speedway with two front engine roadsters cars of his own design that he called mallards. And from then on he was a Man with a Mission. He wanted to prove that not Only could he still win races but that he could also win them in what the rest of the world regarded As obsolete equip ment. The Accident seemed to have changed his personality Jones said. He just did t come on the same. He was t As easy to get along with. He got argumentative and he was t so easy Tobe around. He d always had his own Way of doing things and he always was Tough to beat but after the race he d sit around for hours until there was nobody left to talk to nobody left to party with. Before the Accident he was always leaving something behind. We d get to the next race and he d be saying where s my helmet i can t find my helmet then some fan would walk up and say Here your helmet Jim. You left it behind at the last race but the Accident changed him. It was kind of like having a Good Friend and then you go away for a few years an when you come Back it s a different per son. I remember in 1969, the year Al Unser and i were Riding motorcycles inthe infield at Indianapolis. Al broke his ankle and i asked Herk to drive that car in the race. It was a Good rear engine car a much better car than the front engine car he was trying to qualify. I really wanted him to drive it. He just looked at me As if he thought was out of my mind even to offer him such a ride. And it was a great  in his Early Days after he had been fined for jumping a Start Hurtubise suggested that incompetent racing officials be fined. We be been getting a lot of bad officiating lately and i Don t see Why officials can t be fined just like Drivers Are he said. They give some clerk an armband so that makes him an official with the right to pull a $30,000 machine out of the  later when confronted by Sac officials he backed Down saying that he had been misquoted and that his comment Shad been misconstrued. But when he challenged the racing establishment after his Accident he backed Down for no one. He took on Sac the Speedway the tire companies other Drivers. At first fans and reporters found him refreshing. Later they began looking upon him As a caricature of himself someone who was rather Given to rant ing. And Indianapolis remained his obsession. One year Salt Walther wanted to buy Hurtubise s spot in the qualifying line figuring that Hurtubise s obsolete car could t possibly qualify anyway. No Sale. It was Herk s car and Herk place in line. He was going to make the most of it even if the most was t much. Sometimes though even he could see that he was taking himself much More seriously than was the rest of the racing world. And sometimes he was once again the fun Loving Herk who in a race for indy roadsters and european formula one cars had driven at Monza with Cigar clenched Between his Teeth a latter Day Barney Oldfield. In 1972, for instance he rolled one of his old roadsters to the starting line at Indianapolis acted puzzled when he could t get the car started then opened the engine compartment and pulled out a Case of Beer. And when he finally stepped away from racing in the Early 80s he relaxed once again. He d show up each Spring at Indianapolis to entertain anyone who wanted to hear his stories. His business card said Monkey business a division of Jim Hurtubis enterprises. I m the head Monkey he said grinning As he passed them around. Said Ward i Don t know what it going to be like not seeing his smiling face around the race track