Eldon S. Rasmussen, a retired race car driver and fabricator, passed peacefully at the age of 85 in Indianapolis on June 5, 2022, surrounded by his family.

Eldon was born to the late Sigurd and Lorine Rasmussen in Standard, Alberta, Canada on July 7, 1936, the youngest of 6 children. He is preceded in death by his older siblings Dagny Anderson, Gordon Rasmussen, Lucille Fortier, and Arnold Rasmussen. He is survived by his older sister Lois Paulson and 26 nieces and nephews.

Eldon is also survived by his wife of 63 years, Dianne. Eldon and Dianne met at a dance in Standard and married on July 31, 1959. Throughout the 1960s, Eldon and Dianne had four children: Michael (Terri) Rasmussen, Marcene (Bruce) Hensley, Melanie Fulton, and Janine Miller (Bart Ferraro). The family followed Eldon to Indianapolis and settled on the southwest side, close to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he established his first race shop in their two-car garage. Aside from racing, Eldon greatly enjoyed spending time with his family and friends, cheering his grandchildren on at their many sporting and recreational events and attending the Don Kay Radio Show every Tuesday evening. Additionally, Eldon had an affection for his dogs throughout his lifetime, especially several Boston Terriers that he always named Jiggs. Eldon and Dianne were blessed with 10 grandchildren: Katelyn and Samantha Rasmussen; Malorie (Tyler) Jones, Derek (Ashley) Hensley, and Devon Hensley; Cameron, Ashlen, and Connor Fulton; and Kellen and Summer Miller. In addition, he is survived by five great-grandchildren.

Growing up on a farm, he was interested in building and fixing machinery. At the age of 9, he put together a soap box derby car and then fashioned a go-kart from an old Model T frame and a lawn-mower engine. He started racing seriously in 1952 on the dirt tracks of Southern Alberta. Eldon became a supermodified driver who competed in the old CAMRA (Canadian-American Modified Racing Association) series. He had more than 600 starts in the CAMRA series and won local championships on many occasions.

To follow his dream of racing in the Indianapolis 500, Eldon moved to Indianapolis in 1967 and ran more than 50 USAC Sprint Car races. In 1975, Eldon became the second Canadian (after Billy Foster) to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He also qualified for two additional Indianapolis 500 races in 1977 and 1979. His best finish in the Indianapolis 500 was 13 ^th and his best finish in the Indy cars was 9 ^th . He qualified for 10 other 500-mile races – at Pocono, Pa., and Ontario, Calif. – and 23 other USAC short-track races for Indy cars. He retired from driving in 1979 when he was injured after cutting a right front tire and crashing during the Pocono 500.

Eldon is also remembered as an engineer, designer, builder, and fabricator. From the moment he arrived in Indianapolis, he was busy repairing and rebuilding crashed cars for various drivers and teams.  He was also instrumental in completing year-to-year chassis updates and designed and built the first wings for many teams.  In 1972, he designed and fabricated the first wing for Gary Beck's top-fuel dragster.  This fabrication contributed to Beck's first Top Fuel U.S. Nationals victory.  Eldon then designed, built, and sponsored his own Indy car.  In 1984, Joe Amato won his first NHRA Top Fuel Championship with the debut of the first tall rear-mounted wing designed and built by Eldon. This innovative wing design is still prevalent in top-fuel drag racing today.

Eldon also fabricated the top North American Ice Racing car for Canadian Hall of Fame member Tom Jones of Thunder Bay in 1975-76 and the racing motorcycle and sidecar for Greg Cox and Bill Davidson of Ottawa in 1975. From 1975 - 1980, he built 172 "Ras car" rent-a-racer cars and 380 "Ras car" Can-Am-style go-karts for amusement tracks.

In the 1980s and 90s, Eldon continued to be involved in racing at the highest levels. He engineered exhaust systems for a majority of the Indy car race teams, each year adapting to the new chassis and engine designs. In one Indy 500, 28 of the 33 qualifying cars had Rasmussen Racing exhaust systems. In the 90s, Eldon used his fabrication and engineering talents in partnership with Dick Simon Racing. In 1994 and 1996, Simon Racing had five and six cars, respectively, qualify for the Indy 500. For the last 25 years, he has enjoyed spending time in his shop working on his various projects, one of which included the retrofitting of a few Indy cars that actors drove in Sylvester Stallone's racing film Driven.

Eldon was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2001.

Eldon will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Greenwood, Indiana. A visitation will be held Sunday, June 12, 2022 from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at Forest Lawn Funeral Home. An additional visitation will be held on Monday, June 13, 2022, from 12:00 – 1:00 PM followed by a memorial service at 1:00 PM at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the American Diabetes Association.

Donations

In the lieu for flowers please make donations to the American Diabetes Association.