INDIANAPOLIS — The greatest thing about auto racing is the people you meet along the way.
Some of them have fame and glory; others have dignity and substance, but more often than not, they are regular people sharing the same passion for a sport.
And then there was Wilson D. “Bill” York.
He may have been eyewitness to more sports history in the city of Indianapolis than anyone else.
Bill York was like a second father to me.
My father passed away in January 1993 after a long life of working hard to provide for his family. He was two weeks short of his 79th birthday.
My father was born in Macy, Ind. When he was 2 years old, my grandfather moved the family to Tyner, Ind., which is located near Plymouth.
Ironically, Bill York was also from Miami County. He was the man from Peru, Ind., who worked on a hog farm before attending Purdue University.
York began working as the press room manager at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1958, one year after arriving as a representative for Stark & Wetzel – a meat packing company in Indianapolis that began sponsoring the Stark & Wetzel Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1957.
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