(Photos: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum) – There are few things more difficult in life than trying to live up to a legendary last name in the same industry where it was forged. Louis “Sonny” Meyer Jr. was a man who not only had that task but excelled at it. The son of Louis Meyer who teamed up with Dale Drake to buy the Offenhauser engine business off of Fred Offenhauser, he literally grew up in the business, joining the company shortly after it was bought in 1946.

From there he would crew for guys like Bill Vukovich, serve as a successful chief mechanic for Tony Bettenhausen, and go onto a career that would see him play an instrumental role in as many as 15 Indy 500 victories. This does not count wins as a crew chief on various sprint cars, and presiding over open wheel wins all over the country.

Known as a quiet guy with an easy going attitude, Meyer is a true legend of the speedway. We do not know his condition in the last weeks of his life but we’re interest to know if he had gotten the news about Penske buying the place he loved so much. Had he, we feel like he’d have approved of this turn of events.

As racing tends to have many interesting familial ties, Meyer’s brother in law was the legendary George Bignotti, a man some consider the greatest IndyCar lead mechanic of all time. The conversations around the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner tables must have been absolutely all time.

There was always another project for Meyer. When it was time to move from Offy engines he worked on Fords and eventually turbocharged Buicks plants. He was a genius with his hands and his mind. He is someone who will be missed by the racing community. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 2013.