Wayne Leary passes

D.O. · 6/17/10, 2:19 PM

Wayne Leary pased last night in Cali. Those how don't know Wayne he was the Chief Mechanic for Dan Gurney in the AAR years and got Bobby Unser into the Indy 500 victory Lane.
Wayne spent a lot of his later years back in Indy playing with Hot Rods and RC cars and being Wayne Leary.
Wayne will be missed by many in the Mid-West and in racing.

RIP
Wayne
You are Missed !
Dan O. Laycock & Family
Racin' with D.O. & Crew

ronmil · 6/17/10, 2:27 PM

I remember him from the Dan Gurney days.
RIP, Wayne

6/19/10, 2:13 PM

This is my first post here. Wayne Leary was my friend since 1971, and spent quite a few of his days in the past two years, visiting our shop in Costa Mesa where we play with vintage slot cars as well as full-size vintage race cars.
The whole time I knew Wayne, he was simply one of the good guys and a heck of a good crew chief. Without truly bad luck happening to Dan's Eagles several times at the IMS, he would have five Indy 500s under his belt.
We saw him in worse condition every time he visited, but were somehow hoping that his doctors would be able to yank the cancer out. It did not happen.
What is even more sad to me is that we just finished restoring one of the most famous cars he crewed, a 1972 Eagle-Offy decorated as the one that Bobby Unser drove the the pole that year, and I am sure that he would have really enjoyed to see it running. We missed by a week.
May God take care of his soul.

PdL

D.O. · 6/19/10, 2:28 PM

Wayne's son Roger is going to have Wayne cremated.He will have a service here in calif. in about 2 weeks, He also is going to have a sevice in Indy in the coming months. He is going to bring his ashes back there to share with the speedway. If anyone wants to send flowers that would be great. But he decided that if they wanted in leiu of flowers a donation in Waynes name to the Indy 500 Oldtimers would be way cool

madz · 6/20/10, 2:23 PM

Although I haven't seen or talked to Wayne in years I have a lot of great memories hanging out with him when I was running around Indy in the eighties. He was someone you felt at home being around and may I say full of it. What a guy.

Jeff Swindell

6/17/10, 2:27 PM	#2 Re: Wayne Leary passes
ronmil Senior Member Race Count Last Year: 48 Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 18,852	I remember him from the Dan Gurney days. RIP, Wayne __________________ Ron Miller

6/19/10, 2:13 PM	#3 Re: Wayne Leary passes
T54 Posts: n/a	This is my first post here. Wayne Leary was my friend since 1971, and spent quite a few of his days in the past two years, visiting our shop in Costa Mesa where we play with vintage slot cars as well as full-size vintage race cars. The whole time I knew Wayne, he was simply one of the good guys and a heck of a good crew chief. Without truly bad luck happening to Dan's Eagles several times at the IMS, he would have five Indy 500s under his belt. We saw him in worse condition every time he visited, but were somehow hoping that his doctors would be able to yank the cancer out. It did not happen. What is even more sad to me is that we just finished restoring one of the most famous cars he crewed, a 1972 Eagle-Offy decorated as the one that Bobby Unser drove the the pole that year, and I am sure that he would have really enjoyed to see it running. We missed by a week. May God take care of his soul. PdL

6/19/10, 2:28 PM	#4 Re: Wayne Leary passes
D.O. Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 2,915	Wayne's son Roger is going to have Wayne cremated.He will have a service here in calif. in about 2 weeks, He also is going to have a sevice in Indy in the coming months. He is going to bring his ashes back there to share with the speedway. If anyone wants to send flowers that would be great. But he decided that if they wanted in leiu of flowers a donation in Waynes name to the Indy 500 Oldtimers would be way cool

6/20/10, 2:23 PM	#5 Re: Wayne Leary passes
madz Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 2	Although I haven't seen or talked to Wayne in years I have a lot of great memories hanging out with him when I was running around Indy in the eighties. He was someone you felt at home being around and may I say full of it. What a guy. Jeff Swindell