Billy Bignotti 1956-2005

To think about the world of motorsports, on my mind is the one man that help e very much as a kid. I want to talk about Billy Bignotti the son of George Bignotti. Now the public knows about George Bignotti(the famous Indy Crew Chief that has won so many Indy car races). The process of thought in my first meeting with Billy. I was at Northwest High School as a senior in the early spring. I just left my fathers in Wisconsin and came back to Indiana to finish high school with my best friends (The West-siders, Kenny, Rick, and all the Space Pioneers). I was jogging down 34th street and heading to the Short Stop Convenience store to get a snack. Well out of John Henry's Pub come out a guy that almost knocked me over and I bounced into a car. This guy was Billy Bignotti, that almost knocked me over. Billy said, "Hey man, you ok?" That started a crazy ride in my life in motorsports. Now Johnny Parsons, Jr was a great neighbor of mine and always kept me informed about racing ( I went with Jp to see his win in the Hut 100 in the late 70's. I always had Norm Hall as well to keep me updated. Billy was on the inside, a mechanic for his Dad's team Cotter-Bignotti(The Texaco car). Now I knew that across the street is a girl that I liked, and did not want her to see me that I almost had fallen. Billy took me many time to the Indy 500, I cleaned engine parts for Billy, here and there. The 1983 Indy 500 was a time for Billy Bignotti to shine. Now Billy and I did not know at the time that his team would win Indy that year. At that time in my life I was real sad because my grandmother was sick and I just could not understand her at all when she tried to talk to me. My grandmother passed away later that summer. Billy Bignotti introduced me to so many people in racing that Month of May 1983. I watched the car roll into victory lane and how excited that team was. Tom Sneva was now a winner of the Indianapolis 500, and George and Billy Bignotti was a big part of the win. Billy Bignotti has done well in motorsports over the years, and had a bad spout with life challenges, and that took his life in 2005. I have had many talks with George Bignotti over the years, George is a great man that has won so many races over his race planning over the years, but that day in 1983 Billy Bignotti was apart of a major winning team. I will never forget how much Billy at times help me with this sport of racing. I was a hospitality person for that team and Texaco for that year in 1983 and was 18 years old. Now the fact is that Tom Sneva did get his win at Indy from George Bignotti, and not Penske. Yes, Billy and I was so happy about that, and I think I bragged about that more than anyone. Billy almost won again in 1987 but the car stalled in the pits, and Big Al Unser won his fourth Indy 500. Billy Bignotti went on to help so many teams at the greatest race track in the world called the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but only had one win with his Pappa on the books. I sat down with George Bignotti in a Mobil Motor Oil Suite at Indy in 2007 and did not know Billy had passed way in 2005. George told me the sad news and as I sat there look at the main straight-away and conversing of old time with George and about his son. Billy I will keep praying for you and your family every-time I step onto a track. Things in life we can't explain, how such a talent can be taken away from us. Most of us know what took Billy Bignotti's life, and I am saving the grace of that family name to not talk about the why, but the joy of Billy's life for this 100 years at Indy.

Jim Gandolf