David “Salt” Walther passed away last Thursday, nearly 40 years after the day he likely should have died.
Veteran race fans will remember Walther as a long-haired rich kid, in the days where guys named Foyt, Unser and Rutherford ruled the world of Indy Car racing with substance rather than glitz.
Walther’s dad George was a longtime car-owner in Indy Car and although his son hadn’t done much to earn the opportunity, he would bring Salt to Indy in 1972.
Again, it was the early 70′s, when drivers earned rides at the Speedway only after surviving years of racing on the dirt tracks of the Midwest.
Salt Walther _ who had his modest success racing a boat of all things _ thus became one of the first drivers to “buy” a ride at Indianapolis..
He would certainly not be the last.
If you do remember Salt’s name, it would likely be from the tragic 1973 Indianpolis 500, where many people believe Walther triggered a fiery 12-car crash as the field came down for the green flag to start the race.
Walther’s car made contact with the car of Jerry Grant, whch flipped Walther’s car into the catch fence, sending fuel spraying into the grandstand, burning a number of spectators.
Walther’s car _ after being hit several times _ ended up on the inside of turn one upside down, with Salt’s legs sticking out of the remains of the vehicle.
Walther would somehow survive the crash, although he suffered third degree burns over 40 percent of his body. He would spend two-and-a-half months in the Michigan Burn Center.
Although he lost most of the fingers on his left hand and had to rebuild his body after losing 50 pounds, Walther made it back to Indy in 1974 and earned a lot of respect by qualifying for the race just one year after beating death.
Walther never won on the Indy Car circuit, in fact his top achievement may have come when he nearly made the race in 1990 in a three-year old car _ only to be bumped in the final minutes.
I was there that day and found Walther to be honest, emotional and a very good interview, even after what would be his final racing moment.
Walther bounced around from IndyCar to NASCAR (he finished 12th in the 1976 Daytona 500) and set a record by finishing dead last in the Indiapolis 500 three seperate times.
He even tried his hand at acting and landed a one-time role on the Dukes of Hazzard. Not exactly a resume builder.
Unfortunately, Walther’s life post-racing has been littered with arrests, mainly due to an addiction to painkillers that goes back to the crash in 1973.
He has been arrested at least five times _ including last month in Ohio for an incident that allegedly took place in Dayton in 2007.
Walther spent over five years in prison since 1998 and was even convicted of smuggling three Tylenol III tablets loaded with codeine into his jail cell.
While he may have lived a pampered life early, Salt Walther’s final years were anything but played out in the lap of luxuary.
With the demons gone, Salt Walther may now Rest in Peace