Former '500 driver Weiler passes.

Another of the Indianapolis 500's past alumni has made it to the great track in the sky with news that former Indy 500 starter Wayne Weiler passed on earlier this week after suffering an apparent heart attack.

Weiler, who was from Phoenix and ran a cotton farm for virtually his entire life, passed away near his home on Thursday aged 70.

Weiler started racing as a teenager on Arizona's dirt tracks in 1951 and went on to compete in 19 USAC National Championship events before suffering serious head injuries in a USAC Sprint Car race in June 1961 at Terre Haute, Indiana. While he made a brief comeback on the West Coast in the late 1960s, he never again competed with USAC.

Weiler had 10 finishes of 10th or higher in Championship competition, the best a third place at the Arizona State Fairgrounds one-mile dirt track in Phoenix in 1960. He also had one fifth-place and three seventh-place finishes that year, placing 13th in the point standings. An excellent dirt track driver, he ranked sixth in the East Coast Sprint car standings the same season.

He drove several races for current Indianapolis Motor Speedway Chairman of the Board Mari George and won his lone career Championship pole position, in 1959 at Sacramento with her famous HOW Special. He also drove for Mari George in his Indianapolis 500 debut in 1960 but was eliminated by an accident after 103 laps with the Ansted-Rotary Special she fielded in partnership with Bill Ansted. In 1961, Weiler completed 147 laps for car owner Lindsey Hopkins and finished 15th.

Services are pending.