Lon Bromley killed in boating accident
Bromley, who lost his life Saturday in a boating accident near his home in Grants Pass, Oregon, was one of the four main figures in the renaissance of racing safety along with Dr. Terry Trammell, Dr. Steve Olvey and Wally Dallenbach.
From the late '80s to 2007, Bromley headed the Horton/Holmatro Safety Team at all CART and Champ Car races and assisted in saving Alex Zanardi's life at Germany in 2001.
"There was never a better match for a person and a job," said Olvey, the former Indianapolis M.D. who served as CART's full-time medical director in addition to his work in neurosurgery. "He was never excitable and kept everyone else calm in volatile situations and he was a leader but not a tough guy.
There was no guesswork with Lon, and we became a well-oiled machine because of him."
Dallenbach, who along with Carl Horton and Olvey started CART's Horton Safety Team in the early 1980s, was responsible for bringing Bromley into auto racing.
"He was a skinny kid I gave a job to on my contract farm in the '70s, and then he started his relationship with safety when he became an EMT and ran the rescue unit in my hometown of Basalt [Colorado]," said Dallenbach, the longtime IndyCar driver who became CART's first chief steward.
"Then in the '80s I asked him if he wanted to get involved in the CART safety team and he wound up being in charge of it and became one of the top guys in all of safety." Robin Miller/racer.com