It is often said that inspiration can be found in the most unlikely of places, a phrase particularly prevalent in the world of motor sport where the technological innovation is just as important as the action on the track. Such an example of outside-the-box inspiration can be seen in 1980, albeit from a rather more humble and everyday source then some people might expect.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1948, Roger Rager had bitten the racing bug from a very early age. His father Bob Rager had been a prominent dirt track racer in the region for a number of years, and by the age of five was competing in go-kart races held during the intervals of his father’s events at the Nebraska state fair. After purchasing his first stock car at the age of 14, Raker went on to enjoy a prominent career on the dirt track scene, captaining a United States sprint car team on a tour of South Africa before going on to claim the points championship at the prestigious half-mile oval at Knoxville Raceway in 1975, a circuit he would go on to win at in five successive decades.

By 1976 Rager had turned his attention to Indycar racing, making his debut at that season’s race in Trenton driving an aging Foyt-powered Eagle owned by fellow racer Dick Simon. Rager would contest four races during that season picking up a best finish of tenth in Milwaukee on his way to finishing 33rd in points. The following season, Rager would make his first attempt at qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, using the same Eagle-Foyt combination that had proven so reliable for him during the 1976 campaign. Despite showing promising speeds throughout the month of May Rager’s dreams of making a race came to an end when he crashed on his first qualifying attempt, and with his team lacking the funds and resources to repair his machine at short notice Rager was forced to enjoy the Memorial Day showpiece on the sidelines. A second attempt at making in 1979 also ended in disappointment, with Rager and his Eagle falling just one place short of making the expanded field for the event.

Coming into 1980 Rager made the decision to abandon the decade old Eagle once and for all, instead purchasing an old Wildcat Chassis that had been used by Patrick Racing during the 1979 season. The new machine was a significant step up from the Eagle, and Rager was optimistic that with the right kind of engine he would stand a realistic chance of making the 500 field for the first time, but for the under-funded Rager the task of finding that elusive engine would prove to be the most difficult task of all.

Due to his lack of funding, the prospect of Rager using a purpose built V8 favoured by the likes of Jim Hall and Penske was all-but-impossible, leaving his only option as a stock-derived V6 pushrod engine which although cheap to purchase and maintain had become notorious for their unreliability in recent editions of the 500 event. It was at this point that Rager made an inspired suggestion; rather then purchasing a brand new block for the event, he would seek out a used engine from a heavy duty working environment, his belief being that such a unit would have endured so much strain over the years that it would have proven durability in a high temperature, high pressure environment such as a motor race. After a long search, the team stumbled across an abandoned school busy from a junkyard in Minneapolis, salvaging the machine and using it’s engine as the basis for their power unit for the race.

Although the final engine was heavily modified from the original Chevrolet power plant, the media and fans ran with the bus engine back-story of the machine, turning Rager into something of a fan favourite as the month of May commenced. In a sea of perfectly tuned and exotic machines in the paddock Rager’s noisy and cumbersome machine stood out from the crowd, with many critics believing that the bus engine stunt was a gimmick that come qualifying would be doomed to failure. To the surprise of everyone in the paddock however, Rager not only managed to qualify the car for the race but do so in the tenth position, his time of 186.374mph out qualifying the likes of AJ Foyt, Tom Sneva and Gordon Johncock in the process. Rager’s underdog story became one of the feel-good stories of that year’s 500, and come race day the Nebraska native was a firm underdog with the 250,000 people in attendance at the Brickyard. Rager’s race day however would be less then successful, after holding onto his mid-pack position during the race’s early stages (including briefly leading two laps during a pit stop cycle), Rager’s day came to a premature end on lap 55, when he was unable to avoid a spinning Jim McElreath up in front of him, making contact with the Texan and forcing him out of the race with a 23rd placed classification.

Following on from his 1980 exploits Rager would make two failed attempts to make the field in 1981 and 1982 before returning back to his dirt car roots where he would enjoy further success before his retirement from motor racing in 2009. Rager’s school bus exploits may be somewhat exaggerated by those involved, but it does go to demonstrate the underdog nature that come with Indianapolis as an event, and fans will be on the lookout again this year to see if this will be a year where a 500 underdog will once again have it’s day.