I am not sure how I came across this but here an interesting piece of history. Other then Dale Sr, Tony Renna stands out most in my mind. He was truly a great guy that worked at Gators Dockside owned by his dad in Deland. He had just signed with Chip Ganassi and was killed at Indy when a tire blew.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_racing_drivers_who_died_in_racing_crashes
That one bummed me out for a long time.
At that time Chip had been really hiring foreign open wheel ringers that were really successful in lower formula, and this was really one of those rare (lately) occurrences where a young American open wheel driver was getting a crack at a top team, based solely on merit.
Likewise, Tripper - a kid from the DeLand area of all places earning (not buying) his place with Ganassi and showing a massive amount of promise. I had been following his progress in the Indy Lights etc and was thrilled to hear he had a seat with Ganassi.
When I saw Conways crash this year - that was the first thing i thought of.