Bill Tempero once told a journalist, “I think that it’s unbelievable that an average guy like me can just come up and compete with the best in the world.” That was in 1974, when Tempero was still making a living as the owner and operator of a gas station in Fort Collins, Colorado. And yet, he was already a familiar name at the top of the rankings in the American amateur road racing scene. Multiple times an SCCA Midwest division champion during the 1970s, Tempero soon found himself racing against the likes of Mario Andretti and David Hobbs in Formula 5000, a series that looked very much like Formula 1, but featuring production-based American V8 engines.

From the start, Tempero worked on his own race cars, fielded his own team, and raced on a limited budget, and he would carry this “do-it-yourself” ethos throughout his career. Tempero gravitated towards road racing instead of the more lucrative oval racing, at one point even considering a career in Europe to go for Formula 1. Sponsorship eluded him despite multiple victories in the junior categories, but nonetheless he was able to race at America’s finest tracks in Formula 5000, Can-Am, and CART. He also practiced an Indy car at the famed Speedway, too, although he never qualified for the 500.

During the late-1980s and 1990s, Tempero was perhaps best known for founding and racing in the American IndyCar Series, and for fielding one of the first teams in the upstart Indy Racing League. Now retired from racing and currently serving as the President of the United States Cavalry Association, Tempero kindly took the time to reflect on his Indy car racing career and the series that he founded.

SKC: You’d always carved your own way through the different road racing categories in America. What was it like, being one of the few drivers who went with the stock blocks in CART?

BT: It was a whole different time in history. When I started racing IndyCar in 1980, you could build your own engine and be halfway competitive. A few of us were running stock block engines: Dan Gurney was running one, I was running one, Jet Engineering from Michigan - there were 4 or 5 cars running stock blocks. At Milwaukee, Mike Mosley drove for Gurney and he started last and won the race in a stock block. It was phenomenal. In my case, I was building my own motors and everything. A guy could build a stock block in those days for $25,000, and a Cosworth would cost, maybe $60,000 to $75,000.

SKC: As the Cosworth became ubiquitous by the mid-eighties, it must have become difficult for the stock block competitors to keep up.

BT: The problem was, we just weren't spending that kind of money. [The other car owners] had decided that they wanted to spend money [on purpose-built turbo Cosworth and Chevy engines], and guys like me just didn't have that kind of money.

When that happened, I thought, there's got to be a place for us guys with stock blocks. I was racing in the Can-Am series around 1985-1986. We had the Indy cars that we put fenders on, to run in this series. Then the SCCA said they wanted to kill the series, and now we had to use the name Can-Am Teams in 1987. After that, I started the AIS in 1988 and took the fenders off!

I wasn't trying to make a “cheaper” series, I was trying to make it affordable for guys who thought they had a talent, to find out if they really had the talent. You could afford our series like running a late model car, for $50,000 to $100,000. To race in CART or IRL, you're probably looking at a minimum of $3 to 5 million.

SKC: You ran and competed in the AIS between 1988 and 1999, right?

BT: We did exactly a hundred AIS races. I did a hundred consecutive races, won 25 races, had 26 poles, and I won five championships. During the last year, I had sold the series, and [the new owners] paid me to run the series. They had really good intentions and just didn't work out. I was only committed for one year [as the manager of the series] and then I don't think it went any farther than that. The last race I drove was the 1999 Los Angeles Grand Prix, which I won!

SKC: What were some of the more memorable races that you put together?

BT: We went to Puerto Rico for a street race, and that was a pretty good challenge. We also did a street race in Ensenada, Mexico, another one in Monterrey, Mexico, and one in Juarez. Street races are hard to put on - it's a lot of work! We also had a race at the parking lot at the Reno Hilton - that was a pretty good accomplishment. Basically, I was a one-man band putting on a street race. I didn't have any help - I got help when I got there, but I was the one doing it by myself.

We also did a street race in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In fact, we did three of them. [The 1990 race] was a good race between Johnny [Unser] and myself. We were running 1-2, and on the last lap he clipped the wall and I won the race. That was not supposed to happen, but it did!

SKC: You mention that street races are hard to put on. What were some of the challenges you faced when organizing the AIS races?

BT: Put it this way - I found out that race car drivers have egos, or they wouldn't be doing it. Then I found out that car owners have bigger egos. And then I found out that race track owners have even bigger egos! I put on a hundred races, and I could write a book on each race!

Dealing with the track owners, dealing with cities and city mayors, it's just a phenomenal amount of work to put all the pieces together. With the street races - welding the manholes, filling the potholes, where do you want the portajohns and how many do you want? And bringing in seven officials, flying them in. It just goes on and on, a big production. But we got it done, we did a hundred races! And the fun I got out of that was driving the car, even though sometimes I was worn out and I couldn't drive the car. But as I say, no complaints.

SKC: Unfortunately, the AIS did not have much television and media coverage. Do you think there could’ve been more attention to the series?

BT: I was probably so consumed with getting everything else done, and I didn't have the finances to hire a PR person. It was so consuming just to put on these races and guarantee a decent purse and tow money. It’s okay - I did what was humanly possible to accomplish and I feel good about what I accomplished.

Pat Patrick was a good friend - he and Penske were running CART. I wrecked a car at Milwaukee one year and was sitting on the wall, and Pat said, “Are you going to make the race in two weeks at Atlanta?” I said, “I'm out. I don't have money to fix the car.” He said, “How much do you need?” I looked at the car, and I said I needed ten grand. He wrote me a check for ten grand, and then he took it out of my purse at every race until he was paid back! A thousand out of each race. But I made the race!

There were some good people in CART, but not very many. Pat Patrick was one of the good people in CART that I got to know. [Another was] Andy Kenopensky, who ran the Machinists Union cars. He was a really princely guy. Back in my first year at Indy, we didn't have much money. He said, “How are you doing, Bill?” And I said, “Well, it’s hard to put everybody up in the motel rooms.” And he said, “Why don’t you stay with me and I’ll pay for your room?” And he did that.

SKC: Fast forward to 1996. You were already eight years into the AIS and over a decade since your last CART race, but now you had an opportunity to race in the IRL. Tell me about that season.

BT: I was trying to race in the IRL at the same time as the AIS - that was a tough thing - trying to run two cars [in each series]. I hadn't been on a big oval since 1983. I had just done short ovals and road courses. For our first race we went down to practice at Orlando, a one-mile oval. It was a month before the race when they had open practice. I wasn't very comfortable, so I went from there to Phoenix by myself, and practiced some more. And I called my wife and said, “I'm not liking this. I'm going to stick to short ovals and road courses.” So when we did a few IRL races, I put another driver in the car - Dave Kudrave, a good driver and good person - and JC Carbonell, who had a lot of talent but didn't get it all put together. At the time, I was still having fun on the road courses and short ovals. My background is road racing, you know. And it was too much to do both - I couldn't do both.

SKC: You drove a lot of different Indy cars over the years. Which one is your favorite?

BT: That would be the ‘96 Lola. It still had some good ground effects and sequential shifting. It was a really, really good car. I did a commercial for Juan Montoya - he was driving the Target car for Chip Ganassi. We took our car and made it look like a Target car. We took it to Sebring, and at that point I was running it with the turbo Buick. Montoya did a few shots with us, and then I did. When we were all done, he asked, “Is it okay if I drive as hard as I can in this car?” I let him do four or five laps, and afterwards he told me, “This is one of the best cars I ever drove.” So that’s when I knew that it was a good car.

We did another commercial with Juan again, but he was only there for one day. He said, “I don't want to hang around, here's my suit and helmet, you do the commercial!” I shouldn't have sent the helmet and suit back to him!

So I went over to him, and I said, “Jacques, do you want to make a good show out of this for your hometown?” Jacques said, “What do you have in mind?” So I said, “It's a 60-lap race. Every 10 laps if we're together, let's switch the lead. But the last 10 laps the bets are off, okay?” 

So he agreed to this! I started on the pole, but he jumped the start and took off. I thought, you asshole, you're not going to play the game. After 10 laps, I'll be damned, he lets me by! So that's pretty cool. We did it back and forth, up to 50 laps and the bets are off. Jacques smoked his rear tires, and I thought he's going to take the wall out. I pushed right up to him, he got it sideways and I got by him and won the race! He wouldn't even come to the podium. So here I am looking at my French trophy in French! It was fun, a good story, and I never talked to him again!

SKC: Do you think there is a place for a series like the AIS today?

BT: No, not at all, because of the economics. When the AIS was formed, there were a lot of guys who wanted to get to Indy. Now, a lot of guys want to get to NASCAR. The few guys that want to get to Indy, they [already] got the feeders - the Indy Pro series and Indy Lights - so that's where they're going. When the AIS was formed, there were twenty guys like me! When I started racing in SCCA Formula Ford and Formula Vee, there were 50 guys who wanted to get into that. I remember being at the June sprints at Elkhart Lake, and there were 101 Formula Ford cars on the grid! It was just a whole different [time], and there were just so many people who wanted to get to Indy. The AIS filled that void and helped fulfill the dream for some of them.

SKC: How would you sum up the American IndyCar Series?

BT: It was a good chance for people that didn't have a million dollars to find out if they had the talent or not, and a few drivers found out they did have the talent. And when they found out, they pursued their dream and their dream came true. If the AIS hadn't been there, they may not have had the chance to see if they really had what it took.

I was very proud of the series, but it was physically and mentally a killer! I don't want to think about doing it again! But it's okay, everything is cool. I met a lot of good people and we had a lot of good people in the AIS.

SKC: After you retired from racing, you focused your attention on the history of the United States Cavalry, in fact, joining and becoming the president of the US Cavalry Association. How did you become interested in the calvary?

BT: I grew up on a farm, about 20 miles from Fort Riley. My dad had a veterinary practice and we had horses. And when the cavalry disbanded, they were selling all the equipment, and my first saddle was a cavalry saddle. I guess the seed was planted then. But I always had the history bug, so when I retired from racing, I could put all my efforts towards that. I had to switch gears from 1,000 horsepower to one horsepower! And I found out there’s more to life than racing. There truly is.

SKC: Not many people today might appreciate what the calvary was. Can you share with us how it played an important role in American history?

BT: Before we had mechanized units, all we had were foot soldiers and cavalry. We’ve lost 1.2 million men and women who served and died for our country. 980,000 horses died serving our country.

When students go to West Point, the first thing they teach is military history. And there’s a reason for it. We have to learn from our mistakes and we can’t forget where we came from. And that’s also the mission of the US Cavalry Association. Last week, we had 200 school kids [at the National Cavalry Competition] and we got to talk to them, they got to watch the competition, and that was cool!

SKC: I understand you’ve done some other work to support the men and women of our military for a long time. Please tell us about that.

BT: I never served, but we’ve been involved in the military for over 30 years. My wife and I started, about 30 years ago, raising money for military families through a military family hardship fund. People don’t realize, when someone from the National Guard or Army Reserve is called up, they might be in their 40s, with families, kids in college, house and car payments, and making hardly any money if they’re [deployed] for two years. Some of the families really have a hard time, so we’ve been raising money for them through the fund, and we still do.

Because of our work, the military gave me an honorary colonel’s commission and an official letter signed by the head of the Army. When they gave that to me, a hundred soldiers stood up and saluted me. It was the best day of my life!