Spend enough time around the pagoda at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and chances are you’ve encountered an energetic individual who is usually on the go but always has a smile and a friendly word for most people that he sees.
It’s Dave Dusick, a man whose role in motorsports includes handling the technical and audio aspects of IMS as well as making sure all the electronics work in INDYCAR's race control.
Dusick’s company also works with various racing sanctioning bodies all over the United States, including the grass-roots level.
Dusick knows racers and racers know Dusick.
Thursday night at the Brickyard Pavilion at IMS was the annual “Racers Know Dave Dusick” charity event benefiting Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. The fundraising event drew a large crowd including many INDYCAR officials, drivers such as Charlie Kimball and his wife Kathleen, former CART and IndyCar driver Scott Goodyear and a variety of other racers in town for the annual Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show at the Indiana Convention Center.
“How it started is really amazing," Dusick told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. "A friend of mine started up with a T-shirt that said, ‘I know Dave Dusick’ in hopes of a conversation starter. People on Facebook went nuts and said, ‘We’ve got to get some of those T-shirts.’ I thought that was crazy.
“We decided to make a T-shirt with my name on it and give the money to the Riley Children’s Foundation.”
The Riley Children’s Foundation is important to Dusick because he is a 40-year cancer survivor thanks to the Riley Children’s Hospital. The Indianapolis-based medical facility specializes in treating children and infants with serious medical issues.
“That was 10 years ago, and we sold several T-shirts and then the great Andy Granatelli got involved,” Dusick said. “Andy never does anything small.
“As a result, 10 years later we have raised close to $200,000 for Riley Children’s Hospital. Now, we have this great event and the racers support us every year, and I’m grateful to this community and others that support our efforts.”
When Dusick was just 13 months old, he was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer known as Rhabdomyosarcoma in his cheekbone of his face. The stats were simple: One in a million get it and none had survived. Dusick had a 50 percent chance of living six months.
“I get cold chills just thinking about it,” he said. “That was 40 years ago. With the help of Riley Children’s Hospital, we beat those odds, and we are here today.
“Because of the treatment, I look a little different. They killed the cancer and everything near it and that has caused a little bit of deformation in the way I look, but I realized a long time ago that the gift of life is more important than the way I look. So, I have taken the way I look and the unique attributes of my life and make the most of them.”
Because of the way Dusick looks, he had some tough times as a kid, especially those who teased him for his appearance. But Dusick has always been able to overcome those moments with humor.
“It’s funny, I’ve been over-loved my whole life,” Dusick said. “Growing up, there were kids that made of me, but it always seemed there were these guys that followed me around and beat them up, and I never knew about it.
“Fortunately, there have always been more people who have been kind and caring to me than the other way around and I feel like it’s my job to give it back. I’m grateful. I spend a lot of time helping other people realize no matter who you are, you have to love your life.”
Dusick’s goal was to raise over $25,000 in Thursday night’s event.
The 42-year-old Dusick has worked at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for 20 years. His business is Race Track Engineering, which specializes in event operations and technology for INDYCAR, the Speedway and others. At the Speedway, his company is in charge of all of the audio systems and the technical production of the pre-race ceremonies. At INDYCAR, the company is responsible for race control technology and operations.
“INDYCAR invested in a $1 million replay system and needed somebody to operate that system,” Dusick said. “We run the instant-replay system for INDYCAR.”
In 2018, his company had 550 “race days” where members of his team were at racing events around the world.
“Whether I’m at a dirt track in Nebraska or Formula One at Circuit at The Americas (COTA), you can always learn something applicable for race track operations,” Dusick said. “Whether it’s a sprint car or a Formula One car, the things you apply to operating that event are the same across the board.”
But what means the most to Dusick is the ability to give back to the sport that has meant so much to his life. He is eternally grateful for the opportunity to host the event and give back to the Riley Children’s Foundation.
“Our mission is to help families who have a child suffering from a life-threatening or altering illness,” Dusick said.
For more information, go to http://davedusickfoundation.org to learn more about helping the cause.
Then, you will be one of the thousands that “Know Dave Dusick.”