[2] His mother developed multiple sclerosis, and died at a relatively young age, while Simon's father later left the family.

[3] After completing his primary education in Seattle, Simon received a skiing scholarship that enabled him to attend the University of Utah.

[2] Simon made his first USAC Championship car appearance at Seattle International Raceway in 1969, failing to qualify for that as well as two other races that season.

[1] Simon made his first start in 1970, driving a second-hand Vollstedt chassis at Phoenix International Raceway, where he sidelined by magneto failure after only 4 laps.

In 1982, Simon captured national attention after walking away from a spectacular rollover accident at Riverside, an incident that was later showed on ABC's That's Incredible!.

Simon's driving career includes 183 starts (115 in USAC, 78 in CART) over 19 seasons spanning from 1970 to 1988.

Simon fielded a car in the 1992 Indianapolis 500 for Lyn St. James who became the second woman to drive in the race.

Simon returned to ownership in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series in 1999 but saw little success.

In 1970, he left a desk job at an insurance company to pursue a career in auto racing.

He proved that he was discussing sponsorship with the president of General Foods in Upstate New York on the date of the hijack.