He was the son of George Walther Jr., owner of Dayton Steel Foundry, who fielded Indy 500 cars for Juan Manuel Fangio in 1958 and Mike Magill in 1959.

His brother, George "Skipp" Walther III, was fatally injured while trying to qualify as an Unlimited driver at Miami Marine Stadium, in 1974.

As the field received the green flag, Steve Krisiloff, on the inside of the third row, developed engine trouble and slowed down, producing a traffic jam on the main straightaway as the rest of the cars accelerated.

Walther, forced to his right by drivers taking evasive action in front of him, touched wheels with Jerry Grant and was catapulted over the wall and into the catch fence above it.

Walther maintained that he was hit from behind, forcing him into Grant, but this claim is not supported by films of the crash and is not widely accepted by other drivers.

The fuel sprayed out of the car, some of it reaching the front rows of the grandstand where several spectators suffered burns.

The car crashed back onto the track and spun down the main straightaway upside-down, still spraying fuel which ignited into a huge fireball that enveloped the rest of the field.

Walther's came to a stop upside-down at the entrance of turn one, with the driver's legs visible and sticking out of the broken nose.

Walther was quickly rescued by track safety workers (with the help of Wally Dallenbach Sr.) and rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

In 1978, Walther dropped out early with a bad clutch and proceeded to rant his frustration with his chief mechanic Tommy Smith during a heated television interview.

Due to his lack of success, as well as the considerable financial backing of his father, Walther was sometimes regarded as a rich playboy with more money than talent.

As a result of this addiction, Walther suffered from personal and legal problems, including a long interruption in his racing career.

In 2000, Walther was sentenced to 180 days in jail for child endangering and 10 months in prison for violating terms of his probation in the 1998 drug case.

Although Walther acknowledged guilt in the case, he defended himself, saying that he was bankrupt and had no ability to pay the amount of money requested by his ex-partner.

On November 15, he was sentenced to three years in prison after a jury convicted him of failing to comply with an order or signal of a police officer for the July incident.