In grade school, John Linder’s teachers would complain to his parents that their son was smart but that he spent much of his time in class daydreaming. But the boy couldn’t help it — all he could think about was watching his father race cars.

Beginning in the third or fourth grade, his father, August “Gus” Linder, would pick him up from school almost every Friday and take him to auto racing tracks across Western Pennsylvania.

The elder Mr. Linder often would win those races, but even when he didn’t, his son saw a larger-than-life figure whose excellence on the track was surpassed only by the joy it created for him.

“I couldn’t get enough of it,” John Linder of Finleyville recalled.

On Wednesday, Gus Linder, the man at the center of those fond memories, died of natural causes at a hospice facility in Baldwin. He was 86.

Mr. Linder’s racing career spanned about four decades, and he racked up honors and worked to keep his family name as perhaps the most pre-eminent one in the sport in Western Pennsylvania.

The younger brother of Richard “Dick” Linder, a decorated racer who died in an accident in 1959 one month before he was scheduled to compete in the Indianapolis 500, Gus Linder accrued more than 250 victories in his career. During that time, he established himself as one of the country’s best racers in sprint cars, which are designed primarily for running on shorter, circular dirt or paved tracks.

“Gus Linder’s legacy in sprint car racing puts him in a class all his own,” said Don Gamble, a local racing historian and host of “Rappin’ on Racin’,” a weekly motor sports radio show. “He was able to accomplish things in the sport many were never able to do.”

An avid Steelers fan who was a ticket holder going back to the team’s days at Pitt Stadium, Mr. Linder was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1976 alongside Art Rooney Sr., whom he sat next to during the ceremony. He also was honored by the Dapper Dan Hall of Fame, Tri-City Speedway Hall of Fame and Circle Track Hall of Fame, among others.

For over 30 years, he owned and operated Gus Linder Tire Sales in Whitehall, and after retiring from that, he continued to keep busy, even working as a crossing guard for the Bethel Park School District as recently as two years ago.

“He told it the way it was, that’s for sure,” John Linder said. “He was kind of a hard-nosed person, too. That sounds negative, but he was who he was.”

In addition to his son, Mr. Linder is survived by his wife of 62 years, Joan of Bethel Park; another son, Richard of Iowa; a daughter, Patty Linder Boyer of Baldwin; two sisters, Virginia Martin of the South Side and Alice Land of California; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 4 to 7 p.m. today at John F. Slater Funeral Home in Brentwood. The funeral will be private. The family suggests memorial contributions to Family Hospice and Palliative Care, 50 Moffett St., Pittsburgh 15243.

Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG.