Jimmy Who?

Way back when (a long time ago, in a place far away from here), I remember my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Hinkle, playing a 45 RPM record of a song called "The Ballad of Jimmy Bryan."  I have no idea why she did this, but it stuck in my head and every once in a while I'd be in a music store and remember that song......and proceed to make an utter fool of myself by asking the sales staff if they had ever heard of this song, no I don't know who sang it, I can't sing but a very few lines, yes it WAS a long time ago but NO I did not dream the song and I don't care if YOU haven't ever heard of Jimmy Bryan, I have, and the song was about him and.....well, you get the idea.

So time passes and one day I'm tooling around on the internet and I decide, just on the off chance - nothing ventured nothing gained, right? - to google the name of the song and OMGoodness I FOUND IT!

You can go listen to it right now, I'll wait.  Listen to the "B" side too, it's pretty awesome.

Jimmy Bryan was the winner of the 1958 Indy 500, and died in a racing accident in 1960, both of which happened before I was even born. (I'll get to see his winning car take a lap around the track at this year's pre-race ceremonies, though.  That will be a treat.)

So I found the song, but what I still haven't been able to figure out is why did my teacher play that record in class?  And of all the odd things to stick in my head, why that?