A Le Mans Winner’s Birthday
29/02/1932, Masten Gregory is born in Kansas City, USA
.
A race winner at SCCA racing level in the US, Masten Gregory’s big international break came by winning the 1957 Buenios Aires 1000km race sharing the car with Luigi Musso, Eugenio Castellotti and Cesare Perdisa. This led to his Formula 1 debut shortly after with Mimmo Dei’s Scuderia Centro Sud at Monaco. Driving the privateer Maserati 250F to a great 3rd place, he became the first American to stand on the podium of a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Injury made him miss a number of races in 1958, but driving for Cooper in 1959 he finished 3rd at the Dutch GP and 2nd in Portugal. Still he was dropped at the end of the season and the privateer teams he raced with, like Centro Sud, Camoradi International, UDT Laystall and Reg Parnell Racing, never allowed a break through in F1.
So Masten concentrated on his sports car career winning the 1961 Nürburging 1000km race with Lucky Casner in a Maserati Birdcage and in 1962 the Canadian Grand Prix sports car race at Mosport Park in a Lotus-Climax. After the 1964 season as Ford works driver he won the 1965 Le Mans 24 hours race sharing a North American Racing Team Ferrari with Jochen Rindt. That same year came his debut at the Indianapolis 500 where he was running fifth when he retired. After his friend Jo Bonnier was killed at Le Mans in 1972, Masten got disenchanted with the sport becoming a diamond trader. He succumbed to a heart attack during a holiday trip in Italy in 1985.
Born: 29th of February 1932 in Kansas City, USA;
Died: 8th of November 1985 in Porto Ecole, Italy, aged 53.
Jeff Gordon back on victory lane
#NASCAR – After winning both the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series races at Phoenix International Raceway, Kyle Busch seemed to be on the way to a Weekend sweep as he took the lead of Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 from Tony Stewart after the last restart on Lap 291. But Jeff Gordon passed Stewart on the next lap and methodically cut into Busch’s lead, taking the lead on Lap 304 of 312 and scoring his first Sprint Cup Series win since April 2009. The victory was Gordon’s 83rd and ties him with Cale Yarborough for fifth on the all-time list. Darrell Waltrip is fourth with 84 wins.
Full report on all NASCAR races at PIR in P1Mag’s issue no.5, out on Tuesday.
Timmy Mayer’s Birthday
22/2/1938, Timothy Mayer is born in Scranton, USA.
Tim Mayer and his elder brother Teddy ran a Formula Junior team together with another brilliant youngster called Peter Revson. Mayer won the 1962 SCCA Formula Junior title in a Cooper and at the end of the year was given his chance to race a third factory Cooper in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. In 1963 the brothers headed to Europe where Tim drove for Ken Tyrrell Racing and at the end of the year he was signed to be Bruce McLaren’s team mate in the 1964 World Championship. Before the World Championship began the pair took part in the new Tasman Cup series in Australian and New Zealand. Mayer finished second to Denny Hulme in the first event at Levin and a week later chased McLaren across the line to finish third in the New Zealand GP at Pukekohe. Finishing second to McLaren at Teretonga underlined his abilities.
A month later, in practice for the final round of the Tasman series at Longford in Tasmania, he went off at high speed in the braking area for Longford Corner, where the cars went light over a slight rise, and crashed into one of the trees beside the road. He was killed instantly. A distraught Teddy decided to continue in racing and became the force behind Team McLaren, running the business after McLaren’s death in 1970 and winning World Championships with Emerson Fittipaldi in 1974 and James Hunt in 1976.
Born: 22th of February 1938 in Dalton, USA;
Died: 28th of February 1964 at the Longford Circuit, Tasmania, Australia.
Remembering Albert Scherrer
28/2/1908, Albert Scherrer is born in Riehen, Switzerland
.Albert Scherrer was an amateur driver, mainly competing with some success in national hill climbs and sports car races in Switzerland at the wheel of his Jaguar XK 120. His only participation in a round of the World Championship came in the 1953 Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten at the wheel of a works HWM. Although he didn’t finish the race, Scherrer ended up in 9th in the final results. It remained his only foray into single-seaters, he was then seen competing at the wheel of a Mercedes 300SL, winning the class for sports cars over 2600cc in the famour Ollon-Villars hill climb in 1956. After this fianl succcess he decided to retire from competition.
Born: 28th of February 1908 in Riehen, Switzerland;
Died: 5th of July 1986 in Basel, Switzerland, aged 78.
10 years ago: Charles Pozzi dies
28/2/2001, Carlos Alberto Pozzi dies
.
Carlos Pozzi was of Italian parentage and born in Paris, so he became known as Charles, the French translation of his name. Working as an automobile broker he only began racing in the late 1940s, when he was already 37 years old, while building up his luxury automobile business in Paris. He worked closely with Eugene Chaboud who helped him to become the French Champion of 1947. Eventually he and Chaboud set up their team called Ecurie Lutetia. Pozzi won the 1949 Grand Prix de l’ACF, which was held that year for sports cars. When the World Championship began he took part in the first French Grand Prix at Reims, driving a Lago Talbot to 5th place. He competed twice in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race in the early fifties, finishing eighth with Pierre Levegh in 1953. He was for many years a Rolls Royce and Chrysler dealer but in 1958 started dealing in Ferraris as well and was so successful that in 1968 he became the sole importer of the Italian cars to France. In the 1970s he became a well known entrant of Ferrari sports cars at Le Mans and was still running teams up until his death in 2001. His death came after a period of ill health in a hospital in Levallois Perret in the west of Paris close to the site where he founded the Ferrari concession.
Born: 27th of August 1909 in Paris, France;
Died: 28th of February 2001 in Levallois-Perret, France, aged 91.
Ellie Bayol’s Birthday
28/2/1914, Ellie Marcel Bayol is born in in Marseille, France.
.
Ellie Bayol was a front-runner in Formula 2 races as well as hill climbs around France in the early 1950s and qualified for the 1953 French GP at Reims that year, but did not finish. He also took part in the Italian GP that year and in 1954 he joined the Gordini factory team with Jean Behra and finished 5th in the first race in Argentina. After finishing 4th at Pau he edged out of the team. He returned the following year but suffered a string of mechanical failures. In 1956 he raced a few times but then left single-seater racing for good.
Born: 28th of February 1914 in Marseille, France;
Died: 25th of May 1995 in La Ciotat, France, aged 81.
One of Madrid’s quickest
28/02/1919, Antonio Creus is born in Madrid, Spain.
Antonio Creus was a Spanish motorbike racer turned sports car driver who decided to add a Formula 1 World Championship round to his career and therefore entered an elderly Maserati 250F for the 1960 Argentine Grand Prix. He qualified last, nearly 16 seconds off the pace of pole-setter Stirling Moss. In the race he was forced to retire after just one fifth of the distance as the smoldering heat had completely drained him physically within only 16 laps.
Born: 28th of February 1919 in Madrid, Spain
Died: 19th of February 1996 in Madrid, Spain, aged 76.
Checa with a head start
Spain’s Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea Racing) scored a splendid double win in the World Superbike Championship’s opening round of the season at Phillip Island, beating reigning World Champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) by a couple of seconds in both races. Find a full report in P1Mag’s issue no. 5.
Kyle Busch going for a sweep
#NASCAR – Kyle Busch held off a frenetic challenge from Carl Edwards in the closing laps of Saturday’s Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway and collected his 44th Nationwide Series victory. Having won Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series race at the 1-mile track, Busch will try for a weekend sweep Sunday in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 Sprint Cup event.
Remembering Ettore Chimeri
27/2/1960, Ettore Chimeri dies.
Italian by birth but residing in Venezuela with his family, Ettore Chimeri competed all over South America. His only Formula 1 appearance happened in the 1960 Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires, driving a rather old and run down Maserati 250F. Unsurprisingly the car didn’t make it through the entire race distance. While practicing for the Cuban Gran Premio Libertad near Havana two weeks later he suffered a spectacular crash with a Ferrari sports car. Despite having beeng rescued alive and flown immediately to a hospital by helicopter, Chimery passed away in the afternoon due to the seriousness of his injuries.
Born: 4th of June 1921 in Lodi, Italy.
Died: 27th of February 1960 in Havana, Cuba, aged 38.
Remembering Peter Revson
27/2/1939, Peter Jeffrey Revson is born in New York City, USA.
Peter Revson and his younger brother Doug grew up surrounded by money, as their father had been a co-owner in the Revlon cosmetics company and had sold off his shares in 1958. Peter showed up in Europe in 1963 to take part in Formula Junior races and by the end of the year had had his first taste of F1 in the Gold Cup at Oulton Park. He founded Revson Racing, run by Reg Parnell, and entered a Lotus-BRM in 11 events in 1964, including six World Championship races. Lacking impressive results he turned his main attention the CanAm series for the next five years. Although his university buddy Timmy Mayer was killed in a round of the 1964 Tasman series and Doug also lost his life in an F3 race in Denmark in 1967, Peter’s passion for racing remained unchanged and he continued to pursue his ambitions. In 1969 he finished 5th at the Indy 500 and won an IndyCar race at Indianapolis Raceway Park in a Brabham-Repco. He then had a comeback in F1 with the Yardley McLaren team in 1972 and had his finest moments in winning the British and Canadian Grands Prix the following year. He switched to the Shadow F1 team in 1974 but was killed during testing sessions at Kyalami circuit in the week prior to the South African Grand Prix. His Shadow suffered a front suspension failure and the car slid off the track and underneath the guard rails killing Peter Revson instantly.
Born: 27th of February 1939 in New York, USA
Died: 22nd of March 1974 at Kyalami circuit, South Africa, aged 35.
Wimille dies
28/1/1949, Jean-Pierre Wimille dies.
A frequent Grands Prix winner in the pre-war racing scene, Wimille had become a Bugatti works driver when he won the 1936 ACF GP (with Sommer), the 1937 Le Mans 24 Hrs (with Benoist) and the 1939 Le Mans 24 Hrs (with Veyron) in a series of Type 57 derivatives. However, in August 1939 Jean Bugatti died, and the following month France was at war. Wimille joined the French Armée de l’Air and was part of the French Resistance. After the war he immediately won the Coupe des Prisonniers on the 9th September 1945, the first race in peace, driving a works-supported Bugatti. He kept on winning and had there been a World Drivers Championship in 1947 and 1948 he would have been champion in both those years. In practice for a race of the Argentine 1949 Temporada series in Buenos Aires he was apparently blinded by the sun and his Simca-Gordini left the road, hitting a tree. Jean-Pierre Wimille died shortly afterwards from the sustained injuries and was posthumously awarded the Legion d’Honneur at his funeral.
Born: 26th of February 1908 in Paris, France;
Died: 28th of January 1949 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, aged 40.
Duke Nalon dies
26/02/2001, Dennis Nalon is born in Chicago, USA
Duke Nalon’s first appearance in the Indy 500 came in 1937 but he would have to wait until 1948 to become a frontrunner finishing 3rd and score pole-position the following year, but crashing out of the race lead. From 1950 on, when the Indy 500 race counted as a round of the Formula 1 World Championship, Duke would enter F1 stats as the pole-setter in 1951. But the Duke didn’t manage to repeat the performances he had shown in recent years. He retired after the 1954 Indy 500 and, after living a while in Phoenix, moved to Indianapolis as one of the members of the Indy 500 racers club.
Born: 12th of March 1913 in Chicago, USA.
Died: 26th of February 2001 in Indianapolis, USA, aged 87.
Goethals died
.
Christian Goethals was a regular in the Belgian sports car scene in the early 1950s, driving mainly Porsches. His biggest success had been a 2nd place in the 1500cc class of the 1956 sports car race in Reims, when he decided to rent a private a Formula 2 Cooper T43-Climax to take part in the 1958 German Grand Prix but failed to finish due to a broken fuel pump. Chrsitian realized he felt safer in sports cars and topped his international success with a 5th place in the overall result of the 1960 Buenos Aires 1000km race. But a serious accident during the Grand Prix of Angola made him decide to retire from racing.
Born: 4th of August 1928 in Heule, Belgium;
Died: 26th of February 2003 in Cortrijk, Belgium, aged 74.
François Cevert is born
25/2/1944, François Albert Cevert is born in Paris, France.
A French F3 champion, Cevert made his Grand Prix debut in the F2 class of the 1969 German GP and went on to replace Johnny Servoz-Gavin in Ken Tyrrell’s Formula 1 team alongside Jackie Stewart as of the 1970 Dutch GP. At the French and Gernan GP the following year Stewart and Cevert scored the first ones of a series of Tyrrell 1-2 finishes over the coming years and Francois scored his first victory in the final round of 1971, the US GP at Watkins Glen. With Jackie Stewart’s imminent retirement, Francois Cevert was being groomed thoughout 1972 and 1973 to take over as Tyrrell team leader as of 1974. But a tragic accident during qualifying for the 1973 US Grand Prix when his car flipped at the fast Esses at Watkins Glen and skidded along on the barriers killed on of the most colourful and promissing drivers of the early 1970s.
Born: 25th of February 1944 in Paris, France.
Died: 6th of October 1973 in Watkins Glen, USA, aged 29.
Issue no. 4 available now
Two matters dominate our latest issue, one being the cancellation of the GP2 Asia round in Sakhir as well as the cancellation of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix and its effect on the team’s preparations for the 2011 season.
The other being the season-opening NASCAR races at the Daytona International Speedway, ten years after the sport lost one of its living legends: Dale “The Intimidator” Earnhardt.
You can download the latest issue by clicking on the title oicture on the right, or by clicking HERE
Enjoy the read !
Timmy Mayer is born
22/02/1938, Timothy Mayer is born in Dalton, USA
Tim Mayer and his elder brother Teddy ran a Formula Junior team together with another brilliant youngster called Peter Revson. Mayer won the 1962 SCCA Formula Junior title in a Cooper and at the end of the year was given his chance to race a third factory Cooper in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. In 1963 the brothers headed to Europe where Tim drove for Ken Tyrrell Racing and at the end of the year he was signed to be Bruce McLaren’s team mate in the 1964 World Championship. Before the World Championship began the pair took part in the new Tasman Cup series in Australian and New Zealand. Mayer finished second to Denny Hulme in the first event at Levin and a week later chased McLaren across the line to finish third in the New Zealand GP at Pukekohe. Finishing second to McLaren at Teretonga underlined his abilities.
A month later, in practice for the final round of the Tasman series at Longford in Tasmania, he went off at high speed in the braking area for Longford Corner, where the cars went light over a slight rise, and crashed into one of the trees beside the road. He was killed instantly. A distraught Teddy decided to continue in racing and became the force behind Team McLaren, running the business after McLaren’s death in 1970 and winning World Championships with Emerson Fittipaldi in 1974 and James Hunt in 1976.
Born: 22nd of February 1938 in Dalton, USA;
Died: 28th of February 1964 at the Longford Circuit, Tasmania, Australia.
George Constantine is born
22/2/1918, George Constantine is born in Southbridge, USA.
Successful SCCA amateur racer from Southbridge, Massachusetts, Constantine won the 1956 Watkins Glen Grand Prix for sports car in a Jaguar D-type and thereafer a number of races at the wheel of an Aston Martin. He took part in the 1959 US Grand Prix at Sebring in a Cooper-Climax T45 entered by Mike Taylor but failed to finish due to a burnt head gasket. He then gained fame when he was elected USSC’s Driver of the Year alongside Walt Hansgen. He continued racing in sports cars and scored a class win in the 1962 Daytona 24 Hours race. George Constantine died after a long fight against illness early in 1968.
Born: 22th of February 1918 in Southbridge, USA;
Died: 7th of January 1968 in Southbridge, USA, aged 49.
Iglesias is born
22/02/1922, Jesus Ricardo Iglesias is born in Pergamino, Argentina.
Iglesias was a regular in the Argentine racing scene and in 1955 organized himself a Gordini T16 for his Formula 1 debut in his home Grand Prix at Buenos Aires. Outside his Country he is probably remembered best for a incident in 1958, now driving a locally built and Jaguar-powered chassis, when he clashed with Stirling Moss in the Temporada Argentina round at Buenos Aires.
Born. 22th of February 1922 in Pergamino, Argentina;
Died: 11th of July 2005 in Pergamino, Argentina, aged 83.
Kankkunen on ice = World record
Four times World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen has established a new World Speed Record – crossing the frozen Scandinavian sea at 330,695 km/h with a road-going Bentley Continental Supersports! Blimey…
The Count’s Birthday
20/02/1895, Count Louis Zborowski is born in London.
The wealthy son of a Polish Count and Margaret Laura Astor Carey, a heiress to the Astor wealth, Louis Zborowski appeared on the international scene in 1923 racing for Aston Martin at Brooklands and in the 1923 French Grand Prix. He drove a Bugatti in the Indianapolis 500 and there he made a deal to drive an American Miller 122 in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He joined the Mercedes team for the 1924 season but died in one of their cars, after hitting a tree during the Italian Grand Prix.
Born: 20th of February 1895 in London, UK;
Died: 19th of October 1924 at Monza circuit, Italy, aged 29.
Bayne youngest ever ’500′ winner
NASCAR : Trevor Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500, a race that featured records for cautions and lead changes. Bayne , who turned 20 Saturday, led the final two laps of the race that was decided with a green-white-checkered-flag finish. Carl Edwards finished second, with David Gilliland, Bobby Labonte and Kurt Busch rounding out the top five. The victory was the first for the Wood Brothers since 2001 with Elliott Sadler. Bayne is the seventh driver to get his first Cup victory in the Daytona 500.
98 years ago: Roger Laurent is born
21/02/1913, Roger Laurent is born in Liège, Belgium.
Five times Belgian motorcycle champion, Roger Laurent switched to racing cars in the 1940s, took part in a couple of non-championship Grands Prix and, during 1952, in 2 World Championship rounds at the wheel of a Ferrari 500. His best result remained a 6th place in the German GP at the Nürburgring that year. His last F1 race came 1954 in Syracuse before concentrating on sports car racing finishing in 4th place twice at the 24 hours of Le Mans.
Born: 21st of February 1913 in Liège, Belgium;
Died: 6th of February 1997 in Uccle, Belgium, aged 83.
Today’s the day !
We have been counting down the days to the season-opening Daytona 500 and for the amount of days left to the 2011 Sprint Cup’s opening, revealing a magic number in NASCAR stats each day and what it means. As today’s the day, there’s no number left. Oh wait, yes there is: ZERO!
ZERO Top-10 finishes for Kenny Wallace in the Daytona 500. Wallace holds the record for most Daytona 500 starts—10—without a top-10 finish. Dave Blaney and Robert Pressley are next with nine starts. Wallace’s best finish in the 500 is 16th, which came in the rain-shortened 2003 Daytona 500 won by Michael Waltrip. Only 109 of the scheduled 200 laps were completed that day.
Reader's Comments