Happy 32nd Birthday

[Offcamber1]

To my first racing hero, Masten Gregory.

(leap year baby)

[E1pix]

So he was legal to drive at 4!

Edit: Seriously, great driver and nice birthday wishes. I believe I may have seen him run without knowing it (too young), at a Road America 500 in the early ‘60s, but know very little of his career beyond the Le Mans win.

He died pretty young, but I never knew why.

[Offcamber1]

Survived the most dangerous era in racing history and jumping out of race car before it hit something hard at least twice, only to die of a heart attack before age 60. I named my first son after him. What an interesting character!

[E1pix]

Whoops, double post.

[E1pix]

Very cool, and I’d dead wrong about my seeing him when little… he came up sometimes with my dad, maybe he saw him run in the ‘50s, but I didn’t for being years off still. :-)

Interesting reading more now about him now. First American to podium in F1, in his debut race!

Retired when his friend Jo Bonnier died at Le Mans, in a Lola T280-DFV I think (lovely American counterpart T290 was a B Sports Racing car in the day).

Did you get to see him run?

https://www.mshf.com/hall-of-fame/in...n-gregory.html

[Peter Olivola]

I listened to the 1965 Indy 500 on the radio. Masten Gregory started on the last row in a BRP and worked his way into the top ten. When he dropped out I lost interest in the race.