Briggs Cunningham1950s Racing DriversOne of the greaest among 1950s racing drivers Briggs Cunningham made his name both as a driver and builder of cars. One of Cunningham’s dreams was an American victory in the Le Man 24 Hours. Cunningham made his venture into this famous race in 1950 when he entered two Cadillacs. One, “Le Monstre” was driven by Cunningham and Phil Walters. The other was driven by the brothers Sam and Miles Collier and nicknamed “Coupe de Ville.” The Collier brothers finished the event 10th overall. Cunningham and Salters ended the race in 11th spot, despite losing half-an-hour digging themselves out of a sandbank Cunningham was faced with a problem ahead of the 1951 Le Mans. Cadillac withdrew their engines and through his contacts with Bob Keller, whose father was head of engineering at Chrysler, Cunningham was able to secure the Chrysler Firepower Hemi V8.
The 1953 Le Mans saw Cunningham and Bill Spears finish in seventh place, with the second Team Cunningham car coming tenth. The Team Cunningham cars had upped their average speeds, but were finding it difficult to overcome Team Jaguar’s dominance. For the 1954 Le Mans Cunningham hoped to introduce the C-6R. That plan never materialised so they kept faith with the C-4, His team’s hopes were hyped up as Cunningham’s picture appeared on the front cover of Time magazine. But still the dream of a Le Mans victory eluded Team Cunningham. The 1955 Le Mans proved to be a tragic event as driver Pierre Levegh and over 80 spectators were killed following a terrible smash. For Team Cunningham the story was very much the same for the new Cunningham C6R, which, fitted with an Offenhauser engine, was forced to retire during the race. That was enough to halt Cunningham’s personal ambitions to achieve American glory in the event. Despite Cunningham’s failure to produce a victor at Le Mans, his cars enjoyed success in other events. They won 14 times at events such as Bridgehampton, Watkins Glen and Elkhart Lake. Team Cunningham cars were always easily recognisable. With their blue stripes on the white body, his cars were the first to adopt racing stripes. Cunningham was honoured for his contribution to motor racing when, in 1997, he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Six years later he received a similar honour from the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Related Articles
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The best performance by team Cunningham in the Le Mans that year was an
18th place finish by Phil Walters and John Fitch. In the 1952 event Team Cunningham had its most successful
race so far, as Briggs Cunningham, partnered by Bill Spear, enjoyed an overall finish of fourth place.