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Peter Gregg (racing driver)

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Peter Holden Gregg (May 4, 1940 – December 15, 1980) was an American race car driver during the golden age of the Trans-Am Series and a five-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He was also the owner of Brumos, a Jacksonville, Florida, car dealership and racing team.

Background

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Gregg was born in New York City, the son of a mechanical engineer and manufacturer of marine incinerators.[1][2]

He graduated from the Deerfield Academy, a private prep school,[2] in 1957 and moved on to Harvard University, where he earned a degree in English in 1961.[3] He had a brief career in filmmaking while also competing as a squash player and then eventually settling on auto racing.[2] After graduating from Harvard,[4] he moved to Europe and attended the Centro-Sud Driving School.[3] He then joined the U.S. Navy and became an air intelligence officer. He was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, and served there until discharged in 1965.[3] He was married to Jennifer Johnson and had two sons, Jason and Simon.

His legacy lives on in the Peter Gregg Foundation.

Racing career

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1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR of Peter Gregg

While at school, Gregg began his motorsport career in gymkhanas and ice races after an initial appearance in a hill climb in 1958 in Laconia, New Hampshire.[2]

In 1963 he drove an unmodified production Corvette in Osceola County, Florida, and won the SCCA sanctioned race. He became a serious Porsche racer in 1964 with a Porsche 904 and then moved into competition with a Porsche 906.[2] In 1965 he purchased Brumos Porsche, a local dealership, after the death of the owner, Hubert Brundage.[3] He was the SCCA's Southeastern Division champion in 1967 in two classes and scored victories in Daytona and Sebring.[2] In 1968 he acquired a Mercedes-Benz dealership and entered competition in the SCCA's Under-2-Litre section of the Trans-Am Series. He won six Trans-Am races in 1969 and also took the SCCA's B Sedan National Championship. In 1970, he opened a third dealership, SportAuto, selling Fiats and MGs.[3]

In 1971, he was part of the major Trans-Am Series, driving Bud Moore Ford Mustangs, alongside teammate George Follmer.[3] He won the Trans-Am Series in 1973 and 1974 in a Brumos Porsche. By this time, he was involved with IMSA and won the IMSA GTO overall championship in 1971 and 1973, earning him the nickname "Peter Perfect", possibly a reference to a character in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon called the "Wacky Races" and his clean-cut naval officer image. In 1973 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche Carrera co-driven by Hurley Haywood. He then announced his retirement to lead a life as a director of the Jacksonville National Bank,[3] a club tennis player and a speedboat racer out of the Ponte Vedra Yacht Club.[2]

Gregg retracted his retirement and won the 24 Hours of Daytona three more times, in 1975, 1976, and 1978.[3] His 1976 Daytona victory in the #59 BMW E9 Coupe Sport Leicht (CSL) "Batmobile" (the first product of what would become the BMW M Motorsport subsidiary) with co-driver Brian Redman is cited as BMW's first major victory on American soil.[5]

Gregg won IMSA GTO overall championships in 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979, giving him six career titles in the class. In June 1980, he was due to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a 924 Carrera GTS for the Porsche factory team along with fellow American Al Holbert, but was injured near Paris; en route to a practice session for the race,[3] he attempted to overtake an ox cart, but a car pulled out in front of him and, in attempting to avoiding a collision,[6] his car careered into a ditch.[4] Artist Frank Stella was his passenger.[7] When doctors refused to allow Gregg to race his place was taken by Derek Bell.[4]

Gregg was given clearance to compete at the Paul Revere 250 at Daytona the following month. His partner, Haywood, who was scheduled to drive for most of the race, soon fell ill while leading, leaving Gregg to fill in, but their Porsche fell back, eventually finishing third. Suffering from double vision, he was soon barred from racing by IMSA.[4]

BMW M1 Pro car-painting, 1979 by Frank Stella, commissioned by Gregg

Gregg’s success with BMW was rewarded with an invitation to order a BMW M1 Procar Championship supercar from the factory. The Gregg car Frank Stella painted is cited as the only BMW Art Car not owned by the factory (although "unofficial", Stella was an official art car artist). Gregg’s widow sold the car in 1990; it was donated to the Guggenheim Museum in 1999 and then sold at the Bonhams 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance auction for $854,000 to art collector, car collector, and BMW dealer Jonathan Sobel. the car was later sold to renowned BMW car collector Peter Gleeson[8][9]

Death

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Following his road accident in France on June 10, 1980, Gregg suffered from lingering concussion symptoms that included headaches and double vision for several months.[10]

"Peter had been concerned with a lot of things philosophically," business partner Bob Snodgrass said. "And after the accident that happened in Le Mans, Peter went through a rough period of having to face the reality that he was physically not able to race because of his medical problem."[11]

Gregg qualified 11th for the November 30 250-mile race at Daytona but withdrew before the race, claiming the car suffered handling issues.[12]

After a five-month courtship, Gregg married Deborah Jane Marrs, a 25 year-old commercial artist from Miami, on December 6.

Peter Gregg committed suicide by firearm on December 15, 1980, near the beach south of Jacksonville. In his briefcase, he had left a suicide note that said, in part: “I just don’t enjoy life anymore. I must have the right to end it.”[13] Police said that he had recently undergone psychiatric care.[14]

Hurley Haywood, Gregg's close friend, suspects that Gregg's decision was due to multiple factors, "not the least of which was the realization that the man other racers called “Peter Perfect” was no longer the best." New drivers were driving the same kind of car, a Porsche 935, and they were faster. “Peter could not accept the fact that he was not the top dog anymore.”[13]

Brumos racing after Gregg

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Gregg's endurance racing partner, Hurley Haywood, assisted Deborah Gregg as she took the position of Owner/CEO at Brumos Motorcars. She became a successful driver in the Trans Am and endurance series driving for Brumos in the '80s.[15] She remarried and sold the dealerships in the mid-'90s.

In 1991, Brumos Porsche entered a two-car Porsche team in the newly created IMSA SuperCar series and won three straight manufacturer’s championships for Porsche with a pair of traditional white, red, and blue 911 Turbos. Peter's son Simon later competed as a driver in Trans-Am, the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am Series.[16] Simon Gregg campaigns a Chevrolet Corvette under the Derhaag Motorsports banner in the SCCA's GT-1-class. He won the SCCA Southeast Conference Major's Tour GT-1 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in January 2015, and set a new track record for the GT-1 class.[17]

Awards

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Motorsports results

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SCCA National Championship Runoffs

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Year Track Car Engine Class Finish Start Status
1967 Daytona Porsche 911 E Sports Racer 2 3 Running
Porsche 911 B Sedan 12 3 Retired
1969 Daytona Porsche 911 B Sedan 1 1 Running
1970 Road Atlanta Porsche 914/6 C Production 8 15 Running

24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
pos.
1966 Germany Porsche System Engineering Sweden Sten Axelsson Porsche 906 Carrera 6 S 2.0 321 DNF DNF
1973 France Sonauto BP Racing France Guy Chasseuil Porsche 911 Carrera RSR GTS 3.0 298 14th 3rd
1976 Germany BMW Motorsport GmbH United Kingdom Brian Redman BMW 3.0 CSL Turbo Gr. 5
SP 		23 DNF DNF
1977 France JMS Racing
France ASA Cachia 		France Claude Ballot-Léna Porsche 935 Gr. 5
SP 		315 3rd 1st
1978 Germany Martini Racing Porsche System United States Hurley Haywood
Germany Reinhold Joest 		Porsche 936/77 Gr. 6
S 3.0 		362 3rd 3rd
1979 France Charles Pozzi / JMS Racing France Claude Ballot-Léna
France Michel Leclère 		Ferrari 512 BB-LM IMSA
GTX 		219 DNF DNF

References

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  1. ^ "Peter Gregg - 1940-1980". Motorsportshalloffame.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "International Motorsports Hall of Fame". Motorsportshalloffame.com. Archived from the original on 2008-08-27. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "IMSAblog: Peter Gregg : a racing legend". Alex62.typepad.com. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  4. ^ a b c d https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19801217&id=NvALAAAAIBAJ&sjid=P1oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6268,796550 [dead link‍]
  5. ^ "1975-1976 BMW 3.5 CSL IMSA". Supercars.net. Retrieved 2014-11-07.
  6. ^ "Peter Gregg Takes His Life". St. Petersburg Evening Independent. 16 December 1980.
  7. ^ "Bernard Jacobson Gallery". Jacobsongallery.com. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  8. ^ "Tragic Racer's BMW M1 Art Car Heads to Pebble Beach Auction". The New York Times. 10 August 2011. Retrieved 2014-11-07.
  9. ^ "Frank Stella's BMW M1 art car finds a new home in the Hamptons". Autoblog.com. 7 October 2011. Retrieved 2014-11-07.
  10. ^ "Peter Gregg Shot Dead, Suicide Said Probable". Daytona Beach News Journal. December 16, 1980. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Peter Gregg Shot Dead, Suicide Said Probable". Daytona Beach News Journal. December 16, 1980. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Sports World Shocked". Daytona Beach News Journal. 16 December 1980. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  13. ^ a b Smith, Steven Cole (February 6, 2018). "Hurley Haywood: 'If my voice is strong enough to help one kid ...'". www.autoweek.com. Autoweek. Retrieved June 7, 2021. 5-time Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car champion tells all in new book, film
  14. ^ "Peter Gregg Shot Dead, Suicide Said Probable". Daytona Beach News Journal. December 16, 1980. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  15. ^ Roberts, Rich (1987-04-04). "She Is Chasing After Dreams, Leaving the Nightmare Behind Widow of Peter Gregg Has Taken the Wheel". Pqasb.pqarchiver.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  16. ^ "Simon Gregg Signs With American Viperacing for Sebring and Daytona; www.TheRaceSite.com". Theraceforum.com. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  17. ^ "Track records fall at Homestead Majors". www.scca.com. Sports Car Club of America. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  18. ^ Peter Gregg at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
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