Bruce Jennings (racing driver)
Bruce Richard Jennings (born 1927 in Baltimore ; † January 28, 1997 ) was an American racing car driver .
Racing career
Bruce Jennings grew up in Homeland , a neighborhood in Baltimore. After school education at the local high school had finished, he served in the last months of World War II in the United States Army Air Corps . After the end of the war he worked in the insurance agency founded by his father in 1922.
His driving career began in May 1957 and ended in March 1981 after his last start in the Sebring 12-hour race . In between there were 259 sports car races, of which he was able to finish 208. 33 race and 39 class victories made him one of the most successful US racing drivers of his generation. His success in Porsche 356 Speedsters , of which he owned four, gave him the nationally known nickname King Carrera . His red and white painted Porsche models with the starting number 77 were legendary .
In 1961 and 1964 he won the production car class of the SCCA Sportscar Championship . He competed 18 times in the Sebring 12-hour race, where his best place was third overall in his debut in 1962 . His only start in the 24 Hours of Le Mans ended in 1967 with a failure due to a defective battery at the factory - Chaparral 2F . He had his worst accident in 1960 during a race at Watkins Glen , where his Porsche 356 overturned several times. Despite a few fractured vertebrae, he was back in the racing car a few weeks later.
statistics
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
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1967 |
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Chaparral 2F |
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failure | battery |
Sebring results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 |
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Porsche 718 RS 60 |
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3rd place and class win | |
1964 |
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Porsche 356B 2000 GS GT |
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Rank 18 | ||
1965 |
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Chaparral 2A |
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Rank 22 | ||
1966 |
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Ford GT40 |
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Rank 13 | ||
1967 |
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Chaparral 2D |
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failure | Ignition damage | |
1968 |
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Mercury Cougar |
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not classified | ||
1969 |
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Porsche 911 |
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Rank 16 | |
1970 |
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Porsche 911T |
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failure | Engine failure | |
1971 |
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Porsche 911S |
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failure | Cylinder damage | |
1972 |
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Porsche 911S |
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Rank 11 | ||
1973 |
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Porsche 911S |
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Rank 13 | ||
1975 |
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Porsche 911 Carrera |
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failure | malfunction | |
1976 |
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Porsche 911 |
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failure | Engine failure | |
1977 |
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Porsche 911S |
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failure | malfunction | |
1978 |
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Porsche Carrera RSR |
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failure | mechanics | |
1979 |
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Porsche 911 |
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failure | Engine failure | |
1980 |
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Porsche 911 |
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failure | Engine failure |
1981 |
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Porsche 911 |
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Rank 19 |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
literature
- Ken Breslauer: Sebring. The official History of America's Great Sports Car Race. David Bull, Cambridge MA 1995, ISBN 0-9649722-0-4 .
- Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .
Web links
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Jennings, Bruce |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jennings, Bruce Richard (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1927 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Baltimore |
DATE OF DEATH | January 28, 1997 |