Chuck Parsons
Charles W. "Chuck" Parsons (born February 6, 1924 in Bruin , † January 3, 1999 in Walnut ) was an American racing driver .
Early years
Chuck Parsons was born in a small town in the US state of Kentucky . He fractured a hip joint when he was five years old . The poor healing process made him limp for life . In 1948 he moved to California and settled in Monterey . He worked as a car salesman and opened a used car dealership in 1950 .
Racing career
His racing career began in 1958 when he competed in an Austin-Healey amateur race. The Austin-Healey was followed by a Porsche 356 A Carrera , with which it won its first race in Pomona in March 1959 . In 1960 he competed in the SCCA sports car championship on a Lotus 15 , which he traded in at Jim Hall in 1961 for a Maserati Birdcage . With the Birdcage he won four races in 1961 and established himself as a sports car driver .
In addition to his starts in the SCCA championship , he was also regularly entered in the USSRC sports car series . He was able to win races again and again in both racing series, but did not achieve a championship title. In 1966 he played his first Can-Am season . Parsons drove a McLaren M1B and finished the championship (Master John Surtees in a Lola T70 Mk. 2 SL71 / 17 ) in eighth place overall. He had his best Can-Am season in 1969 when he finished third overall for the Carl Haas team with the Lola T162 and T163 cars behind the two McLaren factory drivers Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme ( McLaren M8B ).
The end of the 1960s he drove sports cars race for the North American Racing Team , was in 1970 when 24-hour race at Le Mans at the start and was together with Mike Parkes in the Ferrari 312P Coupe sixth overall at the 12 Hours of Sebring . He achieved his greatest success in a single race through the accident of a driver colleague. After Ronnie Bucknum broke his finger in a motorcycle accident, Parsons was signed as his substitute shortly before the start of the 1969 24-hour race in Daytona . He won the race together with Mark Donohue on a Lola T70 Mk.3B GT entered by Roger Penske . After the end of the 1972 season, he retired from active racing. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage in early January 1999 .
statistics
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1967 | North American Racing Team | Ferrari 365P2 | Ricardo Rodríguez-Cavazos | failure | accident |
1970 | North American Racing Team | Ferrari 312P | Tony Adamowicz | not classified |
Sebring results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1969 | NART | Ferrari 250P | Pedro Rodríguez | Rank 37 | |
1970 | NART | Ferrari 312P Coupe | Mike Parkes | Rank 6 | |
1971 | North American Racing Team | Ferrari 512S | David Weir | failure | cooler |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th | 16 | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | Randy Hilton | Shelby Cobra | DAY | SEB | TAR | MON | SPA | CON | ONLY | ROS | LEM | REI | FRE | CCE | RTT | SIM | ONLY | MON | TDF | BRI | BRI | PAR |
8th | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1967 | NART | Ferrari 365P2 | DAY | SEB | MON | SPA | TAR | ONLY | LEM | HOK | MUG | BRH | CCE | ZEL | OVI | ONLY | ||||||
DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1968 | Ecurie Bonnier NART |
Lola T70 Ferrari 250P |
DAY | SEB | BRH | MON | TAR | ONLY | SPA | WAT | ZEL | LEM | ||||||||||
10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1969 | Team Penske | Lola T70 | DAY | SEB | BRH | MON | TAR | SPA | ONLY | LEM | WAT | ZEL | ||||||||||
1 | 37 | |||||||||||||||||||||
1970 | NART |
Ferrari 512S Ferrari 312P |
DAY | SEB | BRH | MON | TAR | SPA | ONLY | LEM | WAT | ZEL | ||||||||||
DNF | 6th | DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||
1971 |
North American Racing Team Dean Racing |
Ferrari 512S Porsche 908 |
BUA | DAY | SEB | BRH | MON | SPA | TAR | ONLY | LEM | ZEL | WAT | |||||||||
DNF | DNF | DNF |
Web links
- Chuck Parsons at Historic Racing
- Chuck Parsons at the Driver Database
- Chuck Parsons at Racing Sports Cars
Individual evidence
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Parsons, Chuck |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Parsons, Charles W. |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | February 6, 1924 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Bruin |
DATE OF DEATH | January 3, 1999 |
Place of death | Walnut |