Dave Helmick

Dave Helmick's Porsche Carrera RSR with the warning light on the roof. With this car he won together with Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood , the 12-hour race at Sebring 1973 .

David "Dave" Helmick (* 1937 ; † May 2019 ) was an American radiologist , racing car driver and racing team owner.

education

Dave Helmick trained as a general practitioner during his military service and then worked as a doctor in the United States Army . He left the army in the mid-1960s and went to Ford as an occupational physician . In 1966 he was a team doctor at Shelby American and looked after the Ford drivers at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . In the early 1970s, he trained as a radiologist.

Racing career

Dave Helmick's driving career began in 1963 on a Porsche 356 in club and local sports car races. Helmick was the classic weekend racing driver who did his job during the week and came to the races with family and car on Sunday. In the 1970s, activities became more professional. He bought a Porsche Carrera RSR , whose trademark was a warning light on the roof, and ran a small racing team under the name Ecurie Escargot .

Helmick was able to win the two most important US endurance races once each. Together with Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood , he won the 1973 Sebring 12-hour race . Two years later , with third place overall, he achieved another podium finish at Sebring . The overall victory at the 1977 Daytona 24-hour race was remarkable . Despite an offer from the Porsche works team, Hurley Haywood decided to participate in a race with Helmick. Starting the race from last place on the grid, in the end they won the Carrera RSR by twelve laps over the more powerful Porsche 935 of Carlo Facetti , Martino Finotto and Romeo Camathias . Third driver alongside Helmick and Haywood was John Graves .

statistics

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1973	Dr. Dave Helmick	Porsche Carrera RSR	Peter Gregg	Hurley Haywood	Overall victory
1975	Ecurie Escargot	Porsche Carrera RSR	John O'Steen	John Graves	Rank 3
1976	Ecurie Escargot	Porsche Carrera RSR	John O'Steen		failure	Engine failure

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
1972	Ecurie Escargot	Porsche 911	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
													8th
1973	Ecurie Escargot	Porsche 911 Porsche Carrera RSR	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
			11									12
1974	International performance	Porsche Carrera RSR	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
									13
1975	Escar	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SPA	BY	ONLY	ZEL	WAT
			6th
1976	Ecurie Escargot	Porsche Carrera RSR	MUG	VAL	ONLY	MON	SIL	IMO	ONLY	ZEL	BY	WAT	MOS	DIJ	DIJ	SAL
												6th
1977	Ecurie Escargot	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
			1

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

Commons : Dave Helmick  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• About Dave Helmick
• Dave Helmick at Racing Sports Cars