Dick Thompson

Dr. Dick Thompson 2007

Richard Knight "Dick" Thompson (born July 9, 1920 - † September 4, 2014 ) was an American racing car driver .

Career

Dick Thompson worked as a dentist in Washington, DC , which earned him the nickname "The Flying Dentist" among his fellow racing drivers. Thompson was active from the late 1950s to the 1970s, winning several SCCA sports car championships.

In the USA he was popular as "the" Corvette driver and gave the now legendary racing car its first major successes. He won five SCCA championships in 1956, 1957, 1960, 1961 and 1962. In 1963 he won the sports car race at Watkins Glen with a Corvette .

Thompson, who was also a works driver for Briggs Cunningham , came to Europe with the US team in 1960 and made his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans . His best placement was fourth overall with Augie Pabst in a Maserati Tipo 63 in 1961. In 1967 he won the 1000 km race at Spa-Francorchamps with Jacky Ickx as a partner on a Mirage M1 .

Thompson never made enough money racing to make a living from. That is why he worked as a dentist well into old age. Thompson lived in Wellington until his death and enjoyed his retirement.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1960	Briggs Cunningham	Chevrolet Corvette	Fred Windbridge	failure	Engine failure
1961	Briggs Cunningham	Maserati Tipo 63	Augie Pabst	Rank 4
1962	Briggs Cunningham	Maserati Tipo 151	William Kimberly	failure	Engine failure
1965	AC Cars Ltd.	Shelby Coupe Daytona	Jack Sears	Rank 8
1967	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Mirage M1	David Piper	failure	Engine failure
1968	Howmet Corporation	Howmet TX	Ray Heppenstall	failure	malfunction

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1952	Dick Thompson	MG TD	Bill Kinchloe				Rank 8
1955	Jack Pry	Jaguar XK140 MC	Charles Wallace				Rank 10
1957	John Fitch	Chevrolet Corvette	Gaston Andrey				Rank 12
1958	Dick Thompson	Chevrolet Corvette	Fred Windridge	John Kilbourn			Rank 33
1959	Briggs Cunningham	Lister	Walt Hansgen				Rank 12
1960	Jaguar Distributors of New York	Chevrolet Corvette	Fred Windridge				failure	Engine failure
1961	Momo Corporation	Maserati Tipo 61	John Fitch				failure	Power transmission
1962	Briggs Cunningham	Maserati Tipo 64	Walt Hansgen				failure	suspension
1963	Grady Davis	Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray	Ed Lowther	Donald Yenko	Duncan Black	M. Wyllie	failure	Engine failure
1964	NART	Ferrari 250 GTO LMB	Bob Grossman				Rank 14
1965	Shaw Racing Team	Shelby Cobra	Graham Shaw				Rank 19
1966	Roger Penske	Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport	Dick Guldstrand				failure	accident
1967	JW Engineering Ltd.	Ford GT40	Ed Lowther				failure	Engine failure
1968	Howmet Corporation	Howmet TX Continental	Ed Lowther	Ray Heppenstall			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	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1955	Jack Pry	Jaguar XK 140	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
				10
1957	John Fitch Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
				12					12
1958	Dick Thompson	Chevrolet Corvette	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
				33
1959	Briggs Cunningham	Lister	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
			12
1960	Jaguar Distributors of New York Briggs Cunningham	Chevrolet Corvette	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
				DNF			DNF
1961	Momo Corporation Briggs Cunningham	Maserati Tipo 61 Maserati Tipo 63	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
			DNF			4th
1962	Grady Davis Briggs Cunningham	Chevrolet Corvette Maserati Tipo 64 Maserati Tipo 151	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
			13		DNF					DNF						9
1963	Grady Davis	Chevrolet Corvette	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
			3		DNF
1964	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GTO	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
				14th
1965	Graham Shaw AC Cars	Shelby Cobra Shelby Daytona	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
			10	19th										8th								3
1966	Essex Wire Corporation Roger Penske	Ford GT40 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
			DNF	DNF
1967	JW Automotive	Ford GT40 Mirage M1	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
			6th	DNF	9	1			DNF			DNF
1968	Howmet Corporation	Howmet TX	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
			DNF	DNF	DNF					3		DNF

Web links

Commons : Dick Thompson  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dick Thompson at Racing Sports Cars