Ed Hugus

The Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB by Augie Pabst and Ed Hugus fourth overall at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1960 were

Edward James "Ed" Hugus (born June 30, 1923 in Pittsburgh , † June 29, 2006 in Pebble Beach ) was an American automobile racing driver . According to his own statements, he also drove as a substitute driver in the winning car of the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1965, without being recorded in the results lists.

The Le Mans story

One of the greatest curiosities in international motorsport is around the racing driver Ed Hugus. In 1965, the American came to the 24-hour race of Le Mans as a reserve driver for the North American Racing Team . According to the regulations at the time, each racing team was allowed to nominate a substitute driver for all vehicles used. This could then be used if it was clear before the race that one of the drivers was not allowed or could not start for health reasons. However, like so many in motorsport, these regulations were not formulated precisely enough. So it remained unclear whether the substitute driver could also be used during the ongoing race. The only thing that was clearly regulated was that a driver who had left in an accident could not be replaced. So much for history.

Just before 4 a.m. Masten Gregory , who was sharing a Ferrari 250LM with Jochen Rindt , pitted completely unexpectedly. Gregory, who was very nearsighted and also wore his glasses in the cockpit, had got smoke in the car and in his eyes. Like every year, hundreds of barbecues were going on around the track all night long. The resulting smoke moved like fog over the route and often hindered the drivers. Gregory came to the pits because he could no longer drive. Unfortunately, Jochen Rindt was not at the pits - his next assignment was only two hours later - and nobody knew where he was. But Ed Hugus was present, who quickly put on Gregory's helmet and drove it to the end. This remained hidden from a broad sports public for decades. Hugus himself first made the story known in a letter in 2005. Hugus was present at the award ceremony, but was not honored and is not in the official result list. Pictures from 1965 show Hugus standing in front of the grandstand. There is also a rumor that the American, hindered by the crowds, did not make it to the ceremony in time, despite the help of two gendarmes. Years after the race, Luigi Chinetti , the owner and team principal of the North American Racing Team, told Hugus that although he had reported the incident to the ACO officials , they were not very interested in the situation. The French journalist Christian Moity, editor of various books on the 24-hour race, contradicts this view in a publication. Chinetti would have had every reason to keep quiet about the driver change, as the risk of disqualification would have been relatively high., Only in recent years has his name been included in the winners' lists of recent Le Mans publications. The official result from 1965 has not been changed until today.

Career and life

Ed Hugus grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and served as a paratrooper in the Pacific during World War II . After the war he got into the car trade and began a career as a racing driver in 1952. He sold primarily European sports cars, but also had a VW -Representation and was one of the first distributors of the AC Cobras of Carroll Shelby drove. In the 1950s, he became one of the most famous American sports car and long-distance drivers. In 1956 he made his debut at Le Mans, where two seventh places (1958 and 1960) were his best placings in the overall standings. In 1960 he and Augie Pabst finished second in the Sebring 12-hour race .

“Big business” often prevented Hugus from participating in races , so in 1958 he turned down an offer from Duane Carter to start the 500-mile race in Indianapolis . He always remained a wealthy amateur. In 1968 he sold his Pittsburgh operations and moved to sunny Jacksonville . There he opened a BMW agency. He also had his last racing appearance on a BMW in 1969.

Ed Hugus, who retired from business in 1974, died in June 2006 at the age of 83.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1956	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T39	John Bentley		Rank 8
1957	Ed Hugus	Porsche 550A RS	Carel Godin de Beaufort		Rank 8 and class win
1958	Ed Hugus	Ferrari 250TR	Ray Erickson		Rank 7
1959	Ed Hugus	Porsche 718RSK	Ray Erickson		failure	Engine failure
1960	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Augie Pabst		Rank 7
1961	North American Racing Team	Osca Sport 1000	David Cunningham		failure	malfunction
1962	Ed Hugus	Ferrari 250GT SWB Bertone	George Reed		Rank 9
1963	Ed Hugus	AC Cobra 289 Mk. II	Peter Jopp		Disqualified
1964	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250GTO	José Rosinski		failure	malfunction

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1956	Cooper Car Co.	Cooper T39	John Bentley			failure	battery
1957	Chester Flynn	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL	Chester Flynn			Rank 33
1958	Harry Kuller	Ferrari 250TR	John Fitch			failure	Engine failure
1959	Chester Flynn	Porsche 718 RSK	Ernie Erickson			Rank 10
1960	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Augie Pabst			Rank 4
1961	NART	Ferrari Dino 246S	Alan Connell			failure	Power transmission
1962	Scuderia Bear	Ferrari 250 GT SWB EXP	George Reed			Rank 8
1964	William McLaughlin	Iso Grifo A3C	William McLaughlin	Enus Wilson		Rank 33
1965	Ed Hugus	Ferrari 275P	Tom O'Brien	Charlie Hayes	Paul Richards	Rank 12
1966	Ed Hugus	Porsche 906	Lake Underwood			Rank 8
1967	Ed Hugus	Porsche 906	John Cannon			failure	Engine failure
1969	Elsco Corporation	BMW 2002	Chuck Dietrich	Eugene Nearburg		failure	Oil pump

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
1956	cooper	Cooper T39	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
				DNF
1957	Chester Flynn Ed Hugus Ed Crawford	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
				33			8th		7th
1958	Harry Kuller Ed Hugus	Ferrari 250TR	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
				DNF			7th
1959	Chester Flynn Ed Hugus	Porsche 718 RSK	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
			10			DNF
1960	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
				4th			7th
1961	North American Racing Team	Ferrari Dino 246S Osca Sport 1000	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
			DNF			DNF
1962	Scuderia Bear Ed Hugus Briggs Cunningham	Ferrari 250 GT Fiat-Abarth 1000 Ferrari 250 GTO	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
					8th					9					10	3
1963	Ed Hugus	AC Cobra	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
												DNF
1964	William McLaughlin North American Racing Team	Iso Grifo A3C Ferrari 250 GTO	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
				33							DNF
1965	Ed Hugus	Ferrari 275P	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
				12
1966	Ed Hugus	Porsche 906	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
				8th
1967	Ed Hugus	Porsche 906	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
				DNF
1969	Elsco Corporation	BMW 2002	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
				DNF

Web links

Commons : Ed Hugus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ed Hugus at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jochen Rindt website ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Sportsmarket ( Memento from October 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissedre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans. 1923-1992. Volume 2: 1963-1992. Édition d'Art JB Barthelemy, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3 .
4. ↑ Results Le Mans 1965