George Arents

George Arents (born April 21, 1916 , † May 1992 ) was an American car racing driver and racing team owner.

Family and origin

George Arents was born into a wealthy American family. His grandfather and father made their living in the tobacco industry. In some publications, Arents is also referred to as George Arents junior to distinguish him from his father of the same name. Arents the Elder took part in the Vanderbilt Cup in 1904 , where he had a serious accident. His mechanic lost his life in the process. Arents was never married, avowedly homosexual and had a relationship with racing driver David Cunningham for many years .

Career

Arents was active as a racing driver in the 1950s and, together with Jan de Vroom, supported Luigi Chinetti financially in founding North American Racing in 1957 . As a driver, he competed in sports car races in the United States and Europe ; from 1958, especially for NART International, his greatest successes were fourth place at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1959 and fifth a year later .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1957	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 290MM-C	Jan de Vroom	failure	Brake defect
1959	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta	André Pilette	Rank 4
1960	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	Alan Connell	Rank 5
1961	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	George Reed	failure	Electrics
1962	Automobili OSCA	Osca 1600GT Zagato	José Behra	failure	Gearbox damage

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1957	Jan de Vroom	Ferrari 500TRC	Jan de Vroom	David Cunningham	Rank 14
1958	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT LWB	George Reed	Don O'Dell	Rank 7
1959	RRR Enterprises	Ferrari 250 GT LWB	George Reed	Don O'Dell	Rank 46
1960	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT LWB	William Kimberly		Rank 7
1961	Scuderia Serenissima	Ferrari 250 GT LWB	Fernand Tavano		failure	differential

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
1957	Jan de Vroom North American Racing Team	Ferrari 500TRC Ferrari 290MM	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
				14th			DNF
1958	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
				7th
1959	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
			46			4th
1960	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
				7th			5
1961	Scuderia Serenissima	Ferrari 250 GT	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
			DNF			DNF	4th
1962	Osca	Osca 1600 GT	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
										DNF
1965	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 275 GTB	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
																						11

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. 2 volumes. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : George Arents  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Commons : George Arents Cigarette Cards  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Results at Racing Sports Cars
• About George Arents

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information about the Arents family
2. ^ Private information on George Arents ( Memento from August 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive )