Paul O'Shea (racing driver)

Paul O'Shea (* 1928 in the United States ) is a former American racing driver and three-time US sports car champion.

Motorsport career

O'Shea was shown at the airfield race in Cumberland (Maryland) in 1955 and 1956 on a Mercedes-Benz W 198 300 SL “Gullwing” Coupé and in 1957 in Fort Worth , Texas with the 300 SLS (“Super Light Sport”) open touring sports car Based on the 300 SL Roadster, champion in the "Class D modified" racing category of the sports car championship advertised by the Sports Car Club of America .

At the Sebring 12-hour race in 1955 , he and his team-mate Fritz Koster in a Porsche 550 took 23rd place.

In the 1957 season he drove a total of 22 races in the “Class D modified” in the Sports Car Club of America championship and won them with 11,400 points. This was the highest score of all drivers in this championship to date. O'Shea is also the first driver to win the Sports Car Club of America's sports car championship three times in a row.

At the Sebring 12-hour race in 1957 , he and his team-mate Pete Lovely in a Corvette SR-2 took 16th place and at the 1959 Sebring 12-hour race with his team-mate Pedro Rodríguez in a Ferrari 250TR58 after engine failure, he finished 58th.

statistics

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1953	Erwin Goldschmidt	Healey Silverstone	Erwin Goldschmidt		failure	suspension
1955	Hoffmann Porsche Corp.	Porsche 550	Fritz Koster		Rank 23 and class win
1957	Lindsay Hopkins	Chevrolet Corvette SR-2	Pete Lovely		Rank 16
1958	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT LWB	Bruce Kessler	David Cunningham	5th place and class win
1959	Mexican National Auto Club	Ferrari 250TR58	Pedro Rodríguez		failure	Engine failure

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Erwin Goldschmidt	Healey Silverstone	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
			DNF
1955	Hoffmann Porsche Corp.	Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
				23
1957	Lindsay Hopkins	Chevrolet Corvette SR-2	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
				16
1958	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250 GT	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
				5
1959	Mexican National Auto Club	Ferrari 250TR	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
			DNF

Web links

• 60 years ago Paul O'Shea became US sports car champion: with a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLS to the third championship
• Paul O'Shea has been US sports car champion for 60 years