Peter DePaolo

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Peter DePaolo, 1925

Peter DePaolo (born April 15, 1898 in Roseland , New Jersey - † November 26, 1980 ) was an American racing driver .

Career

DePaolo saw his first auto race in 1919 when his uncle Ralph DePalma beat Louis Chevrolet and Barney Oldfield . Less than a year later, he was the driver mechanic for Ralph DePalma at the Indianapolis 500 in 1920 . After that he started racing himself. He destroyed five of his first six vehicles. Nevertheless, in 1924 he was offered the opportunity to join the Duesenberg team. The following year he won the Indianapolis 500 with an average speed of 101.13 mph. He was the first to break the 100 miles per hour limit. In the same year he also won the AAA National Championship .

In 1927 DePaolo founded his own racing team and qualified second for the Indianapolis 500 . In the race, however, he retired due to technical problems. But he won the 250-mile races in Altoona and Salem and again conquered the AAA National Championship .

Peter DePaolo drove races for another seven years, but without achieving great success. In 1934 he switched to Ecurie Braillard , for which he competed on Maserati . On his first start for the team, the Gran Premio de Penya Rhin in Spain , DePaolo had a serious accident and fractured his skull , which resulted in him being in a coma for eleven days .

In Kelly Petillos victory in the Indianapolis 500 in 1935 , he was team manager and vehicle owner . From 1955 to 1957 inclusive, DePaolo served as a team owner in NASCAR ; During this time, his drivers achieved a total of 21 wins and 109 top ten placements. Among others, Ralph Earnhardt , Fireball Roberts and Joe Weatherly drove to victories in his teams .

DePaolo was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.

literature

  • Rick Popely: Indianapolis 500 Chronicle . Publications Ltd., New York 1998, ISBN 0-7853-2798-3 .

Web links

Commons : Peter DePaolo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pete DePaolo Ownership Statistics. www.racing-reference.info, accessed on April 13, 2011 (English).
  2. ↑ Peter DePaolo. Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, accessed April 13, 2011 .
personal data
SURNAME DePaolo, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Roseland , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 1980