Preston Henn

Preston Henn (born January 20, 1931 in Murphy , Cherokee County , North Carolina , † April 30, 2017 in Hillsboro Beach , Broward County , Florida ) was an American racing driver and entrepreneur .

Career

Preston Henn founded the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop in Fort Lauderdale in 1963 , a drive-in theater that over the years has grown to be one of the top tourist attractions in Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding area. Over the years Henn had the cinema expanded again and again through sales shops and was able to finance his private passion, motorsport, with the income.

In 2005, long after his racing career ended, he ran into financial difficulties with the company. When one of the believers tried to evict, there was a physical dispute, as a result of which the police had to intervene to calm the parties to the dispute.

In motorsport - here especially in sports car racing - Henn was active both as a driver and as a team boss. In 1983 he won as a driver along with AJ Foyt , bob wollek and Claude Ballot-Léna the 24 Hours of Daytona . He also competed four times in the Le Mans 24-hour race . His greatest success in this endurance race was tenth overall in 1983.

As team manager, he celebrated overall victory in the Sebring 12-hour race in 1985 . AJ Foyt and Bob Wollek sat at the wheel of the Porsche 962 . A year before that , Jean Paul junior and Jean Rondeau drove a Preston-Henn- Porsche 956 at Le Mans, finishing second in the overall standings.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1979	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 512 BB	Jean-Pierre Delaunay	Cyril Grandet	failure	accident
1981	Preston Henn Racing	Porsche 935K3	Michael Chandler	Marcel Mignot	failure	Ignition damage
1982	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 512 BB	Denis Morin	Randy Lanier	failure	no petrol
1983	Preston Henn T-Bird Swap Shop	Porsche 956	Claude Ballot-Léna	Jean-Louis Schlesser	Rank 10
1984	Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop	Porsche 962	Edgar Dören	Michel Ferté	failure	ignition

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1977	Spirit Racing	Porsche 914/6	Hal Sahlman	Steve Cook			failure	malfunction
1979	Thunderbird Swap Shop	Porsche 935 / 77A	Hurley Haywood	Peter Gregg			failure	Engine failure
1980	Thunderbird Swap Shop	Porsche 935K3	John Paul Sr.	Al Holbert			Rank 4
1981	T-Bird Swap Shop	Porsche 935K3	John Gunn	Gary Belcher			failure	malfunction
1982	T-Bird Swap Shop	Porsche 935K3	Dale Whittington	Randy Lanier			failure	Oil system
1983	T-Bird Swap Shop	Porsche 935K4	Bob Wollek	Al Holbert	John Graham	Hugo Gralia	Rank 6
1985	T-Bird Swap Shop	Porsche 935KL	Bob Wollek	Don Whittington			failure	malfunction

Web links

• Preston Henn at Racing Sports Cars (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brittany Wallman, Ben Crandell: Swap Shop entrepreneur Preston Henn dies at 86. In: sun-sentinel.com. May 2, 2017, accessed May 5, 2017 .