Sam Posey

Sam Posey

Nation:	United States
Automobile world championship
First start:	1971 USA Grand Prix
Last start:	1972 USA Grand Prix
Constructors
1971–1972  Team Surtees
statistics
World Cup balance:	-
Starts Victories Poles SR 2 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Samuel "Sam" Posey (born May 26, 1944 in New York City ) is a former American automobile racing driver .

Career

Sam Posey tried in vain to gain a permanent foothold in Formula 1 in the early 1970s . He drove races in the North American sports car series CanAm and TransAm and in 1970 he finished fifth in the great endurance classics, the Daytona 24 Hours and the Le Mans 24 Hours .

In 1971, even before he entered the USAC series , he contested his first Formula 1 Grand Prix. At the US Grand Prix in Watkins Glen he drove a factory Surtees TS9 and retired after an engine failure. In 1972 he got a works contract with Dan Gurney's Eagle team in the USAC. Posey finished fifth in Pocono and the Indianapolis 500 . At the end of 1972 he contested his second Grand Prix, again in Watkins Glen. This time he finished twelfth. When it became foreseeable that he would not get a Formula 1 contract for 1973, Posey stayed in the USAC.

After his sponsorship contract expired in 1976, he shifted his ambitions to sports and touring cars. He competed regularly in Le Mans until the mid-1980s. In 1975 he had together with Hans-Joachim Stuck , Brian Redman and Andy Moffat on a factory BMW 3.0 CSL , the 12 Hours of Sebring won.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he drove sports car races in North America; in the sports car world championship in 1981 he drove a Datsun 280ZX .

After retiring from active racing, Posey worked for many years as a TV commentator in the USA.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1966	Prototipi Bizzarini SAL	Bizzarini Super America Stradale A3C	Massimo Natili		Disqualified
1969	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250LM	Teodoro Zeccoli	Ricardo Rodríguez-Cavazos	Rank 8
1970	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 512S	Ronnie Bucknam		Rank 4
1971	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 512M	Tony Adamowicz		Rank 3
1972	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4	Tony Adamowicz		Rank 6
1973	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4	Milt Minter		failure	Cylinder overheated
1975	Hervé Poulain	BMW 3.0 CSL	Hervé Poulain	Jean Guichet	failure	Constant velocity joint
1976	BMW Motorsport GmbH	BMW 3.0 CSL	Harald Grohs	Hughes de Fierlant	Rank 10
1977	Gran Touring Cars Inc.	Mirage GR8	Michel Leclère		failure	fuel pump
1978	Gran Touring Cars Inc.	Mirage M9	Jacques Laffite	Vern Schuppan	Rank 10

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate		placement	Failure reason
1966	Filippo Theodoli	Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2	Harry Theodoracopulos			failure	Cylinder overheated
1968	Mathews Racing Team	Ford Mustang	Milt Minter			failure	Brakes
1969	NART	Ferrari Dino 206 GT	Bob Dini			Rank 36
1970	NART	Ferrari 512S Spyder	Ronnie Bucknum	Bert Everett		failure	fuel pump
1971	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 512S	Ronnie Bucknum			failure	no oil pressure
1972	NART	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4	Tony Adamowicz			Rank 13
1975	BMW Motorsport	BMW 3.0 CSL	Allan Moffat	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brian Redman	Overall victory
1980	NTS Racing	Datsun 240Z	Fred Stiff	George Alderman		Rank 14
1981	NTS Racing	Datsun 280ZX	Fred Stiff			failure	suspension

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
1966	Sam Posey Filippo Theodoli Bizzarrini	Porsche 904 Alfa Romeo TZ Bizzarrini GT 5300	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
			11	DNF					DNF
1967	Harry Theodoracopulos	Alfa Romeo GTA	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
			DNF
1968	Mathews Racing Team	Ford Mustang	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
			21st	DNF
1969	NART	Ferrari 275 GTB Ferrari Dino 206 GT Ferrari 250LM	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
			23	36						8th
1970	NART	Ferrari 312P Ferrari 512S	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
			4th	DNF						4th
1971	NART	Ferrari 512S	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
			8th	DNF	DNF						3		DNF
1972	NART	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
				DNF	13						6th		DNF
1973	NART	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
										DNF		6th
1974	Ted Trudon	Porsche Carrera RSR	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
									8th
1975	BMW of America BMW	BMW 3.0 CSL	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SPA	BY	ONLY	ZEL	WAT
			33								6th
1976	Alpina	BMW 3.5 CSL	MUG	VAL	ONLY	MON	SIL	IMO	ONLY	ZEL	BY	WAT	MOS	DIJ	DIJ	SAL
			10	2
1977	BMW North America	BMW 320i	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
			40
1978	Gran Touring Cars Performance Tuning	Mirage M9 Datsun 200SX	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	SIL	ONLY	LEM	MIS	DAY	WAT	VAL	ROD
										10					DNF
1979	Bob Sharp Racing	Datsun 280ZX	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	BRH	ROA	VAL	ELS
								DNF
1980	NTS Racing	Datsun 240Z	DAY	BRH	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	VAL	DIJ
					14th			DNF							DNF
1981	NTS Racing Z&W Enterprises Cooke Woods Racing	Datsun 280ZX Mazda RX-7 Lola T600	DAY	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH
			DNF	DNF			13								31	2

literature

• Steve Small: Grand Prix Who's Who. 3rd edition. Travel Publishing, Reading 2000, ISBN 1-902007-46-8 .

Web links

Commons : Sam Posey  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sam Posey at Racing Sports Cars