William Kimberly
William "Bill" Kimberly (born March 13, 1933 ) is a former American racing driver .
Racing career
Bill Kimberly comes from the Kimberly family, who are co-owners of the toiletries manufacturer Kimberly-Clark . Like his uncle Jim (1907-1994), Bill Kimberly was a racing driver. He was close friends with Augie Pabst , who was born the same year as him and whom he had met in college . Pabst brought him to racing, where he began a career as a driver in 1955 with first attempts at club races.
In 1956 he drove the Triumph TR2 in the SCCA National Sports Car Championship and in 1957 in the same championship on an AC Ace and an Austin-Healey 100 . In 1958 he made his debut in a Triumph TR3 at the 12-hour race at Sebring and in 1959 at the 24-hour race at Le Mans . Bill Kimberly was able to fall back on his family's fortunes and owned several Ferrari racing cars in the late 1950s. These included a 500 TR , a 315 Sport and a 250 Testa Rossa , which he bought from Lloyd Casner in the spring of 1959 for US $ 4,250. In Le Mans, Kimberly drove a 3-liter test Rossa owned and reported by Edwin Martin . The mission ended prematurely after a gearbox damage on the Ferrari.
As far as possible, Bill Kimberly competed in races where he registered the racing car with the starting number 5. It was the number his uncle Jim preferred. He raced until 1965, then retired from active racing after marrying his wife Elena. He celebrated two overall and six class wins in his career. In the early 1960s he was a team member with Briggs Cunningham and the North American Racing Team . Together with Cunningham, he finished eighth overall at Le Mans in 1961 on a Maserati Tipo 60 . His best position in the final classification of this 24-hour race . At Sebring, the best result was seventh place in 1960 .
statistics
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1959 | Edwin Martin | Ferrari 250TR58 | Edwin Martin | failure | Gearbox damage |
1960 | Briggs S. Cunningham | Chevrolet Corvette | Briggs Cunningham | failure | accident |
1961 | Briggs Cunningham | Maserati Tipo 60 | Briggs Cunningham | Rank 8 | |
1962 | Briggs Cunningham | Maserati Tipo 151 | Dick Thompson | failure | Engine failure |
1963 | Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. | Aston Martin DP214 | Jo Schlesser | failure | Engine failure |
Sebring results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1958 | Standard Motor Company | Triumph TR3 | Mike Rothschild | Bill Lott | Rank 20 | |
1960 | North American Racing Team | Ferrari 250 GT LWB | George Arents | Rank 7 | ||
1961 | Momo Corporation | Maserati Tipo 60 | Briggs Cunningham | Rank 19 | ||
1963 | Briggs Cunningham | Jaguar E-Type | Paul Richards | Rank 19 |
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 | 21st | 22nd |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1958 | Standard Motor Company | Triumph TR3 | BUA | SEB | TAR | ONLY | LEM | RTT | ||||||||||||||||
20th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
1959 | Edwin Martin | Ferrari 250TR | SEB | TAR | ONLY | LEM | RTT | |||||||||||||||||
DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
1960 |
NART Briggs Cunningham |
Ferrari 250 GT Chevrolet Corvette |
BUA | SEB | TAR | ONLY | LEM | |||||||||||||||||
7th | DNF | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1961 | Momo Corporation Briggs Cunningham |
Maserati Tipo 60 | SEB | TAR | ONLY | LEM | PES | |||||||||||||||||
19th | 8th | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1962 | Briggs Cunningham | Maserati Tipo 151 | DAY | SEB | SEB | MAY | TAR | BER | ONLY | LEM | TAV | CCA | RTT | ONLY | BRI | BRI | PAR | |||||||
DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
1963 |
Briggs Cunningham Aston Martin |
Jaguar E-Type Aston Martin DP214 |
DAY | SEB | SEB | TAR | SPA | MAY | ONLY | CON | ROS | LEM | MON | WIS | TAV | FRE | CCE | RTT | OVI | ONLY | MON | MON | TDF | BRI |
19th | DNF |
Web links
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Kimberly, William |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kimberly, Bill (nickname) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | March 13, 1933 |