John Lee Paul Jr.^[1] (February 19, 1960 – December 29, 2020) was an Americanracing driver. He competed inCART and theIndy Racing League competitions, but primarily inIMSA GT Championship, winning the title in 1982.

During his career, Paul was a twice winner of the24 Hours of Daytona, the first of these was while co-driving with his father,John Paul Sr. A few weeks later, the pair won the 198212 Hours of Sebring. Paul also triumphed in another major U.S. race, the1983 Michigan 500.

Beside racing with his father, Paul also joined his father in criminal activities, in particular a drug smuggling operation.^[2] In May 1986, Paul Jr. received a five-year sentence for racketeering, with the drug charges dropped.^[3] Paul Sr. was found guilty, served timefor a number of crimes, and disappeared in 2001.

After graduating from high school, Paul Jr. started working for his father's team, JLP Racing, learning the ins and outs of what a racing organization was. He became some kind of jack-of-all-trades within the team. As Paul Jr. started to learn about engines, his father decided his son needed to go to a racing school. He was enrolled at theSkip Barber Racing School, but Paul Jr. was deemed to be hopeless. Despite this setback, Paul Sr. bought his son a new Van DiemenFormula Ford. In 1979, he took part in SCCA National Formula Ford races, and made theSCCA National Championship Runoffs.^[4]

Paul Jr.'s career really launched in 1980, when he became part of JLP Racing's driver line-up. His first race was at Coca-Cola 400 atLime Rock. Co-driving alongside his father in aPorsche 935, they won the second heat, and subsequently the race overall. Junior had won the first IMSA race he entered. He repeated this feat by winning theRoad America Pabst 500 three months later. With three second places, he would finish fourth in the final IMSA GTP standings.^[4][5]

During the 1981 season the Porsche team faced a new challenge from theLola T600. The Chevrolet-powered prototype with its better handling, driven by EnglishmanBrian Redman, quickly dominated the IMSA Championship. During the season, it became clear that only Junior could challenge for race victories, so Senior became JLP Racing's team manager, while Junior did the driving. Senior then only co-drove in the endurance races. Despite having the Lola, the Pauls won a rain-shortened race atPocono in their Porsche 935 JLP-3. Using the same 935, Junior would go on to win the Daytona finale.^[4][6]

The Pauls started the 1982 season with back-to-back wins in the US classic endurance races, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. For the Daytona race, they were partnered by the 1977 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft Champion,Rolf Stommelen. At Sebring, they overcame a gearbox failure in their 935 to win over theMarch 82G, led by the hard chargingBobby Rahal. The Pauls' second team car was also on the podium. More importantly, Paul Jr.'s win atRoad Atlanta attractedMiller Brewing Company sponsorship for the remainder of the season. He then switched to the Lola to win atLaguna Seca. He teamed up again with his father in the 935 JLP-3 to win the Charlotte 500 km.^[4][6][7]

Outpowered by championship rival,John Fitzpatrick in Porsche 935K4, Paul Jr. drove a new Porsche 935 JLP-4 to a debut victory atBrainerd. He scored another win atPortland, before swapping back to the older Porsche for the endurance races. He drove the JLP-3 with his father to win theMosport 6 Hours. For the next endurance race, Paul was partnered withMauricio de Narváez, and the pair finished second inRoad America, behind the English pairing of Fitzpatrick andDavid Hobbs. He was re-united with his father atRoad Atlanta for the 500 km event. Their last race together resulted in a second place in Pocono. Paul Jr. had clinched the IMSA GT Championship at the age of 22, becoming IMSA's youngest ever GTP champion.^[4][6]

At the beginning of 1983 Paul Sr. shot federal witness Stephen Caron, who would testify about Paul's illegal activities. After finishing second in theGrand Prix of Miami in a JLP Racing Lola, the team would be dismantled following his father's disappearance. Paul Jr. was hired byHenn's Swap Shop Racing for both the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Road America Pabst 500 but these resulted in twoDNFs.^[4][6]

Away from IMSA, he tried his hand at CART racing, winning the1983 Michigan 500 in only his fourth Indycar start. After leading 66 of the 250 laps aboard the VDS Associates'sPenske PC10, he passedRick Mears on the last lap and took the checkered flag seconds later as Mears spun and crashed behind him. With a second place in theCaesars Palace Grand Prix (Las Vegas) and a further two third places, he would go on to finish 8th in points in 1983. Meanwhile, another new series, another victory first time out. This time in theTrans-Am series, he won for DeAtley Motorsports atTrois-Rivières.^[4][6][8]

In 1984, Paul finished second in the1984 24 Hours of Le Mans withJean Rondeau in a Preston Henn's T-Bird Swap ShopPorsche 956. He also finished second in theSix Hours of Watkins Glen, this time driving withBruce Leven in his Bayside Disposal RacingPorsche 962. After this race, he was offered a seat alongsideJohn Morton, by Conte Racing. Apart from an 8th place inRoad America, Paul and Morton did not finish any races aboard the March-Chevrolet 84G. The CART scene did not fare much better. Although he entered nine of the sixteen races, this was for four different teams. The best result was a third-place in the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, for Provimi Veal Racing, in their March-Cosworth 84C.^[4][6][9]

Paul Sr. was finally indicted, tried, and convicted, in 1985. Paul Jr. started the season with Conte Racing, who had switched toBuick engines, but these proved to be unreliable. In total, he had 11 DNFs in 11 IMSA starts. After wrecking his AMI Racing March-Cosworth 85C inIndianapolis 500, he would finish only one race, theBudweiser Cleveland Grand Prix in 17th.^[4][6][10]

Early in 1986, Paul Jr. broke his string of seventeen IMSA DNFs by finishing second at Road Atlanta alongsideWhitney Ganz for RC Buick Hawk, in their March-Buick 85G.^[4][6]

Following his release from prison in October 1988, Paul Jr. returned to racing in 1989. In CART, he only drove in theIndianapolis 500 from 1990 to 1994, but he made his comeback in IMSA. His first season back he drove in six races for five teams. The best result was a fourth place in the Grand Prix of San Antonio forMomo/Gebhardt Racing.^[4][11]

A full-time return to sportscar racing was possible in 1990, when he was offered a ride by Jim Busby, who had entered aNissan GTP ZX-Turbo. In only his second race for the team, Paul andKevin Cogan were on the podium after taking second place in theGrand Prix of Miami. Following a fifth place in Sebring, the Nissan was maintained by Seabrooke Racing. He ended the season with two second places in the World Challenge of Tampa and Grand Prix of Greater San Diego (Del Mar). His reward was eighth in the overall standings, but as he found, a lot of things had changed in these four seasons he missed. Full factory supported teams likeTom Walkinshaw Racing (Jaguar), Electramotive (Nissan) andAll American Racers (Toyota) were now the ones to beat.^[4][11]

In 1991 Paul ran a short IMSA schedule, taking in just seven races. Although the bulk of these were with Gunnar Racing in their Gunnar 966, it was in Hotchkiss Racing's underpoweredSpice-Pontiac SE90P that he earned a second place in the Grand Prix of Greater San Diego. Paul Jr. also drove twoNASCAR Winston Cup Series races, in a Chevrolet forTeam Ireland both in 1991, recording a best result of 16th in theBudweiser at The Glen.^[4][11][12]

During the 1992 season, Paul experienced his first everGTU class win in Leitzinger Racing'sNissan 240SX, which he shared withButch Leitzinger andDavid Loring, the12 Hours of Sebring. He accepted an offer fromGiampiero Moretti to race atWatkins Glen, where the pair finished sixth in aJoest Racing Porsche 962. Another outing for Hotchkiss Racing resulted in 8th in Laguna Seca in their Spice-Pontiac. This was followed by three more races with Moretti, but Paul ended the season by trying yet another car, theIntrepid RM-1, but this resulted in another DNF.^[4][11]

The 1993 season started with Paul co-driving with Moretti along withDerek Bell at the Daytona and Sebring endurance races in aNissan NPT-90. The trio were joined byMassimo Sigala for Daytona, and were leading when the car began to experience engine problems, but it still finished sixth. Sebring proved kinder to them, as they finished second. Paul then switched to Gunnar Racing for a few races. He was able to take one last podium finish, a second-place at Road American, driving a Porsche 962 for Joest Racing.^[4][11]

1994 saw IMSA become the World Sports Cars Championship [WSC] and Paul only raced twice in the new series. He joinedDyson Racing for the inaugural race, the Rolex 24 at Daytona. An oil pump problem with their Spice DR-3 saw another DNF for Paul and company. He was asked back to partnerJames Weaver at the Indy Grand Prix, a two-hour race around theIndianapolis Raceway Park. They finished second.^[11]

For 1995, Paul would race for Dyson Racing in the WSC and for the Prototype Technology Group (BMW M3) in the IMSA GTS, as many races were at the same event. He recorded two top three finishes for Dyson aboard theirRiley & Scott Mk III: second place with Butch Leitzinger in theMoosehead Grand Prix, and a third place withAndy Wallace in the Texas World Grand Prix.^[11]

He continued with Dyson Racing into 1996. Paul recorded four top three finishes in the last four races, including wins at theMosport 500 and theDaytona IMSA finale, while co-driving with Leitzinger. He finished the season sixth in the overall standings. 1996 also saw the formation of the Indy Racing League, and this gave Paul a second shot at a competitive Indycar career. Despite driving a two-year-old car for a new team,PDM Racing, he led 22 laps in that year's Las Vegas 500 before finishing fifteenth.^[11][13][14]

In 1997, he competed with a contemporary IndyCar for the first time since 1985, and promptly finished 15th in the points. He also competed in the WSC with Dyson Racing. He continued where he left off in 1996 by winning at Daytona. His victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona came as part of seven driver crew. This was followed by two victories, partnering Leitzinger in theSportscar Grand Prix andVISA Sports Car Championship.^[13][14]

Paul Jr. started the 1998 season withPDM Racing andTeam Pelfrey before landing a competitive ride withByrd-Cunningham Racing. He broke through to win the 1998Lone Star 500 atTexas Motor Speedway and finished an IRL career best eelventh in points.^[15]

In his seven Indy 500 starts, he had a best finish of seventh in 1998. He made his last IRL start the following season.^[14]

In 1999, Paul Jr. again competed at Daytona in the 24 Hour race, this time with Corvette Racing in the debut race for the Corvette C5-R. Paul Jr. shared the #2 C5-R with Ron Fellows and Chris Kneifel to a third-place finish in the GT2 Class.Paul Jr. also competed at Sebring in 1999 with Corvette Racing in the #3 Corvette C5-R, again with Fellows and Kneifel.

The new millennium saw Paul return to his roots, sports car racing. He teamed up with Dyson Racing once again, and recorded four top three finishes, the best being a second in the U.S. Road Racing Classic, a 250-mile race atMid-Ohio.^[13]

Paul was lured into the drug trade at the age of 15, just to be with his father.^[16][17] His first legal troubles were on January 10, 1979, when he and another accomplice were caught by customs agents loading equipment onto apickup truck on the bank of a canal in theLouisiana bayous after dark. Following questioning, when one of them smelledcannabis on their clothing, his father was apprehended on his 42-foot boat namedLady Royale, where customs discovered residue of marijuana and $10,000 on board. A rented truck was discovered nearby, which contained 1,565 pounds (710 kg) of marijuana.^[18] In court, all three pleaded guilty to marijuana possession charges, where each was placed on three years' probation and fined $32,500.^[19]

Paul's racing career was interrupted in May 1986, when he was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in a drug trafficking ring with his father and subsequent refusal to testify against him. He was sent to a minimum-security prison in Alabama. He served a total of 30 months, being released in October 1988.^[20]

Paul Jr. retired from professional racing in 2001 after noticing that the telemetry of the Corvette GT-1 he was testing did not match what he thought his feet were doing in the car. A subsequent medical evaluation confirmed he hadHuntington's disease, a progressive neurological disorder.^[21][22]

In 2018, author and racing journalistSylvia Wilkinson published a book about Paul Jr., titled50/50, The Story of Champion Race Car Driver John Paul Jr. and his Battle with Huntington's Disease.^[23]

Paul Jr. died on December 29, 2020, inWoodland Hills, California.^[24][25]

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.	Ref
1980	IMSA	73	G	Porsche 935 JLP-2	J.L.P. Racing	John Paul Sr. Guy Edwards	312	9th	2nd	[93]
1982	IMSA GTX	72	D	Ferrari 512BB/LM	North American Racing Team	Alain Cudini John Morton	306	9th	4th	[94]
1984	C1	26	G	Porsche 956	Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop	Jean Rondeau	358	2nd		[95]
1995	GT1	30	G	Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1	ZR1 Corvette Team	Chris McDougall James Mero	57	DNF		[96]

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.	Ref
1981	GTX	18		Porsche 935 JLP-2	JLP Racing	John Paul Sr. Gordon Smiley	53	DNF Piston		[97]
1982	GTP	8		Porsche 935 JLP-2	JLP Racing	John Paul Sr. Rolf Stommelen		DNS		[98]
	GTP	18	G	Porsche 935 JLP-3	JLP Racing	John Paul Sr. Rolf Stommelen	719	1st
1983	GTP	1	G	Porsche 935/JLP-3	JLP Racing	Rene Rodriguez Joe Castellano	412	DNF Turbocharger		[99]
1985	GTP	45	G	March-Buick 85G	Conte Racing	Bill Adam Whitney Ganz	358	DNF Suspension		[100]
1986	GTP	45	G	March-Buick 85G	RC Buick Hawk/Conte	Chip Ganassi Ivan Capelli Whitney Ganz	310	DNF Engine		[101]
1989	GTP	85	G	Porsche 962	Texaco Havoline Star Bayside Motorsports	Bruce Leven Rob Dyson Dominic Dobson	347	DNF Piston		[102]
1990	GTP	67	BF	Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo	BFG/Miller High Life	Kevin Cogan Mauro Baldi	397	DNF Engine		[103]
1991	GTP	16	G	Porsche 962C	Dyson Racing	James Weaver Tiff Needell	450	DNF Oil Pump		[104]
1993	GTP	30	G	Nissan NPT-90	Momo	Giampiero Moretti Derek Bell Massimo Sigala	645	DNF (6th) Engine		[105]
1994	WSC	16	G	Spice-Ferrari DR-3	Dyson Racing	James Weaver Rob Dyson Scott Sharp	339	DNF Oil Pump		[106]
1995	GTS-2	12	Y	BMW M3	Prototype Technology Group	Dieter Quester Pete Halsmer David Donohue	221	DNF Engine		[107]
1996	GTS-2	06	Y	BMW M3	Prototype Technology Group	Javier Quiros Pete Halsmer David Donohue	638	6th	3rd	[108]
1997	WSC	16	G	Riley & Scott-Ford Mk III	Dyson Racing	Andy Wallace Butch Leitzinger James Weaver	227	DNF		[109]
	WSC	20	G	Riley & Scott-Ford Mk III	Dyson Racing	Elliott Forbes-Robinson John Schneider Rob Dyson Butch Leitzinger Andy Wallace James Weaver	690	1st
1998	CA	20	G	Riley & Scott-Ford Mk III	Dyson Racing	Butch Leitzinger Perry McCarthy Rob Dyson	615	DNF Engine		[110]
1999	GT2	2	G	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Chris Kneifel	600	18th	3rd	[111]

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.	Ref
1981	GTX	8	G	Porsche 935 JLP-3	JLP Racing	John Paul Sr.	40	DNF Suspension		[112]
1982	GTP	18	G	Porsche 935 JLP-3	JLP Racing	John Paul Sr.	244	1st		[113]
1983	GTP	09	G	Porsche 935 L	Henn's Swap Shop Racing	Derek Bell Michael Andretti	125	DNF Engine		[114]
1985	GTP	3		March-Buick 84G	Pegasus Racing	Ken Madren Wayne Pickering	38	DNF Clutch		[115]
1986	GTP	46	G	March-Buick 85G	R C Buick Hawk	Whitney Ganz Ken Madren	151	DNF Engine		[116]
1990	GTP	67	BF	Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo	Busby Racing	Kevin Cogan	286	5th	4th	[117]
1991	GTP	24	G	Porsche 962 GTi	John Shapiro	James Weaver	218	DNF Suspension		[118]
1992	GTU	96	T	Nissan 240SX	Leitzinger Racing	David Loring	301	8th	1st	[119]
1993	GTP	30	G	Nissan NPT-90	Momo	Giampiero Moretti Derek Bell	228	2nd		[120]
1994	GTS	72	G	Porsche 911 Turbo	Champion Porsche	Bill Adam Victor Gonzalez	91	DNF Mechanical		[121]
1995	GTS-2	12	Y	BMW M3	Prototype Technology Group	Dieter Quester	228	20th	8th	[122]
1996	WSC	16	G	Riley & Scott-Ford Mk III	Dyson Racing	Rob Dyson James Weaver	262	24th	7th	[123]
1997	WSC	20	G	Riley & Scott-Ford Mk III	Dyson Racing	Elliott Forbes-Robinson John Schneider	263	5th		[124]
1999	GTS	3	G	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Chris Kneifel	262	23rd	4th	[125]
2000	GTS	33	D	Porsche 911 GT2	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad Charles Slater	307	12th	4th	[126]

• 1960 births
• 2020 deaths
• 12 Hours of Sebring drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
• American Le Mans Series drivers
• American people of Dutch descent
• Atlantic Championship drivers
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• Neurological disease deaths in California
• Deaths from Huntington's disease
• People with Huntington's disease
• IMSA GT Championship drivers
• Indianapolis 500 drivers
• IndyCar Series drivers
• NASCAR drivers
• People convicted of racketeering
• Racing drivers from Indiana
• SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants
• Sportspeople from Muncie, Indiana
• Trans-Am Series drivers
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• PDM Racing drivers
• Team Joest drivers
• Corvette Racing drivers
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• Bettenhausen Racing drivers
• AFS Racing drivers
• Dale Coyne Racing drivers

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