| Dario Resta | |||||||
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 Resta atTacoma Speedway in 1919 | |||||||
| Born | Dario Raoul Resta (1882-08-17)17 August 1882 Faenza,Emilia-Romagna, Italy | ||||||
| Died | 3 September 1924(1924-09-03) (aged 42) | ||||||
| Championship titles | |||||||
| AAAChampionship Car (1916) Major victories Vanderbilt Cup (1915, 1916) Indianapolis 500 (1916) | |||||||
| Champ Car career | |||||||
| 34 races run over 6 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 1st (1916) | ||||||
| First race | 1915American Grand Prize (Panama–Pacific) | ||||||
| Last race | 1923Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
| First win | 1915American Grand Prize (Panama–Pacific) | ||||||
| Last win | 1916Vanderbilt Cup (Santa Monica) | ||||||
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Dario Raoul Resta (17 August 1882 – 3 September 1924), was a Britishracing driver. He is best remembered for his successes racingChampionship cars in the United States. The1916 American National Champion, Resta was the winner of the1916 Indianapolis 500, as well as theVanderbilt Cup in 1915 and 1916.
Resta was born inFaenza,Italy.[1] His family moved him toEngland at the age of two. He began racing there in 1907 when he took part in the Montagu Cup, the very first race staged at the newBrooklands race track. He set a record of 95.7 mph (154.0 km/h) in a half-mile run a few years later. On October 2, 1913, alternating withJean Chassagne andKenelm Lee Guinness in two-hour spells, Resta set up a series of long distance World Records with a Sunbeam Grand Prix car fitted with a single-seater body. After competing inGrand Prix motor racing in Europe, including the1913 French Grand Prix, he went to the U.S.
In early 1915 Resta was brought to the United States by Alphonse Kaufman, an America importer ofPeugeots, to drive Kaufman'sPeugeot EX3. In January he married Mary Wishart, the sister of racerSpencer Wishart who had died the previous year.[2][3] In February he won theUnited States Grand Prix, more properly named the United States Grand Prize, atSan Francisco followed by a victory in theVanderbilt Cup. After leading during the final stages of that year'sIndianapolis 500, he finished second toRalph DePalma when his car skidded and he had to make a pit-stop for tyres. Resta then drove his blue Peugeot to victory in the inaugural 500-mile (800 km) race on theboard track at theChicago Speedway on 26 June 1915.[4] The race received eighteen pages of coverage in the 1 July 1915, issue ofMotor Age magazine.
The following year, in 1916, en route to winning theUnited States National Driving Championship, Resta repeated as the winner of theVanderbilt Cup plus he won the1916 Indianapolis 500, theChicago 300, theMinneapolis 150 and theOmaha 150 races.[5]
WithWorld War I raging in Europe and theUnited States entering the war in 1918, races were reduced to a minimum. During 1918 Resta drove a Peugeot at a race inSheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, a minor event with only a handful of competitors.
In 1923 Resta returned to racing at the age of 39, making his first appearance inBeverly Hills, California. Next, he made another attempt at Indianapolis but was forced out of the race after 225 miles (362 km). Racing again in Europe, Resta finished 3rd in thePenya Rhin Grand Prix and won thevoiturette class at theSpanish Grand Prix. He drove for Sunbeam in the 1924 season with teammatesHenry Segrave andKenelm Lee Guinness.
Resta was killed in England on 3 September 1924 at the age of 42 when his car crashed atBrooklands while trying for a newland speed record.[5] Resta was driving aSunbeam when a belt on his car broke on the second lap and punctured his tyre sending him out of control. The car crashed through a corrugated iron fence on the Railway Straight and caught fire.
This accident also hospitalized his riding-mechanic, Bill Perkins, causing him to miss theSan Sebastian Grand Prix a few weeks later. Perkins was Sunbeam driver Kenelm Lee Guinness's regular mechanic and so was substituted byTom Barrett. Guinness suffered a serious crash during this race, in which Barrett was killed and this accident led to the end of the practice of carrying riding-mechanics during races.
Resta has been inducted into the following halls of fame:
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Dario Resta appeared in many of the biggest automobile races in the United States and was recognized as one of the world's greatest racing drivers because of ...
| Preceded by | Indianapolis 500 Winner 1916 | Succeeded by |
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