Masten Gregory | |
|---|---|
 Gregory at the1965 German Grand Prix | |
| Born | (1932-02-29)February 29, 1932 Kansas City, Missouri, United States |
| Died | November 8, 1985(1985-11-08) (aged 53) Porto Ercole,Tuscany, Italy |
| Relatives | Charles James (ex-brother-in-law) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  American |
| Active years | 1957−1963,1965 |
| Teams | Centro Sud,privateerMaserati,BRM,Cooper,Camoradi,BRP,privateerLotus,Parnell |
| Entries | 46 (38 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 3 |
| Careerpoints | 21 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1957 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1965 Italian Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1955,1957−1966,1968−1972 |
| Teams | Ferrari,Jaguars,Écurie Écosse,Camoradi,Porsche,BRP,NART,Ford,Filipinetti,Alfa Romeo |
| Best finish | 1st(1965) |
| Class wins | 2(1961,1965) |
Masten Gregory (February 29, 1932 − November 8, 1985) was an Americanracing driver, who competed inFormula One from1957 to1965. Nicknamed "theKansas City Flash",[a] Gregory won the24 Hours of Le Mans in1965 withNART.
Gregory participated in 43Formula One Grands Prix, predominantly withprivateer teams; he also competed in numerousnon-championship races, winning the1962 Kanonloppet withBRP. Gregory was also successful insportscar racing, entering 16 editions of the24 Hours of Le Mans between1955 and1972, winning in1965 alongsideJochen Rindt, driving theFerrari 250LM.
Known as the "Kansas City Flash",[1] Masten Gregory was born inKansas City,Missouri, as the youngest of three children; his elder brother was Riddelle L. Gregory Jr., also a race car driver, and his elder sister Nancy Lee Gregory married, as her second husband, the Anglo-American fashion designerCharles James. An heir to an insurance company fortune, Gregory was well known for his youngish looks and thickeyeglasses, due to his "terrible" eyesight. Although he attended thePembroke-Country Day School in Kansas City, he left school before completing his senior year, and married Luella Simpson at the age of 19. His parents divorced when he was very young, and his father died when he was three years old. As an adult, Gregory used his inheritance to buy aMercury-poweredAllard, which he drove in his first race, the 50-mile (80 km)SCCA race inCaddo Mills,Texas, in November 1952. He retired from that race due to head gasket failure, but installed a new Chrysler hemi-powered engine in his car to race atSebring in 1953, where he again retired, this time due to a rearsuspension failure. Gregory's first win came in just his third race, inStillwater,Oklahoma. Changing to aJaguar, Gregory won several races in America, including theGuardsmans Trophy inGolden Gate Park,San Francisco and a race atOffutt Air Force Base inOmaha,Nebraska. At the end of 1953, Gregory was invited to his first international sports car race - the1954 1000 km Buenos Aires inArgentina, which he finished in 14th due to water pump problems.
Throughout 1954 and 1955, Gregory competed inEuropean races, usually driving Ferraris.[2] His record includes theTourist Trophy atDundrod and the24 Hours of Le Mans (although his co-driverMike Sparken retired before Gregory got a chance to drive). He also won the inaugural Nassau Trophy at theBahamas Speed Week in 1954.[3] Moving back to America in 1956, Gregory entered several SCCA races, often winning. In 1957, he had another attempt at the Argentine 1000 km race, this time winning. This performance got him a drive withGuglielmo Dei'sScuderia Centro Sud, a privateerFormula One team using theMaserati 250F. His first race was the1957 Monaco Grand Prix, where he scored an impressive third-place finish, the first podium for an American in an F1Grand Prix. He followed this with a string of good results, coming eighth in theGerman Grand Prix, and fourth in both thePescara andItalian Grands Prix. Despite only competing in half of the races, Gregory ended the1957 season in sixth place in the championship.
Gregory only competed in four Grands Prix in the1958 season, due to injuries sustained through one of his trademark bailouts when his car was set to crash, this time in a sports car race atSilverstone inEngland. He did manage a fourth place at theItalian Grand Prix, and a 6th in the last race of the year, thisMoroccan Grand Prix. Moving toCooper-Climax for the1959 season alongsideJack Brabham andBruce McLaren, he scored two podium finishes - a third place at theDutch Grand Prix, and a career-best second at thePortuguese Grand Prix. However, he missed the final two races of the season, again due to injuries sustained jumping from a car moments before it crashed. He finished eighth in the Championship, and with teammate Brabham winning theWorld Championship, Cooper won their first Constructor's Championship. Gregory scored apole position and set a course record at the non-Championship race atAintree, but his contract with Cooper was not renewed for the following year.
Gregory's early years of competition were marked by many crashes, often the result of pushing sub-par machinery past its ability. He flipped a thankfully rollbar-equipped Maserati at theVenezuelan Grand Prix in 1957, totalled two sports cars in 1958, and another two in 1959 (aLister-Jaguar and aTojeiro-Jaguar). In the latter of these incidents he broke his leg and shoulder, keeping him away from his Formula 1 commitments. In 1960, trying to qualify an outdatedCooper-Maserati at Nürburgring he went off the track and was thrown clear of the car. After this period, however, his driving style matured and he began to develop a reputation as an elegant and careful driver.[4]
Gregory continued in Formula One until 1965, but mainly with uncompetitive independent teams. He was unable to reproduce the results he obtained early in his career, his best being a sixth at the1962 United States Grand Prix atWatkins Glen with theUDT Laystall team, in aLotus 24. Running fourth, just behind eventual winnerDan Gurney at theFrench Grand Prix, Gregory retired with ignition problems, losing possibly his best chance at a maiden Grand Prix victory. Gregory did manage a win in the non-Championship1962 Kanonloppet race atKarlskoga inSweden, but this race did not feature any top teams.
After his release from Cooper, Gregory also went back to competing in sports car races, setting the overall fastest lap at the1960 24 Hours of Le Mans. He won the 19611000 km Nürburgring, driving alongsideLloyd "Lucky" Casner in aMaserati Tipo 61 for theAmerica Camoradi Racing Team. In the same year, Gregory finished fifth in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in aPorsche RS61 Spyder. 1962 saw Gregory win theCanadian Grand Prix sports car race atMosport Park in aLotus 19-Climax. In 1964, Gregory again competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this time in aFord GT40. He retired from the race in the fifth hour due togearbox difficulties. The following year, Gregory teamed up with the man who was to become1970 Formula One World Champion,AustrianJochen Rindt, and the pair won the race in aNorth American Racing TeamFerrari 250 LM. 1965 was also the year in which Gregory raced in theIndianapolis 500, starting from the back of the grid and working his way up to 5th before being forced to retire due to an engine problem.
Gregory then began to wind down his motor racing career, continuing to compete in international sports car races with some good results including a second-place finish at the 1966 1000 km race atMonza alongsideJohn Whitmore. Following his good friendJo Bonnier's death at the1972 Le Mans race, Gregory stopped racing, and retired toAmsterdam, where he worked as adiamond merchant before operating a glassware business. On November 8, 1985, Gregory died in his sleep of aheart attack at his winter home inPorto Ercole,Italy. He had four children, Masten Jr., Debbie, Scott and Michael. Gregory was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2005, the Kansas City C.A.R.B. (Central Auto Racing Boosters) Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Watkins Glen Walk of Fame in 2012. He was inducted into theMotorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2013.[5]
Gregory is in a distinct club of motorsport being only one of nineteen drivers to compete in all three legs of theTriple Crown of Motorsport (Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix) and to have won at least one of those events. The others are: Louis Chiron, Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Graham Hill (who won all three), Dan Gurney, Jochen Rindt (who won two), Mario Andretti, Mark Donohue, Jackie Stewart, Denny Hulme, Danny Sullivan, Vern Schuppan, Stefan Johansson, Michele Alboreto, Eddie Cheever, Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya (who has won two) and Fernando Alonso (who has won two).
(key)
* Shared drive withCarroll Shelby therefore no points awarded.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Scuderia Centro Sud | Maserati250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5L6 | SYR | PAU 4 | GLV | NAP 5 | RMS 7 | CAE | INT 5 | MOD | MOR | ||||||||||||
| 1958 | Scuderia Centro Sud | Maserati250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5L6 | GLV | SYR Ret | AIN | INT 3 | CAE | ||||||||||||||||
| 1959 | Cooper Car Company | CooperT51 | Climax FPF 2.5 L4 | GLV 5 | AIN Ret | INT | OUL | SIL | ||||||||||||||||
| 1960 | Scuderia Centro Sud | CooperT51 | Maserati 250S 2.5L4 | GLV | INT 6 | SIL Ret | LOM | OUL Ret | ||||||||||||||||
| 1961 | Camoradi International | CooperT53 | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | LOM | GLV | PAU DNA | BRX | VIE | AIN 5 | SYR | NAP | LON | SIL | SOL | KAN | |||||||||
| UDT Laystall Racing Team | Lotus18/21 | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | DAN Ret | MOD NC | FLG | OUL 5 | LEW | VAL | RAN Ret | NAT Ret | RSA Ret | |||||||||||||
| 1962 | UDT Laystall Racing Team | Lotus18/21 | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | CAP 4 | BRX Ret | LOM Ret | LAV | GLV 5 | PAU | AIN Ret | MAL 5 | CLP | ||||||||||||
| Lotus24 | Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 | INT 8 | NAP | |||||||||||||||||||||
| BRM P56 1.5V8 | RMS Ret | SOL DNA | KAN 1 | MED | DAN 2 | OUL 6 | MEX 5 | RAN | NAT | |||||||||||||||
| 1963 | Reg Parnell Racing | Lotus24 | BRM P56 1.5V8 | LOM | GLV | PAU | IMO | SYR | AIN | INT | ROM | SOL | KAN 6 | MED | AUT | OUL Ret | RAN | |||||||
| 1964 | Scuderia Centro Sud | BRMP57 | BRM P56 1.5V8 | DMT | NWT | SYR 6 | AIN | INT | SOL | MED | RAN | |||||||||||||
| 1965 | Scuderia Centro Sud | BRMP57 | BRM P56 1.5V8 | ROC Ret | SYR Ret | SMT | INT | MED DSQ | RAN | |||||||||||||||
Source:[9] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1965 With:Jochen Rindt | Succeeded by |
