>From the vintage race list;
Briggs Swift Cunningham, 96, a renowned competitor in sports car racing
and
competitive sailing, died July 2, 2003 at his home in Las Vegas from
complications of Alzheimer's disease.
>From the 1940s to his last race in 1965, Cunningham was a fierce sports
car
racing competitor who also skippered the Columbia to win the 1958
America's
Cup. After winning many road races in the United States, he was the
first
American to challenge the Europeans in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1950.
In 1950 he established an automobile manufacturing and development
company
to build his own cars to compete with the Europeans. The first
Cunningham
C-1 was designed around a Cadillac engine. His most successful sports
car
was the C-4R, which won multiple races in the 1953 and 1954 U.S. racing
seasons. Cunningham's winning designs helped establish American
automobiles
as credible Le Mans competitors and won the respect of European and
American
racing enthusiasts. He also established the American racing colors:
white
body with blue strips down the middle.
In addition to his status as the first American to race in Le Mans,
Cunningham also set the course for American leadership in the America's
Cup
yacht racing challenge. In 1958, after a 21-year hiatus of the event,
he
won the race in the syndicate's 12 meter yacht, "Columbia " which
established a winning tradition for American yachts that would last
until
1983,
He also played a part in the development of the Chrysler Hemi "300"
high-speed engine and all fin- and water-cooled brakes in the 1950s.
After retiring from racing, Cunningham and his wife Laura opened the
Cunningham Automotive Museum in Costa Mesa, California, to display his
personal collection of automobiles. The museum closed in 1985; the
collection of cars was sold to Cunningham's lifelong friend, Miles
Collier
Jr., who keeps the collection in a private museum in Florida.
With Miles Collier Sr. , he formed the Automobile Racing Club of
American
(ARCA) in 1934. Cunningham was also a founding member of the Sports Car
Club
of America, and he was member number one ( the oldest member ) of the
New
York Yacht Club.
Cunningham also received accolades and numerous awards in automotive
car
racing and sailing circles
He was noted for his philanthropic work including, Hills school for
Boys
Pottsdown, PA, Mystic Seaport, CT among many. Cunningham was born Jan.
19,
1907 to wealthy Cincinnati financier Briggs Swift Cunningham and his
wife
Elizabeth Kilgour in Cincinnati, Ohio. The senior Cunningham was the
principal financier and part-owner in the ventures of two young
partners who
developed a bath soap that floats: William Cooper Proctor and James
Norris
Gamble. Proctor was the Godfather of Briggs Cunningham II.
He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Laura (nee Cramer) of Las
Vegas, son
Briggs S. Cunningham III of Danville, Ky., daughters Lucie McKinney of
Green
farms, Conn., and Cythlen Maddock of Palm Beach, Fla., and step-sons
Bill
Elmer and Joe Elmer, and 19 grandchildren. 31 Great grandchildren
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