KEEPING THE SPIRIT ALIVE SINCE 1999
Hap Sharp
1/1/1928 - 7/5/1993
Sharp was Texas oil man who had the means to indulge his passion for Formula 1 and drove in six Grand Prix on the North American continent in the early sixties. He was heavily involved in the Chaparral sports car project and drove one to victory at Sebring with Jim Hall in 1985.
Hap Sharp died 27 years ago, he was 65 , He would have been 92.
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James R "Hap" Sharp was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nicknamed 'Hap' due to being born on January 1st, as in Hap of Happy New Year, he was involved in the oil-drilling business with his company Sharp Oil.His love of cars started in 1949 when he rented a MGTC while on holiday in California. He bought his own soon after and then bought more and more powerful cars until he ended up with an almost full race Corvette. After seeing the AC Ace he decided he wanted one and went to the local AC dealers, Jim Hall and Carol Shelby, to order one. Thus began a friendship that would later see Hap involved in the development of the Chaparral sports car project.
He started out racing in boats, driving in the C Hydro class in the early 1950s, eventually winning the US National Outboard Racing Championship.
In 1957 he went to a racing driver school at Hourglass Field, San Diego, on the advice of a friend, and decieded to take up racing cars. He had the means to indulge his passion and by 1959 he had taken on a full-time mechanic and was racing a Cooper Monaco with a 2-litre Climax FPF engine. Underpowered, he replaced the Monaco's Climax FPF engine with a 2.3 liter Maserati four, going on to win against strong opposition during the Bahamas' Speed Week and at Road America.
In Formula 1 he drove a Cooper-Climax in the 1961 and 1962 US Grands Prix and Reg Parnell's Lotus-BRM in the 1963 race. He also drove the Lotus to a career best seventh in that year's Mexican Grand Prix, just failing to score a point. The following year he again competed in the US and Mexican Grand Prix in one of Rob Walker's Brabham-BRMs.
In sports cars he won the 1962 Road America 500 in a Chaparral 1 and the 1962 Stuttgart SCCA National in his Cooper.
In 1964 he won the Mid Ohio USRRC race in the Chaparral 2 and was fifth overall in the final standings. He also won the Nassau Trophy driving with Roger Penske.
The following year, 1965, his last full season, he won the Sebring 12 Hours with Jim Hall, the 1965 Continental Divide, the Mid Ohio and Road America USRRC rounds, as well as the 1965 Bridgehampton 500, the 1965 Riverside Times GP and the 1965 Nassau Trophy race again. He finished runner up in the USRRC.
Hap only drove occasionally after 1965. Later he took up polo and was a regular player at the Milwaukee Polo Club. He also continued to work in the motorsport industry for many years.
At the time of his death he was running a cattle ranch in Argentina. He had been suffering from personal problems and tragically committed suicide after being told he was terminally ill. It has been sugested that this was an incorrect diagnosis making his death even more sad.
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Marcel Balsa 1901 - 1984 -
Leslie Johnson 1911 - 1959 -
Gérard Pillon 1937 -
Carlo Franchi 1938 -
Jacky Ickx 1945
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Lloyd Ruby 1928 - 2009
Often reffered to as the best driver never to have won the Indy 500, he led the 500 in five occasions. A works driver for Ford in sportscars he had better luck winning the Daytona 24 Hour race twice. He took partin two Grand Prix, once at the Indy 500 when it counted as a round of the World Championship and in the 1961 US Grand Prix. -
Bob Bondurant 1933
Bob Bondurant was a Formula 1 driver who raced for the Ferrari, Lotus, BRM and Eagle teams. Now famous for his racing schools where he continues to teach, time permitting, and race in select vintage racing events. -
Bob Drake 1919 - 1990
Bob Drake was a privateer driver from Los Angeles who raced in the 1950s and early 1960s. -
Bruce Kessler 1926
Kessler was an American driver who shared a car in the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix with a certain B.Ecclestone! He went on to be involved in the trawler and television industries, even acting as a TV director for such notable shows as Knight Rider, The A Team and I Dream of Jeannie. -
Pete Lovely 1926 - 2011
Pete Lovely started racing in a track roadster in the late 1940s. In 1955 he won the SCCA 1500cc Championship and was offered a drive by Lotus in Europe. He took a class win in the 12 hour race at Rheims with Innes Ireland, before competing in a few Grand Prix with an ex-works Lotus 49B.