Drivers A - Z
G
Beppe Gabbiani
1957Giuseppe "Beppe" Gabbiani is a former Formula One driver from Italy. He participated in 17 Grands Prix. In Formula 2, he won the 1983 Eifelrennen. He also raced touring cars and sport cars, finishing 3rd in the 2003 1000km Spa. Still racing, he entered the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hourace.
Gary Gabelich
1940 - 1984First driver to take the Land Speed Record over 1000 km/h, it remained unbeaten until 1983, when Richard Noble broke it driving Thrust 2.
Patrick Gaillard
1952French racing driver who did a few races in the difficult Ensign N179. He score a point in Spain in 1980 but the race was later downgraded to non-championship status so it was taken away.
Divina Galica
1946Divina Galica MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) is best known for her Olympics career and her motorsport racing career.
Nanni Galli
1940 - 2019Giovanni Giuseppe Gilberto Galli, nicknamed Nanni, is an accomplished Italian former saloon and sports-car racer of the 1960s and 1970s.
Oscar Galvez
1913 - 1989A great hidden talent, Galvez was the early rival and inspiration to Fangio back in their native Argentina both before and after the war.
Howden Ganley
1941Howden Ganley is a former racing driver from New Zealand who participated in 41 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, scoring a total of 10 championship points. He also participated in numerous other races and founted Tiga Race Cars in 1976 with Tim Schenken.
Judy Ganley
1939 - 2007Judy Ganley was an accomplished driver, race team member and race team administrator. She raced a Sprite and Mini-Cooper with the San Francisco Region of the SCCA in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1970 she drove a Le Mans Sprite Prototype with Janet Guthrie and Rosemary Smith to a class win and 19th overall in the Sebring 12 Hour race. Judy went on to work with the McLaren team as a timer and scorer and her skills were sought after by many of the top teams in Europe.
Harry Gant
1940Handsome Harry Gant was best known for driving the number 33 Skoal Bandits car on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit and holds the record as oldest driver to win a cup race just shy of his 53rd birthday.
Ruben Garcia
1946From a poor background in South El Monte, California, Garcia made it into the ranks of NASCAR professionals though sheer hard work and determination.
Frank Gardner
1930 - 2009Frank Gardner was one of the world's toughest, most determined and professional racing drivers. From Australia, he is best known as a Touring car racing and Sports car racing driver. He raced in nine Formula One grand prix. He won the 1971 and 1972 Formula 5000 championships and 1976 and 1977 Australian Sports Sedan championships.
Derek Gardner
1931 - 2011Visionary designer who worked on advanced transmission systems such as the 4 wheel drive Ferguson system for Matra in 1969. Joined Tyrrell in 1969 and designed some of the most successful F1 cars. He was also responsible for the P34 six wheeler.
Wayne Gardner
1959He was a motorcycle and touring car racer. His success on the world motorcycle racing circuit earned him the nickname The Wollongong Whiz.
Chester Leroy Gardner
1898 - 1938Dubbed 'The Grand Old Man of Auto Racing' Chet started racing in 1922. He was killed 16 years later when he crashed trying to avoid a child who had run onto the track during qualifying.
Don Garlits
1932Donald Glenn Garlits is considered the father of drag racing. Known as the "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world he has always been one of the great pioneers in his sport. He was the first drag racer to officially surpass 170, 180, 200, 240, 250, 260, and 270 miles per hour for the quarter mile.
Jo Gartner
1954 - 1986Much self-sacrifice and an iron determination to succeed against seemingly overwhelming odds kept Jo Gartner in motor racing when many drivers with lesser fibre would have fallen by the wayside. Jo had bags of talent but sadly lacked the neccessary finance to fully exploit it, running second-rate machinery for much of his career and acting as his own mechanic.
Dewey Gatson
1905 - 1956Rajo raced at a time when the colored barrier existed but his talent and the respect he was shown him access to racing circles. And when Rajo raced he won, driving everything from stock cars to midgets, big cars and even motorcycles.
Juan Gaudino
1893 - 1975Juan Antonio Gaudino was one of the stars of the gruelling cross-country Gran Premio Nacional marathon which was Argentinas glamour event of the 1920s and 1930s.
Jean Gaupillat
1891 - 1934Jean Gaupillat was a French racing driver who spent most of his career racing Bugatti. He was killed in the second heat of the Grand Prix de Dieppe in 1934 when his Bugatti hit a tree.
Oliver Gavin
1972Oliver Gavin is a British racing driver. He won the British Formula 3 Championship in 1995. He has also won his class at Le Mans three times.
Peter Gaydon
1941Peter Gaydon was a professional racing driver in the 1960s and early 1970s. He worked in motor sport most of his career and was also Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda in America from 1983-86.
Hanns Geier
1902 - 1986Started racing motorcycles but switched to cars. He became a Mercedes test driver in 1932 and drove in a number of Grand Prix in 1934 and 1935. He crashed badly in the Swiss GP in 1935. He recovered and returned to Mercedes as a timekeeper and assistant team manager until 1955.
Geki
1937 - 1967Geki was a wealthy Italian driver who won the Italian Formula Junior Championship in 1961, 1962 and 1963 and the Italian F3 title in 1964. He entered three Grand Prix.
Olivier Gendebien
1924 - 1998After serving with the British army in WWII he took up Rallying. He was hired by Enzo Ferrari to race his sports cars which he did very well. He won Le Mans four times, Sebring three times and the Targa Florio three times. He also raced in 15 Grand Prix.
Jordi Gene
1970Jordi Gene has raced in tourig cars, endurance racing, trucks, single seaters and motorbikes with consideable success. He came close to securing a full F1 drive but had to settle with a testing contract at Benetton.
Ian Geoghegan
1939 - 2003In Australia in the 60s the Geoghegan brothers pretty well dominated. Leo in single seaters with Ian alternating between Sports Cars and Touring Cars. Australian Sports Car Champion in 1963, 1965 and 1976, he also won five Touring Car Championships, 1964 an four in a row from 1966 to 1969.
Tony George
1959Tony George is the grandson of Tony Hulman, who purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after the end of World War II. He is the current owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and is also the president of Hulman and Co.
Elmer George
1928 - 1976Cowboy turned racer, George married Mari Hulman George, daughter of Tony Hulman, owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He raced in the 500 three times.
Louis Gérard
1899 - 2000Gérard made his money from slot machines in Paris. Louis retired from racing in 1951 and went on to become the first major driver to reach his century, dying at the grand old age of 101.
Gerino Gerini
1928Italian driver who raced Ferrari sports cars in the mid-fifties, before switching to rivals Maserati.
Peter Gethin
1940Gethin was a top F5000 driver who moved up to F1 with McLaren in 1970. Switched to BRM for 1972 and took a sensational win at Monza by just one-hundredth of a second in a four-car dash to the line. Returned to F5000 in 1973 before moving into management and driver training.
Jimmy Gibbons
1912 - 1949He started racing before WWII and turned out to be pretty good, racing under the name Jimmy Gibbons, he raced 'big cars' as well as midgets. He was killed in a National Dirt Track Midget Championship race in 1949.
Dick Gibson
1918 - 2010Gibson raced a Cooper-Bristol and an A-type Connaught before aquiring Cooper T42 Climax Formula 2 car. He raced in the 1957 and 1958 German Grands Prix and won the RAC South African International Championship in 1959.
José Guillermo Gidley
1970One of America's most articulate racing drivers. A multiple kart champion who previously drove in the Champ Car World Series and Indy Racing League, Gidley has now carved a niche for himself as a successful sports car racer.
Arthur Gill
1926 - 2008Arthur was a regular in 500cc F3 racing with his Cooper-JAP during 1951, achieving a number of good placings. After turning down a test in the works F2 Cooper-Bristol for 1952, he switched to a Mackson with limited success.
Richie Ginther
1930 - 1989In F1 he was conscientious, reliable and an extremely fine test driver. After racing Ginther dropped out of the rat race to live in a camper in the desert. He died of a heart attack in 1989.
Fabrizio Giovanardi
1966Fabrizio Giovanardi won the 1992, 1998 and 1999 Italian Touring Car Championship, the 1997 Spanish Super Touring Championship, the 2000, 2001 and 2002 European Touring Car Championship and the 2007 British Touring Car Championship in 2007.
Leonce Girardot
1864 - 1922One of the leading drivers at the dawn of motor sport. He won the Gordon Bennett Trophy in 1901.
Yves Giraud-Cabantous
1904 - 1973Giraud-Cabantous began his motor racing career in 1924 and raed until 1957 when he retired to concentrate on a transportation business he had established.
Ignazio Giunti
1941 - 1971Italian driver who made his name in saloon and Sports Car Racing in the late 1960s. He was killed when his Ferrari 312 PB prototype ploughed into the back of a Matra 650 stopped on the track in the Buenos Aires 1000km race in 1971.
Jerry Glanville
1941Jerry Michael Glanville is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Conquerors of The Spring League. He played football at Northern Michigan University in the early 1960s, and is a former NASCAR driver and owner, and sportscaster.
Cheryl Glass
1961 - 1997The tragic tale of America's first professional black female racing driver. After enjoying tremendous success on the short ovals or the Northwest and with aspirations of running in the Indy 500, her career faulted and her private life fell apart culminating in falling to her death from the Aurora Bridge in Washington.
Friedrich Glatz
1943 - 2002Friedrich Glatz raced under a number of names: Pierre Chauvet, Umberto Calvo, Frederico Careca and James Bald. He was killed racing a 1996 Arrows Cosworth F1 car in the Euro Boss Series at Most.
Helmut Glockler
1901 - 1993Helm Glöckler won the 1952 German sports car championship and became a woks Porsche driver the following year. Qualified for the German Grand Prix in 1953 but blew his engine in practice and didn't get to race..
Walter Glockler
1908 - 1988An accomplished amateur motorcycle racer before the war, he took up auto racing post war. He is famous for creating a small Porsche Spyder in 1951 that later inspired the factory to build the Porsche 550.
Charlie Glotzbach
1938They called him "Chargin' Charlie," and he stormed out of the southern Indiana short tracks to challenge Richard Petty, David Pearson and other NASCAR stars in the late 1960s.
Tom Gloy
1947Driver and Team owner, Gloy won the 1979 North American Formula Atlantic Championship and the 1984 Trans-Am Drivers' Championship.
Potsy Goacher
1917 - 1986Potsy Goacher raced mainly sprint, midget and dirt cars. He entered the Indianapolis 500 four times, two as reserve driver and two as the main driver. Failing to qualify. He holds the unenviable record for the most American Championship Car races entered but not started with 10 attempts.
Chico Godia
1921 - 1990Art colector and racing driver, Paco Godia-Sales drove a wide variety of cars from a Hotchkiss to a Ford GT40 in a career that spanned 24 years. He competed in 16 World Championship Grand Prix with a best finish of 4th in Germany and Italy driving a Maserati 250F in 1956 to finish 6th overall in the title race.
Ab Goedemans
1942 - 1968Started racing in karts and went on to be one of the quickest Duch drivers around. Sadly his career was cut short by a fatal accident at the Nürburgring in the 1968 ADAC 500 KM Rennen
Christian Goethals
1928 - 2003Goethals raced a Porsche Spyder in minor Continental events from the mid-fifties. He raced an F2 Cooper in 1958 with little success.
Paul Goldsmith
1927A former motorcycle racer who won five American Motorcycle Association (AMA) Nationals from 1952-1955, he turned to motor racing and won the USAC Championships in 1961 and 1962. Qualified for Indy 7 times.
Oscar Gonzalez
1923 - 2006Uruguayan racing driver who entered the Argentine Grand Prix in 1956 sharing a Maserati A6GCM/250F with Alberto Uria.
Jose Froilan Gonzalez
1922 - 2013Gonzalez made his Formula One debut in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. He raced 26 Grands Prix in 9 seasons (1950-1957 and 1960). He won twice, came second 7 times, third 4 times, set 3 pole positions and 6 fastest laps. He won the 1951 Coppa Acerbo, in 1954 the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Maurice Trintignant.
Mark Goossens
1969Marc Goossens is a Belgian racecar driver who drove in Formula 3000. A veteran of Le Mans, in 2006 he made his debut in the NASCAR Busch Series and NEXTEL Cup.
Sacha Gordine
1910 - 1968Sacha Gordine was a respected French film producer who did a few races in a Simca Gordini TMM in the early 50s.
Aldo Gordini
1921 - 1995Aldo Gordini was the son of Amédée Gordini, founder of the French sports car manufacturer Gordini. Aldo worked as a mechanic and occasionally drove in Formula 2. He participated in one F1 World Championship Grand Prix.
Amedeo Gordini
1899 - 1979Master tuner, manufacturer and driver, he earned the nickname of The Sorcerer. In September 1945 Gordini won the first post-war race, the Robert Benoist Cup. His Simca-Gordini team enjoyed great success especially with Jean-Pierre Wimille driving.
Robby Gordon
1969He has raced off-road, sports cars, and Indy cars. He was leading on the last lap of the 1999 Indianapolis 500 when his car ran out of gas, relegating him to sixth place. In 1991 he became increasingly involved in NASCARs Winston Cup.
Jeff Gordon
1971Gordon was NASCAR Rookie of the Year in 1993 and became the youngest winner of NASCAR's Winston Cup in 1995. He repeated his Winston Cup success in 1997, 1998, and 2001, and in 1998 also won 13 races, tying the record held by Richard Petty.
Rick Gorne
1954After racing in the mid 1970s Gorne turned his attention to maketing and management. He worked with Adrian Reynard to develop the company into a leading manufacturer before joining BAR. He now manages drivers through his company Goman Ltd.
Horace Gould
1921 - 1968Larger than life Bristol Motor Trader whose build and driving style led to him being dubbed "the Gonzalez of the West Country". He participated in 16 Grand Prix, debuting on July 17, 1954. He scored 2 championship points.
Jules Goux
1895 - 1965Jules Goux was a successfull Grand Prix driver and the first foreigner to win the Indianapolis 500. It was back in 1913, his victory being put down to his liberal consumption of champagne during pitstops! Which doesn't sit well with the current practice of sipping a bottle of milk, a practice that began when Louis Meyer won the 1933 race and asked for buttermilk following the nearly five-hour event.
Héctor Gradassi
1933 - 2003Hector Luis Gradassi was one of the great stars of Argentine Motorsport in the 1960s and 1970s, never the less he never achieved the fame that perhaps he should. He won the Turismo Carretera Championship in 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1976 in addition he was runner-up in 1967, 1973, 1977 and 1978.
Jerry Grant
1935Jerry Grant raced everything from sports cars to Indy cars, NASCAR and F5000. In USAC he raced in the 1965-1977 seasons and drove in the Indianapolis 500 from 1965 to 1968, 1970 and then from 1972 'till 1976. Grant thought that he had won the 1972 Indianapolis 500 but third-place Al Unser's team filed a protest, saying that Grant had used fuel from another driver's supply. The protest was upheld and Grant's final 12 laps were not counted, dropping him to 12th. Grant was the first USAC driver to lap at over 200 mph in qualifying at the Ontario Motor Speedway on September 3, 1972, with an average speed of 201.4mph.
Harry Grant
1877 - 1915Works driver for the American Locomotive Company, he won the Vanderbilt Cup in 1909 and 1910.
Cecil Green
1919 - 1951Cecil Green raced midgets and sprint cars. In his rookie year at Indy he finished 4th. He was killed in qualifying at the Winchester Speedway in Indiana in 1951.
Harry Green
1923 - 2005Harry C. "Pike" Green was a well known Northwest open wheel racing driver who took many wins during a career that lasted from 1946 to 1960 in the Northwest and at Langford Speedway.
Peter Gregg
1940 - 1980One of America's greatest and most successful road racers. A four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona, Peter Gregg was also the owner of Brumos Porsche, a Jacksonville, Florida car dealership.
Bob Gregg
1920 - 2002Bob Gregg's career spaned six decades, winning over 1000 main events in midgets, big cars, sprints, track roadsters, late model stock cars, modifieds, super modifieds, saloon cars, sports cars and AAA and USAC championship cars. He won 48 championships racing all over the USA and Canada.
Paul Greifzu
1902 - 1952East German racer Paul Greifzu ws one of the best BMW Special builders for the East German Formula 2 Championship in the post-war era. He became the most successful driver in the series and also competed in a variety of races in the west. He was killed when the engine seized in practice for a race at Dessau, causing his car to roll.
Cliff Griffith
1916 - 1996American racing driver who competed mainly on dirt ovals. Raced at Indy four times with a best finish of 9th in 1952.
Pat Griffith
1925 - 1980A member of the Monkey Stable and a works Aston Martin driver. Griffith was a very useful driver however after a bad crash in the 1954 12 Heures de Hyères he retired to concentrate on his business.
Bobby Grim
1924 - 1995American racing driver who won four sprint car champions. Rookie of the Year at Indy in 1959 and the last person to qualify a front engined car for the race in 1966.
Mike Groff
1961Mike Groff is a former racing driver in CART and the Indy Racing League. In 1989 he won the Indy Lights Championship.
Olivier Grouillard
1958Grouillard won the French Formula 3 championship in 1984. He moved up to F3000 in 1985 and to F1 with Ligier in 1989, scoring a point with a 6th plcae finish in the French Grand Prix. Tried his hand in Champ cars but returned to Europe to race sports cars.
William Grover-Williams
1903 - 1945The most successful British Grand Prix racing driver of the 1920s who, along with fellow drivers, Robert Benoist and Jean-Pierre Wimille, formed the most extraordinary resistance network of WWII.
Brian Gubby
1934The son of a jockey, Brian started racing in 1959 with an Austin A30. He raced saloon cars and sports cars before aquiring a Lotus 11, a Lotus 18 and an Ausper T4 Formula Junior. In 1965 he raced Lotus 24 Coventry Climax in Formula Libre and non-championship F1 races. After racing he turned to training race horses.
Miguel Angel Guerra
1953Guerra was, until the first-corner accident which eliminated Marco Apicella at Monza in 1993, famous for having the shortest Grand Prix career on record.
Carlos Guerrero
1957Carlos Guerrero is a former driver in the CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1995-1996 seasons with 17 career starts, including the 1995 Indianapolis 500.
Algernon Lee Guinness
1883 - 1954Sir Algernon Arthur St.Lawrence Lee Guinness, 3rd Baronet of the famous brewing family, specialised in straight-line speed trials and record attempts, setting a world Land Speed Record in 1908.
Kenelm Lee Guinness
1887 - 1937Kennelm Lee Guinness was a member of the famous brewing family. He was also the inventor of the KLG spark plug. He started racing as riding mechanic for his brother Algernon in a Darracqs and went on to be an accomplished driver in his own right.
Tony Gulotta
1903 - 1981Raced in the Indy 500 13 times between 1926 and 1939, his best finish was third in 1927.
Janet Guthrie
1938Janet Guthrie is the first woman to qualify and compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.
