Drivers A - Z
P
Augie Pabst Jr.
1933Augie Pabst Jr. is a sports car racing legend from the 1950s and early 1960s. Augie won many races and two national championships during his career, and drove legendary cars such as the Birdcage Maserati, Cunningham, Lola Coupe, Ferrari, and the Meister Brau Scarab.
Carlos Pace
1944 - 1977Carlos Pace was a Formula One driver from Brazil. He participated in 73 grands prix, debuting on March 4, 1972. He won 1 race, the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1975 driving for Brabham, and finished on the podium six times. He was killed in a light aircraft accident in early 1977.
Ada Pace
1924Italian rally and touring car driver of the 50s and 60s. Drove in the Targa Florio several times and was a top ten finisher in touring car races.
Nello Pagani
1911 - 2003An Italian aristocrat and a motorcycle racer first and foremost, he occasionally raced cars, driving a Maserati 4CLT/48 to seventh in the Swiss GP at Bremgarten in 1950.
Hon. Miss Dorothy Paget
1905 - 1962Wealthy and eccentric race horse owner who financed Tim Birkin's Bentleys for a number of years in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Riccardo Paletti
1958 - 1982Riccardo Paletti's Formula One career was among the shortest, as he fatally crashed on the start grid in his first full Formula 1 start.
Torsten Palm
1947Swedish driver who started out in rallying. Swedish F3 Champion in 1970 and 1971 he drove a Hesketh in two F1 races in 1975.
Jonathan Palmer
1956He participated in 87 Formula One grands prix, debuting on September 25, 1983. He scored a total of 14 championship points, with a career best finish of 4th. In 1987 he won the Jim Clark Cup for drivers without turbocharged engines. He also had a spell as McLaren test driver in 1990.
Carlos Panini
1897 - 1951Carlos Panini is credited with being the first pilot to fly a light plane around the world. He died when his car crashed during the second stage of the second Carrera Panamericana.
Olivier Panis
1966Panis started racing in karts and worked his way up through F3 and F3000, taking the title in 1993. Driving for Ligier from 1994, he took a great win at Monaco in 1996 in the wet.
Nicola Papaleo
1941 - 1992Younger brother of Domingos Papaleo, Nicola first raced in 1960 in the Mecânica Nacional class. He continued to race on and off until 1980 when he retired.
Domingos Papaleo
1937 - 2015Domingos Papaleo raced sportscars, Mecanica Nacional, Turismo and Formula VW. Initially racing a Ferrari Testarossa and a Stanguelini Fiat, he aquired a Maserati into which he installed a Corvette engine.
Max Papis
1969Massimiliano "Max" Papis is a racing driver from Italy who has competed in several top-level motorsports series such as Formula One and Champ Car. He currently drives in the Grand Am Rolex Sportscar Series.
Carlos Pardo
1975 - 2009Carlos Pardo was the NASCAR Mexico Series champion in 2004. He was killed in a NASCAR Mexico Series race at Pueblo, east of Mexico City.
Jesus Pareja
1955Pareja won the Spanish Touring Car Championship in 1981 and then had a successful career in sports cars, finishing second at Le Mans in 1986.
Mike Parkes
1931 - 1977Probably more gifted as an engineer than a driver, Michael Johnson Parkes was often asked to quit his racing in favour of an engineering job, a role in which he excelled at Ferrari after his Grand Prix career-ending crash at the 1967 Belgian GP.
Wally Parks
1913 - 2007Wallace Gordon Parks was the founder, president, and chairman of the National Hot Rod Association, better known as NHRA. He was instrumental in establishing drag racing as a legitimate amateur and professional motorsport.
Reg Parnell
1911 - 1964Reg Parnell was one of the great characters of pre and post-war motor racing in Britain. He raced for Alfa Romeo team in the very first World Championship Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950, finishing third and then beat the full Alfa Romeo works team to win the Silverstone International Trophy in 1951. He was a test and works driver for BRM and later became the team manager at Aston Martin overseeing the famous 1-2 at Le Mans in 1959. He died when he developed peritonitis after a routine appendix operation.
Tim Parnell
1932 - 2017Popular and easy going son of Reg Parnell, Tim never quite managed to match the success of his father, however he had an enjoyable career in minor F1 and F2 races in the late fifties and early sixties.
Roy Parnell
1923 - 1988Roy Parnell was Reg Parnell's cousin. Drove in springs and a coulpe of non chanpionship Grand Prix. Joined his Uncle at Aston Martin in 1956 as crew chief.
Steve Parrish
1955Versatile competitor who won the 500cc British Motorcycle Championship in 1978 and the 500cc Shellsport Motorcycle Championship in 1979. He took the British Superbike title in 1981 before switching to truck racing and taking 7 British and European Championships.
John Godfrey Parry-Thomas
1884 - 1927John Godfrey Parry-Thomas was the son of a vicar and born in Wrexham in April 1884. John was fascinated with engineering and studied the subject at college in London. A talented engineer, an accomplished racing driver and holder of many track and speed records, he was the first driver to be killed in pursuit of the land speed record
Chuck Parsons
1924 - 1999Primarily a sports car driver, Chuck did race single seaters on occasions. Winner of the 1966 USRRC he also won the Daytona 24 Hour race in 1969.
Johnnie Parsons
1918 - 1984Midget racer who went on to drive in 10 consecutive Indy 500's, finishing second in 1949 and winning in 1950.
Benny Parsons
1941 - 2007A former taxi cab driver Parsons won 16 ARCA races, 21 Winston Cup races, took 20 pole positions, placed in the top five 199 times and placed in the top ten 283 times. Parsons is the only driver to win both the ARCA and the NASCAR Winston Cup Championships.
Nicky Pastorelli
1983Nicky Pastorelli is a Dutch-Italian racing driver. He has done a partial season in Champ Car for Rocketsports in 2006.
Cyrus Patschke
1889 - 1951Cyrus Patschke is one of only three relief drivers that drove a winning car in the Indianapolis 500. In the first running of the 500 in 1911 he shared the winning Marmon with Ray Harroun.
Cyril Paul
1903 - 1984Cyril John Paul worked for Riley tuning specialist Freddie Dixon and raced a variety of cars throughout his career.
John Paul Jr
1960John Paul Jr. started racing Formula Fords in 1979. He won the first SCCA Trans-Am race he entered. He also won the first IMSA race and 500-mile Indy Car race he entered, the Michigan 500 in 1983. He has 18 overall wins in FIA, IMSA and Sportscars and has won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Sebring 12 Hour race twice. He also finished runner up at Le Mans on two occasions.
John Paul Sr
1939A big name in IMSA racing in the mid-'70s and early '80s, he was convicted in 1983 of importing marijuana, tax evasion, possession of a false passport and shooting a federal witness, he went on the run, finally being caught in Geneva. Released in 1992 he is currently wanted in connection with the disappearance of his girlfriend in 2001. As of 2020 his whereabouts are still unknown.
Walter Payton
1954 - 1999An American Football great and though a slightly odd inclusion here...Walter Payton was truly a great and inspirational sportsman who, in the mid 1990s, co-owned an Champ Car Team with Dale Coyne.
Al Pease
1921 - 2014Pease has the distinction of being the only F1 driver to be black flagged for being too slow when in the 1969 Canadian GP at Mosport though he enjoyed some success at club level.
Anna-Maria Peduzzi
1912 - 1979Anna Maria Peduzzi was one of the best female Italian drivers of her time. She won her class in the Mille Miglia in 1934 and raced in the Targa Florio five times.
Ducky Pehlman
1906 - 1947Real name Charles Pehlman, born Reading, Pennsylvania in 1905 or 1906. PA, Kutztown, racing accident, posthumous & repeated PJARC Champion
Henry Pens
1940 - 1971A good midget racer, Henry Pens was shot dead outside his garage after a disagreement with a local gang.
Cesare Perdisa
1932 - 1998Cesare made his mark driving a Maserati T200S sports car in 1954. He went on to drive for the Maserati and Ferrari works teams.
Jacques Peron
1912 - 1988Often listed incorrectly as Jacques Forestier, Jacques Peron was born in Paris and was an industrialist who raced several Ferrari, Rileys and Oscas and raced under the non de vollant of simply 'Jacques'
Xavier Perrot
1932 - 2008Swiss Formual 2 driver who competed in the 1969 German Grand Prix. He also drove Siffert's March 701 in the Jochen Rindt Memorial Trophy F1 race at Hockenheim in 1972.
Henri Pescarolo
1942Pescarolo participated in 59 grands prix, debuting on September 22, 1968. He achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 12 championship points. He wore a distinctive green helmet and still has a full beard that partially covers burns suffered in a crash.
Sandro Pesenti-Rossi
1942Italian racing driver who drove a Gulf backed Rondini Tyrrell 007 for three races in 1976 after minor success in Formula 3 and Formula 2.
Josef Peters
1914 - 2001Drove a Veritas-BMW in the early 1950s and retired from his only World Championship outing in the 1952 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.
Fred Peters
1920 - 1993Fred "Jiggs" Peters started racing Midgets in 1948, winning the ARDC championship in 1951. He then moved into Sprint Cars. In 1955 he unsuccesfully attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 in a Scopa-Offy.
Kelly Petillo
1903 - 1970Winner of the Indy 500 in 1935 and generally pretty unpleasant character. One owner once remarked that he'd love to have Kelly drive for him, "if you could just bring him to the track in a cage and only open it to put him in the car."
Kay Petre
1903 - 1994Born in Toronto, her husband bought her a Wolseley Hornet in which she started racing. She also raced Austins, Invicta, a Bugatti and the ex-Cobb 10.5 litre Delage. She had a serious crash on the Brooklands Byfleet banking during practice for the 1937 BRDC 500 and though she raecovered completely she lost he enthusiasm for racing. Later she worked as a journalist.
Andy Petree
1958Best known as a crew chief for Dale Earnhardt in the title-winning years of 1993 and 1994. After a long career as a crew chief, he became a car owner. He fielded 322 Nextel Cup entries from 1996-2003, winning twice, taking six poles and scoring 16 top-five and 54 top-10 finishes.
Lee Petty
1914 - 2000Lee Petty was an American stock car driver in the 1950s and 60s. He was one of the pioneers of NASCAR, and one of its first superstars. He never finished lower than sixth in the championship standings.
Adam Kyler Petty
1980 - 2000Adam Kyler Petty was the first fourth-generation driver in NASCAR history. The son of Kyle Petty, his grandfather is Richard Petty, and his great-grandfather Lee Petty.
Gunther Philipp
1918 - 2003Gunther Philipp was a champion swimmer, actor, writer, doctor, racing driver and general renaissance man.
Larry Phillips
1942 - 2004Larry Phillips won the NASCAR Winston Racing Series National Championship in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996. He also won seven Regional NASCAR Championships. An uncompromising racer, who probably won more races than anyone else (an estimated 2500), passed away in 2004 from lung cancer. A legend.
Alfredo Pian
1912 - 1990Pian entered the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix but crashed in practice and didn't take the start. It was his only attempt at F1.
Francois Picard
1921 - 1996Francois Picard began racing in 1949 and became well known for driving Ferrari sports cars. He made just one single seater appearance, the Moroccan GP in 1958, where he crashed into Oliver Gendebien's spinning Ferrari Dino 246. He sustained serious injuries and, though he recovered, he never raced again
Wilbur Pickett
1930 - 1974Dr Wilbur Pickett was the track physician at the Daytona International Speedway. He also raced in Trans Am and IMSA. He was killed in a plane crash on the 6th October 1974 in Deland, Florida.
Roy Pierpoint
1929Best know for wining the British Saloon Car Championship in 1965, Roy was one of top saloon car drivers in the UK in the 1960s, famous for driving big American cars against the Minis and Lotus Cortinas.
Paul Pietsch
1911Paul Pietsch competed in hillclinbs, ice racing and Grand Prix. He was offered a drive with Mercedes by Neubauer in 1940 but the war intervened. He won the German Sports Car Championship in 1950 and the Racing Car Championship in 1951. His first wife's affair with Achille Varzi before the war, led to Varzi's morphine addiction.
Marvin Pifer
1928 - 1974Marvin Pifer raced sprint cars. His best year was in 1953 when he won 23 out of the 25 IMCA amd CSRA races he entered. He crashed in practice for the Indy 500 in 1956 and was later he was diagnosed with MS brought on by the accident. He died in 1974.
Teddy Pilette
1942Son of Andre Pilette, Teddy drove a Brabham BT42 in the 1974 Belgian Grand Prix at Nivelles-Baulers, but was better known for his Formula 5000 and Can-Am exploits. He won the European F5000 title in 1973 and 1975.
Andre Pilette
1918 - 1993André Pilette was born in Etterbeek, Belgium and was a Formula One driver. He participated in 14 grands prix, debuting on June 17, 1951. He scored 2 championship points.
Theodore Pilette
1883 - 1921One of the first Europeans to compete in the Indy 500 in 1913, he was the start of a racing dynasty that was continued by his son Andre and grandson Teddy, who was named Theodore after his grandfather.
Derek Pingel
1958Australian Formula 2 driver who retired in 1988. However he deceided to return to the series in 2005, finishing third and then taking the title in 2006.
Nelson Piquet
1952Nelson Piquet is a Brazilian racing driver who was Formula One world champion in 1981, 1983 and 1987.
Renato Pirocchi
1933 - 2002Pirocchi was a pretty decent driver in sports cars and Formula Junior, winning the Italian Sports Car Championship in 1955 and the Italian Formula Junior title in 1960. He drove a Cooper-Maserati in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix finishing 12th.
Didier Pironi
1952 - 1987Didier Pironi was a Formula One driver who won 3 races, achieved 13 podiums, and scored a total of 101 championship points. He also secured 4 pole positions. He was killed racing a powerboat.
Emanuele Pirro
1962An Italian Formula One driver who raced in 40 grands prix for Benetton and Scuderia Italia. After leaving Formula One he raced touring and sports cars, driving for Audi Sport Team Joest. He won the Le Mans 24 Hour race three consecutive years, from 2000 to 2002 with Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen, and then again in 2006 driving the Audi R10 Diesel.
Boley Pittard
1938 - 1967Boley Pittard was a racer renowned for his vibrant character as much as his driving skill. But in a deadly era of the sport, he was never to fulfil his potential.
Jason Plato
1968Jason Plato is a British touring car driver. He was 2001 BTCC champion, and has finished in the top 5 in the championship 7 times.
Hugh Plumb
1969Both Hugh's parent competed at Olympic level in equestrian events, however his idea of horsepower was slightly different. For more than two decades, Plumb has competed in endurance series including the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, American Le Mans Series, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, and World Challenge America.
Willy Pöge
1869 - 1914Willy Pöge was born in Chemnitz on 2 December 1869. He was a gentleman driver who won many races for Mercedes. He drove his last race when he won the Tsar Nichols's 1910 Russian Touring Trial. He took up flying and died of a heart attack in 1914.
Norberto José Polinori
1931 - 1967Charisma and unselfishness, Polinori raced in Turismo Carretera. He was run over and killed while inspecting his car after a collision with another competitor.
Art Pollard
1927 - 1973Pollard dominated racing on the super modified circuit on the West Coast in the late '50s and early '60s. During one period in 1961, he won 22 of 28 main events. He raced at Indy seven times and was killed during the Indianapolis 500 time trials on May 12, 1973.
Jacques Pollet
1932 - 1997A loyal Gordini campaigner, Pollet competed in five World Championsip Grand Prix with a best finish of 7th at Monaco in 1955. He won his class at Le Mans in 1954.
Ben Pon
1936Pon was a successful Porsche sports car racer. His F1 chance came in 1962 driving a works Porsche 787 in the Dutch Grand Prix. He crashed and vowed never to race single seaters again. Raced on in sports cars until 1969. Now owns and runs the Bernardus Winery in Carmel, California.
Dennis Poore
1916 - 1987A British hill-climb champion in 1950 with his Alfa Romeo 3.8S, Poore, a wealthy industrialist, briefly became a member of the Connaught Racing Syndicate in 1952, scoring a fine fourth place in the British GP.
Ferdinand Porsche
1875 - 1951Ferdinand Porsche was an Austrian automotive engineer. Best known for designing the original Volkswagen Beetle and for his contributions to advanced German tank designs: Tiger I, Tiger II and the Elefant. Adolf Hitler honored Porsche in 1937 when he was awarded the German National Prize for Art and Science, one of the rarest decorations in the Third Reich.
Antony Powys-Lybbe
1909 - 2004British gentleman racer who owned the ex-"Raph" Alfa Romeo Tipo B. Started out racing Alvis, once beating Hans Stück in the supercharged 5.3 litre V16 Grand Prix Auto Union at Shelsley Walsh in 1936 (OK it was very very wet!).
Charles Pozzi
1909 - 2001Charles Pozzi was a racing driver who participated in one Formula One race in the year of its inception. He also competed in endurance races. He was the exclusive Ferrari importer for France for over 30 years and become a household name for anything to do with Ferrari.
Ted Prappas
1955Ted Prappas is a former driver in the CART Championship Car series, racing in the 1991-1992 seasons. He made 26 career starts, including the 1992 Indianapolis 500. He finished in the top ten 4 times with a career best finish of 6th in the 1991 Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Willard Prentiss
1897 - 1959Willard Prentiss competed in various races across the United States in the 1920s, including the Indy 500 and races at Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Sterling, Illinois.
Harlan Preston
1917 - 1995Preston just wanted to enjoy racing and win as many races as he could, capturing several championships in the Michigan and Ontario area.
Jackie Pretorius
1934 - 2009A South African racing legend from the '60s and early '70 Jackie Pretorius participated in 4 South African Grand Prix, debuting on January 1, 1965.
Jason Priestley
1969Priestley, best known as Brandon Walsh in the television series Beverly Hills 90210, has competed in the SCCA Pro Rally Series, the Indy Pro Series, GTS, SCCA Trans-am racing, the Motorola Cup, the Pro/Celebrity Race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and numerous other events.
David Prophet
1937 - 1981David Prophet, a Midlands motor trader, raced enthusiastically in some serious machinery for more than a decade. He was killed in 1981 his helicopter crashed just after take-off from the Silverstone circuit.
Alain Prost
1955One of the most successful Formula One World Champions with 4 World Titles, only Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio have more. Prost was the F1 World Champion in 1985, 1986, 1989, and 1993, and runner-up in 1983, 1984, 1988 and 1990. He competed in 199 Grand Prix, 51 of which he won, and accumulated through his career 798.5 championship points.
Stephane Proulx
1965 - 1993Stephane Proulx was a Canadian racing driver. He won the Canadian Formula Ford 2000 Championship in 1987 before moving into F3000. A driver with potential, he died from an HIV-related illness.
Monique Proulx
1947 - 2012Monique Proulx was a Québécois driver who raced mostly in Canada in the 1970s.
Tom Pryce
1949 - 1977Thomas Maldwyn Pryce was a Formula 1 racing driver famous for winning the Brands Hatch Race of Champions in 1975, and for his shocking death in an accident during the 1977 South African Grand Prix.
Antonio Pucci
1923 - 2009Antonio Pucci was an Italian racing driver of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an official test driver for Porsche and won the Targa Florio in April 1964 with the English driver Colin Davis.
Eddie Pullen
1890 - 1970Eddie Pullen worked at the Mercer plant and raced their cars until they withdrew from racing. He won the American Grand Prize in 1914.
David Purley
1945 - 1985No shortage or heart in David Purley, a man so well remembered for courage and audacity that people forget he could actually drive.
Clive Puzey
1941He was one of only four drivers to enter a Formula One race from the former republic of Rhodesia.
