Briggs Cunningham

Competitor, Car Builder
CLASS OF 2014
Veterans Committee Selection

Briggs S. Cunningham Jr. was a Westport, CT native who became an American sports car racing pioneer, a competitor, sponsor and car builder.

Starting as a driver in the 1930s, he began building often exotic racing machines in the 40s. Determined to put America on a level with the Europeans, he produced a list of high-performance prototype machines in the 1950s

He debuted the Cunningham C-5R at the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans with Phil Walters and John Fitch as his drivers. While the car posted the top speed of 249 mph, the team finished third overall.

Briggs Cunningham won the 12 Hours of Sebring three times: 1953 with Bill Lloyd, 1962 with John Fitch and 1964 with Lake Underwood.

He was on the cover of the April 26, 1954 issue of Time magazine (with 3 of his race cars).

A world renowned competitor, Briggs was an accomplished sailor as well, winning the Atlantic Class National Championship 5 times between 1952 and 1961. He also won the America’s Cup in 1958 and was posthumously inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame and received their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

Cunningham has also been inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame (1993), Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1997) and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2003). He passed away on July 2, 2003 at the age of 96.