Walt Hansgen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Walt Hansgen

Born	(1919-10-28)October 28, 1919 Westfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	April 7, 1966(1966-04-07) (aged 46) Orléans, France
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1961, 1964
Teams	Lotus, Cooper
Entries	2
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	2
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1961 United States Grand Prix
Last entry	1964 United States Grand Prix
NASCAR Cup Series career
3 races run over 2 years
First race	1964 Race 38 (Bridgehampton)
Last race	1965 The Glen 151.8 (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 3 0

Walter Edwin Hansgen (October 28, 1919 – April 7, 1966) was an American racecar driver. His motorsport career began as a road racing driver, he made his Grand Prix debut at 41 and he died aged 46, several days after crashing during testing for the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Racing career

A four-time SCCA Road Racing Champ, Hansgen participated in two Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on October 8, 1961, at Watkins Glen, New York. He scored a total of two championship points. In 1964 he raced the MG Liquid Suspension Special, an Offenhauser-powered car, for Kjell Qvale, at the Indianapolis 500. He finished 13th in that race. He raced there again in 1965, in the MG-Huffaker-Offenhauser, when he finished 14th.

In addition to Formula One, Walt Hansgen was a dominant road racer from the early 1950s and 1960s, winning numerous races at VIR, the famed course at Bridgehampton, and Watkins Glen through to his death at Le Mans in France in 1966.

He drove for Briggs Cunningham and John Mecom. Hansgen won the Formula Junior race at the inaugural United States Grand Prix meeting at Sebring, Florida, on December 12, 1959, driving a Stanguellini. Hansgen won the Monterey Grand Prix, at Laguna Seca Raceway, on October 17, 1965, driving John Mecom's Lola T70-Ford. He participated in several races of the 24 Hours of Daytona and Le Mans as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance races. He also was notable for introducing Mark Donohue to professional road racing.

Hansgen was killed when he crashed a 7-liter Holman & Moody Ford GT 40 Mk2 sports car while driving in the rain during the Le Mans tests on April 3, 1966. "A Ford spokesman said Hansgen's car appeared to have been aquaplaning on the wet track leaving no way for the driver to control it." Ford crew members later said that Hansgen had continued to push hard in the damp weather, although he had been warned by team manager Carroll Smith to take it easy. In Mark Donohue's book, The Unfair Advantage, it is said that Hansgen tried to drive onto an escape road, only to find out too late that a barrier had been built across it for spectator safety.

Racing record

SCCA National Championships

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1959	Brian Lister Engineering	Peter Blond	Lister Sport	S3.0	52	DNF	DNF
1960	B.S. Cunningham	Dan Gurney	Jaguar E2A	S3.0	89	DNF	DNF
1961	B.S. Cunningham	Bruce McLaren	Maserati Tipo 63	S3.0	31	DNF	DNF
1962	Briggs Cunningham	Bruce McLaren	Maserati Tipo 151 Coupé	E +3.0	177	DNF	DNF
1963	Briggs Cunningham	Augie Pabst	Jaguar E-Type Lightweight	GT +3.0	8	DNF	DNF

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Indianapolis 500

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

Books

• Michael Argetsinger, Walt Hansgen, His Life and the History of Post-War American Road Racing, David Bull Publishing, 2006, ISBN: 1-893618-54-4