About Peter Gregg...

Originally posted by Barry Lake
Now, I am wondering if that wasn't in some way related to this Le Mans crash - the two being separated by about 18 months. Is there something there that we haven't been told?

Originally posted by Barry Lake
Does anyone have access to either of the two stories mentioned by tifoso? I would love to see them.

My second experience was even more tragic. While I was at the University of Florida, a most successful sports car racer from nearby Jacksonville, Peter Gregg, also known as "Peter Perfect" for his demanding technique in car preparation and in driving, sustained a similar type of injury. Although he never was anywhere near death, he was left with diplopia. I had raced on the same track with him, although not against him, in endurance races, such as the 24 hours of Daytona and the 12 hours of Sebring. I did not know him personally, However, at that time, I was the only strabismus "expert" near Jacksonville or in northern Florida. I fully expected to see him appear in my office for a consultation any day. Instead, to my dismay, I heard in the news, that, because of his diplopia, despairing that he would never successfully drive a race car again, he had gone down to the Atlantic Ocean beach beyond Jacksonville and put a gun to his head and killed himself. I never heard anything more about his case or its management but have always felt terrible that I did not try to contact him instead of waiting for him to contact me.

Originally posted by Barry Lake
In the early 1970s I used to regularly see a column by Peter Gregg in, I am fairly sure, Autoweek, the US newspaper-type publication. It was far and away the most interesting driver column ever have read and it didn't seem to be "ghosted".

The column ggave the distinct impression that Gregg lacked the ego problems of many top drivers. He came across as a real enthusiast. Because of this, I was stunned by the news of his taking his own life.

Originally posted by Barry Lake
Jim

Interesting to hear that you were the man tapping the typewriter keys for Gregg.

What I meany about lack of ego was that the columns I remember were not of the boring driver column, "...then I did this, and then I did that, and I didn't win because..."

He gave some real insight into the tracks and the places he visited and the races he contested. Perhaps some of that came from your prompting. But I learned a lot from them - and what I learned wasn't all about how and why Gregg won, or didn't win.

1980 Survives auto crash with Peter Gregg en route to Le Mans.

Le Mans '79 was the last for Porsche 935 stalwart and IMSA champion Peter Gregg. Like O’Rourke, he raced a 512 at Le Mans in the year the 935 scored its first win on the Sarthe. The Charles Pozzi-entered 512 BB he shared with old pal Claude Ballot-Lena lasted 219 laps. A year later Brumos Porsche’s Peter Gregg’s would return to Le Mans with disastrous consequences.

Originally posted by RJL
IIRC Peter Gregg had suffered with a life long depression problem and this was compounded by head injuries he received in a road accident in France, which left him unable to drive racing cars. He left a note saying something along these lines.

Originally posted by luisfelipetrigo
His team mate for the long distance races was Hurley Haywood.

I had a pretty fast Corvette, which I would take to autocrosses. I was pretty much unbeatable, and that's when Peter Gregg came along. Peter got me started in racing, and it was something that I was successful in doing. He encouraged me, and at that point I said, "OK, this is what I want to do."
(...)
Peter always liked to take the race cars out for an autocross event. Usually it would be the week before leaving for a pro race, to run the car, run the gear box in, and make sure the brakes were working. Give it a little test before we arrived at the race track. We did that in 1971 when we campaigned the 914/6. The local club got a pretty good preview of what Peter had up his sleeve. The technical advanced that Peter was so famous for would find themselves test for the first time on your autocross courses.

Originally posted by Twin Window

...but I'm sure the word at the time was that Gregg had been having an affair with another driver, and the break-up tipped him over the edge...

Originally posted by Twin Window
I've subsequently been contacted by another TNFer who not only remembers this as being the case, but who also named the same other [male] driver in the equation as I remembered.

I have just read through the remarks and comment about Peter Gregg and would add my own: I went to work for Peter right after the 1969 Daytona 24 hours and was involved with all of his racing from then until his death in 1980. I had been an employee of Brumos Porsche Car Corporation from 1959 till 1964 and was always involved in their racing. From 1965 till 1969 I did race prep for various drivers including Charlie Kolb. Charlie's passing last week got me to thinking about Peter and I decided to check out the bulletin board. I can answer most any question about Peter and his racing because I was there. There are many postings which are not really right, at least as I remember them. I know it is hard to write history 40 years after the fact but I still have good memories of that period. If anyone still is interested in what went on, I would try to reply as best as I can remember to any questions. Jack Atkinson

Edited by Jack-the-Lad, 24 June 2009 - 03:38.

Unfortunately, I cannot find anything to substantiate this - and the only person I know who'd remember (Quentin Spurring) is in Australia - but I'm sure the word at the time was that Gregg had been having an affair with another driver, and the break-up tipped him over the edge...

Well then, why post unsubstantiated rubbish to linger on the internet for posterity, as well as implications involving another obvious driver? More than a bit unseemly, given the man has been dead for almost 29 years and is not here to confirm or deny.

If anyone, anywhere, has anything of remote substance to affirm these rumors I'd love to see it. But I suspect I'll be waiting for quite some time. As Gregg was a notorious womanizer during his marriage to Jennifer, I'm not buying it.

V.

Edited by Buford, 24 June 2009 - 05:24.

Edited by Keir, 24 June 2009 - 14:42.

Edited by URY914, 25 June 2009 - 02:16.

Edited by Bob Riebe, 25 June 2009 - 03:30.

Here's a fact - Peter Gregg was one of the best drivers of his era. He's gone, let his memory rest. All else is bullshit!

Welcome to the forum, Jack. I well remember seeing you in the pits all those years at Sebring and Daytona. Please feel free to share anything you like with us. That's what the forum is all about.

I seem to recall you looked particularly knackered at the end of the Sebring 12 Hours the year you had the BMW CSL there (1977? Not sure). Is there a story behind that?

Personally, I'd like to know a little more about Hans Mandt, who worked on your team and who used to service my 2.7RS here in Fort Lauderdale. He had his own interesting stories about Peter Gregg (and Michael Keyser). Just thought I'd ask about Hans since no one else is likely to!

Jack

Jack,

Great to have you on board! Here is a pic of you at Sebring during a drivers change. I attended Univ. Of N. Florida and used to hang out at the old race shop. Unforgettably this was 1983-4 after Peter and were gone. Only two employees were left to mind the shop, a young guy named Travis Taylor and Ted Riddle. Very nice guys that would allow me to hang out anytime. I also remember you having a 356 vintage race car.

I remember Travis told me that Peter had the reputation as "Perfect" but it was you that saw to it in the end.

One question: There seems to be several former Brumos 935s running these days. How many were there exactly? I know the last one was sold to Bruce Leven and has now been restored.

Did the #99 935 that won Daytona in 1978 and painted in Brumos colors a new car that stayed with the team?

Also have a look at the link at the bottom of my post to see my IMSA photos.

Hans and I took Turns going to the '69 trans am races as mechanic. I went to six races and Hans did six. It happened that Peter won the 2 liter class in all six races that I attended. The Germans around Brumos were not too happy. They did not think a lowly ex aircraft/volkswagen mechanic could look after a Porsche race car never mind that I had been working on Porsches since 1956 and doing race prep since 1960. Hans continued to work at Peter's race shop until hired away by Mike Keyser. I know Hans passed away some years ago but do not know any details. I first knew Hans when he work for the M-B dealer in Jax. I can not recall the manager name, but know that Hans maintained race car for him with DKW engines. I remember being impressed by Han's ability to pick up those 3 cyl. engines without any hoist. He was a very strong man with big hands, but a gentle sort and a good friend to me.