Leafing through one of Roger Clark's Sheldon books on Saturday night, I came across the name of Lewis Kerr. Said gentleman performed very respectably during practice in a couple of F2 races early in 1966 (one was the Oulton Park race that was cancelled due to snow). He then appears to disappear!
Anyone know what happened? Dong Yen?
Who is/was Lewis Kerr?
Started by
Barry Boor
, Apr 15 2002 21:04
8 replies to this topic
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#2
David McKinney
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Posted 15 April 2002 - 21:11
Off the top of my head -
Lew Kerr was an American - I think he won an early national F/Vee title and also did well in small sportscars (Lotus 23? Brabham BT5? BT8?) before coming to Europe and doing quite well in Brabhams. I think he ran an F2 chassis in F3 one year.
Others will no doubt be able to provide more, and perhaps add what happened to him after he stopped racing in Europe.
Lew Kerr was an American - I think he won an early national F/Vee title and also did well in small sportscars (Lotus 23? Brabham BT5? BT8?) before coming to Europe and doing quite well in Brabhams. I think he ran an F2 chassis in F3 one year.
Others will no doubt be able to provide more, and perhaps add what happened to him after he stopped racing in Europe.
#3
pete53
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Posted 03 February 2011 - 16:37
Barry, I have just been "thumbing" through old threads and I came across your question re:Lewis Kerr - I don't know if you ever found out more about him (nearly 9 years since you posed this question) but he had quite a big accident at Oulton in the Good Friday F3 race in 1967 - he hit a tree and broke his ankle. I have glanced through some of my programmes from that year and his name doesn't appear in the entry lists again - not the ones I've got anyway. Perhaps he called it a day after that.Leafing through one of Roger Clark's Sheldon books on Saturday night, I came across the name of Lewis Kerr. Said gentleman performed very respectably during practice in a couple of F2 races early in 1966 (one was the Oulton Park race that was cancelled due to snow). He then appears to disappear!
Anyone know what happened? Dong Yen?
Pete
#4
EDWARD FITZGERALD
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Posted 03 February 2011 - 16:52
Barry, I have just been "thumbing" through old threads and I came across your question re:Lewis Kerr - I don't know if you ever found out more about him (nearly 9 years since you posed this question) but he had quite a big accident at Oulton in the Good Friday F3 race in 1967 - he hit a tree and broke his ankle. I have glanced through some of my programmes from that year and his name doesn't appear in the entry lists again - not the ones I've got anyway. Perhaps he called it a day after that.
Pete
raced his Brabham at Phoenix Park in 66, yes SCCA champ in 65
#5
Doug Nye
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Posted 03 February 2011 - 20:53
This could well be total toffee but I seem to recall Lew Kerr as being a US GI at some stage - I think concurrent with his early racing. Or maybe my now faltering memory is muddling him up with someone else...
DY
DY
Edited by Doug Nye, 03 February 2011 - 20:55.
#6
T54
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Posted 04 February 2011 - 01:51
Lewis Kerr indeed owned and raced a Brabham-Climax BT8 in the USA.
SC-1-65 Built for 1965 season. Harvey Timken (US) 1965 with 2.0-litre Climax for Lew Kerr (1965 SCCA E Sports/Racers national champion)
Courtesy, OldracingCars.com and... me since I provided the info to begin with!
SC-1-65 Built for 1965 season. Harvey Timken (US) 1965 with 2.0-litre Climax for Lew Kerr (1965 SCCA E Sports/Racers national champion)
Courtesy, OldracingCars.com and... me since I provided the info to begin with!
Edited by T54, 04 February 2011 - 02:16.
#7
WillKerr
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Posted 29 October 2020 - 02:15
Well it’s been 9 years since the last post so I don’t know how impactful this post will be but I might as well give it a shot. If it’s not apparent by my screen name, Lewis Kerr is my dad. It’s really cool to read some of the information that I’ve never heard before. Here’s some things that weren’t included.
Forgive me if some of the terminology is wrong I’m just going off memory and not a lot of racing knowledge. The military part was right, he joined the Marines after high school, but always liked to drive. After he got out he dedicated his time to beIng a racecar driver. He always said his favorite track was what he considered his “home track” at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut USA. He said he used to sneak onto the track while it was closed and walk it over and over. He eventually got a shot at driving for Timkin (there’s more to that story). From what I remember he won some type of US Championship two years in a row, and got an opportunity to race in England. There, I believe he raced Formula Vee and some Formula 2. The description where he dropped out of the programs must have been when he had his big crash. Burns over a large portion of his body, numerous broken bones, foot smashed into a hundred pieces, on and on. He always had to buy two pairs of the same shoe because his smashed foot was a few sizes smaller than the other. He retired after the accident. When he started racing his parents were very concerned, he had an older brother that died in a car accident. He once told me that he believes his brother was trying to drive fast like him when he crashed. He promised his parents that if he ever had a bad accident that he would quit, so when it happened, he did. The doctor of the accident told him he’d go back, that all drivers do, but he did not. With his race winnings he built a house (he was also a carpenter and builder) on the shoreline of Connecticut. He later lost the house through divorce, but on the bright-side he remarried and had me lol. I’ve heard a lot of stories but didn’t know some of the details I read above, thank you guys for posting. If anyone does read this and has any programs/flyers/pictures, website links, or further information it would be awesome to see. I would be interested to mnow if heever raced Formula 1, I think I remember him saying that he got a couple opportunities to but I could be remembering wrong as it was a long time ago. My email is wkerr155@aol.com Thanks a lot.
I forgot to say how he is doing today. My dad is alive but unfortunately he is suffering from dementia and unable to live at home any longer. Like most people in similar situations his memory has high and low points, but he can almost always recall racing names and stories. He always said having me was the best part of his life but the way he talked about racing it may be more like a Shumacher/Hamilton debate (that may be a really bad analogy, I said I don’t know a ton about racing lol). Have a good day.
Forgive me if some of the terminology is wrong I’m just going off memory and not a lot of racing knowledge. The military part was right, he joined the Marines after high school, but always liked to drive. After he got out he dedicated his time to beIng a racecar driver. He always said his favorite track was what he considered his “home track” at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut USA. He said he used to sneak onto the track while it was closed and walk it over and over. He eventually got a shot at driving for Timkin (there’s more to that story). From what I remember he won some type of US Championship two years in a row, and got an opportunity to race in England. There, I believe he raced Formula Vee and some Formula 2. The description where he dropped out of the programs must have been when he had his big crash. Burns over a large portion of his body, numerous broken bones, foot smashed into a hundred pieces, on and on. He always had to buy two pairs of the same shoe because his smashed foot was a few sizes smaller than the other. He retired after the accident. When he started racing his parents were very concerned, he had an older brother that died in a car accident. He once told me that he believes his brother was trying to drive fast like him when he crashed. He promised his parents that if he ever had a bad accident that he would quit, so when it happened, he did. The doctor of the accident told him he’d go back, that all drivers do, but he did not. With his race winnings he built a house (he was also a carpenter and builder) on the shoreline of Connecticut. He later lost the house through divorce, but on the bright-side he remarried and had me lol. I’ve heard a lot of stories but didn’t know some of the details I read above, thank you guys for posting. If anyone does read this and has any programs/flyers/pictures, website links, or further information it would be awesome to see. I would be interested to mnow if heever raced Formula 1, I think I remember him saying that he got a couple opportunities to but I could be remembering wrong as it was a long time ago. My email is wkerr155@aol.com Thanks a lot.
I forgot to say how he is doing today. My dad is alive but unfortunately he is suffering from dementia and unable to live at home any longer. Like most people in similar situations his memory has high and low points, but he can almost always recall racing names and stories. He always said having me was the best part of his life but the way he talked about racing it may be more like a Shumacher/Hamilton debate (that may be a really bad analogy, I said I don’t know a ton about racing lol). Have a good day.
#8
D-Type
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Posted 29 October 2020 - 15:02
Will, here's a starter
https://www.racingsp...s-Kerr-USA.html
And this
http://www.formula2.se/F266_Index.html
Basically just tabulated results
Edited by D-Type, 29 October 2020 - 15:05.
#9
WillKerr
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- 2 posts
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Posted 29 October 2020 - 16:22
D-Type, thanks a lot, I’ll check them out.
