19 replies to this topic

[fines]

Is this the same person? I mean, the 1989 ECAR (Atlantic/East coast) Formula Atlantic champion Jocko Cunningham and the mid-nineties British F3 driver (ADR and WSR) Brian Cunningham, later to compete in Indy Lights (1997/8). The IndyLights driver was listed as hailing from (or living in?) Lexington, KY (not OH). Anyone help me, I am

[Rainer Nyberg]

They are not the same person, but they might be related, Jocko is 20 years older than Brian.
My records shows that Jocko turned 50 last year while Brian turned 30.

[fines]

Ah, thanks Rainer! Do you have birthdates for them?

Could it be that Jocko's real name (presuming this is a nick) was Brian? I'm asking because the CART Atlantic website has him as "Brian Cunningham" in its archived results. Not that these are very accurate, anyway...

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by fines
Ah, thanks Rainer! Do you have birthdates for them?

Could it be that Jocko's real name (presuming this is a nick) was Brian? I'm asking because the CART Atlantic website has him as "Brian Cunningham" in its archived results. Not that these are very accurate, anyway...

Well, Brian ran Atlantics too

I believe "Jocko" Cunningham's given first name was Glenn.


Jim Thurman

[Rainer Nyberg]

Just a birthyear, can not come up with more specific.
So it should be 1951 and 1971.

[Rainer Nyberg]

Fines, I found this on Brian Cunningham, I was one year off. He was born in 1970.

Fine pedigree too it seems, a grandson of Briggs Cunningham.

From http://www.ptgracing.com/drivers.htm :

Brian Cunningham
born: Aug. 24, 1970 in Batavia, N.Y.
residence: Danville, Ky.
family: wife Susan, daughter Lucie

1999 second in ALMS GT driver championship; wins at Portland, Road Atlanta; third at Lime Rock, Mosport, Petit Le Mans

Brian Cunningham started racing karts in 1978. He was a leading contender in the Skip Barber Formula Ford Championship and the Formula Ford 2000 Championship in 1990 and '91. In 1992, he won rookie of the year in the Oldsmobile Pro Series and became a world speed and endurance record-holder as a member of the factory OIdsmobile team that set 52 records. He was a top racer in British Formula Three from 1993 through '96. He scored one win, a pole, three fast race laps and five top-five finishes for the factory Oldsmobile Aurora program in the 1996 IMSA GT1 series. He competed in the 1997 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Indy Lights in 1998. As the grandson of Briggs S. Cunningham, a legendary sports-car driver and constructor of the 1950s and '60s and the winning skipper of the America's Cup yacht Columbia, Cunningham wants to achieve what his grandfather set out to do - - win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He is a licensed pilot.

[rdrcr]

J.O. (Jocko) Cunningham Jr. past winner of the Formula Atlantic series is a good acquaintance of mine. The J.O. appeared as his drivers name on his Pierre Philips run car.

He is named Joseph Oliver (J.O.) after his dad. He is recently married and living in Harbor Springs, MI. He is of no relation to Brian, that I know.

Jocko was very quick in his day for a privateer. I think he ran his 89 / 90 seasons out of his own pocket and some side money. His predilection for fast times with his racing perhaps jeopardized his advancement up the ranks.

[Jim Thurman]

Richard thanks for clearing that up. I have no idea why "Glenn" rattled around and fell out of my head...but I know *where* it came from (IOW, I know who Glenn Cunningham is)

I pride myself on doing a decent job, but I've got to admit a complete and total mental lapse on this one. Sorry about that.

Thinking back on it, I realize now that I don't know that I ever saw him listed as anything other than "Jocko". Since he isn't "Glenn" , I realized I had no idea.

And, yes, Jocko was pretty quick. I remember that he was one of the older Atlantic drivers at the time and still beat the "kids".


Jim Thurman

[rdrcr]

Jim, one miss out of hundreds isn't too shabby... don't sweat it... It just so happened that a post was made inquiring about someone I actually know! That doesn't happen very often.

When I returned from CO, I was surprised to find 'ol Jocko's name up on the board. Very amusing I must say.

He had quite the battle at several races with a young upstart Quebecois, Claude Bourbonnais...

Of note; At Montreal (in 1990 I think) he really put quite a move on the kid with a pass in the grass going into the hairpin. With two wheels in the yard, he caught the young Canadian by surprise and went on to take the win... We went nuts in the stands! It was a true Zanardi-type bonsai move...

Besides the aforementioned Brian and his famous grandfather, I know of Peter Cunningham driver of the Acura NSX in the Speedvision Series... but the only "Glenn" I'm aware of was a motorcycle racer... was this the fellow you had confused with Jocko?

[fines]

Thank you all, guys!

Originally posted by Jim Thurman
Well, Brian ran Atlantics too

Really? Say, when would that have been? The Toyolantic website only lists a "Brian" Cunningham competing in three races each in 1990 and 1991, and one race in 1992. I suppose that's all Jocko in reality. They don't have another Cunningham until the end of 1997, and from then on my records are pretty complete, and yet I'm not aware of Brian or any other Cunningham racing there!

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by fines
Thank you all, guys!

Really? Say, when would that have been? The Toyolantic website only lists a "Brian" Cunningham competing in three races each in 1990 and 1991, and one race in 1992. I suppose that's all Jocko in reality. They don't have another Cunningham until the end of 1997, and from then on my records are pretty complete, and yet I'm not aware of Brian or any other Cunningham racing there!

Apparently I should have stayed out of this thread...I was having an off day

Brian raced Indy Lights. I made the mistake of confusing those two series (I'm usually critical, though understand, when the two series are mixed up, so a slap about the face for me )

Strange, I would have thought surely "Jocko" ran more than just the three races in 1990. fines, is this info for the Eastern series or Western series?


Jim Thurman

[fines]

Originally posted by Jim Thurman
Strange, I would have thought surely "Jocko" ran more than just the three races in 1990. fines, is this info for the Eastern series or Western series?

You're probably right, Jim, the info on the Atlantic website is VERY incomplete. If I was CART and couldn't come up with a better job than that I wouldn't even bother...

[fines]

Originally posted by rdrcr
J.O. (Jocko) Cunningham Jr. past winner of the Formula Atlantic series is a good acquaintance of mine. The J.O. appeared as his drivers name on his Pierre Philips run car.

He is named Joseph Oliver (J.O.) after his dad. He is recently married and living in Harbor Springs, MI. He is of no relation to Brian, that I know.

Hey Richard, thanks for that information! Do you think you could find out about his birthday and post it to me?

[Racer.Demon]

And then there's Aussie Neil Cunningham, another no-relation-to. And you also have American Peter Cunningham (already mentioned by rdcdr), a former Honda NATCC touring car driver who might be Brian's brother, as the two are known to have been team mates for PTG BMW in the 2000 ALMS GT class...

[rdrcr]

Originally posted by fines

Hey Richard, thanks for that information! Do you think you could find out about his birthday and post it to me?

Sure, I'll see what I can do...

[Mike Argetsinger]

Originally posted by Racer.Demon
And then there's Aussie Neil Cunningham, another no-relation-to. And you also have American Peter Cunningham (already mentioned by rdcdr), a former Honda NATCC touring car driver who might be Brian's brother, as the two are known to have been team mates for PTG BMW in the 2000 ALMS GT class...

No, Peter and Brian are in no way related.

A couple more racing Cunningham's who have been left out of this listing are Briggs Cunningham III (son of Briggs II of LeMans and America's Cup fame - Brian is the third generation of drivers in that particular Cunningham family). Another Cunningham not mentioned yet is Walt Cunningham - a fine driver(and part time ski instructor) from Colorado. Walt tells me he is not related to any of the other Cunninghams mentioned here!

I have raced with Jocko and with Peter - both terrific drivers.

[rdrcr]

Michael...

I have your answer. Jocko was born Oct. 30th 1950... I think that would make him 51.

[fines]

Thank you very much, Richard!!!

Over the last week I made a determined bid to make sense of the Atlantics results on the CART site, and with some input from my own records I have really made some headway. There're still a lot of questions, though, and maybe I'll start a new thread on it. Is there someone on this board who's looked into that subject already, i.e. early nineties FAtlantic races? Jim, per chance? As it is, driver information is quite complete now, but I do need a lot of help concerning cars and entrants.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by fines
Thank you very much, Richard!!!

Over the last week I made a determined bid to make sense of the Atlantics results on the CART site, and with some input from my own records I have really made some headway. There're still a lot of questions, though, and maybe I'll start a new thread on it. Is there someone on this board who's looked into that subject already, i.e. early nineties FAtlantic races? Jim, per chance? As it is, driver information is quite complete now, but I do need a lot of help concerning cars and entrants.

fines, unfortunately, I don't have much material concerning Atlantics in that time frame. It's pretty much limited to the SCCA Media Guide and my recollections from watching all the races on television (!).

I know On Track magazine covered Atlantics in the 80's, but I didn't see many issues of it after 1993. To top it off, I still have to find my early 90's SCCA Media Guide and issues of On Track.

But, when I do, I'll check through them and look for answers to any of your questions in that other thread. I do have On Track for one year in the late 80's when Atlantic was still divided into Eastern and Western series.


Jim Thurman

[fines]

Thanks Jim, any help appreciated! Keep in mind that from 1992 onwards I'm pretty much complete. It's the earlier years that bug me, especially the eighties and then the seventies (going back in time). I should have a complete list of races with dates, winning driver and winning car, but I don't know how accurate this info is. Should be, more or less. Next I'd like to have the top 3 or six finishing drivers, preferably with car and entrant info. And championship points standings would also be helpful! Anyone with the final 1992 points? And, btw, does anybody know when the points system changed from 30-24-18-15-12-10 etc. to the present system?

Those SCCA Media Guides sound interesting, too...