Few individuals could better be thought of to embody the spirit of the American sportsman than Briggs Swift Cunningham. Born in 1907 to a family of means, Briggs’ life was forever changed by a chance ride in his uncle’s Dodge touring car, outfitted with a Hispano-Suiza aero engine. From that point forward Cunningham pursued his passion for speed by racing or fielding a wide variety of sports cars during the ’50s and ’60s. While Cunningham raced everything from Ferraris and Jaguars to Abarths, he is perhaps best remembered for his series of self-named American-built sports cars that competed with great honor on the international endurance racing stage. Cunningham’s goal was to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with an All-American team, but while he was never able to ultimately fulfill that goal, he set the stage for other American efforts that followed. Outside of the automotive world, Cunningham was also noted for being a world-class yachtsman who skippered the successful defense of the 1958 America’s Cup.
This month’s featured Web site is a tribute to the life of Briggs Cunningham and includes such features as a brief biography; history and technical specifications of all of the Cunningham automobiles; historical highlights of the various periods that he competed; an overview of his America’s Cup defense; as well as downloadable pdfs containing listings of all the events he competed in, a driver roster, and a Cunningham car registry.
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