Just Lovely!

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Rope-Pusher
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Just Lovely!

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What a race driving career!

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American racing great Pete Lovely, who drove for Lotus in Formula One in the late 1950s and early '60s and campaigned his own Lotus entries for years after that, died on May 15 at the age of 85.

Lovely won the first race ever held at the then-new Laguna Seca (now Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) track on Nov. 9, 1957, driving a Ferrari. He piloted a number of great sports cars during his storied career, including a Porsche 550 Spyder at Sebring International Raceway, as well as Ferraris and Chevrolet Corvettes. But it was Lovely's Lotus rides for which he is best known, starting with a Lotus Eleven at Sebring in 1959.

Lovely subsequently competed in seven F1 races, the best-known of which were his entries as a privateer. Sponsored by his own dealership, Pete Lovely Volkswagen, he would drive his car to the track on the back of a Volkswagen pickup. He campaigned a Lotus 49 for many years, perhaps longer than any other single driver campaigned one Grand Prix car.

While he did not win any Grands Prix, Lovely competed as a Lotus works driver in the late 1950s, then as a privateer in the late '60s and early '70s, and continued racing in vintage events until 2008--an incredible 50 years behind the wheel.

"It is with a heavy heart to learn of Sunday evening's passing of one of the Legends of Laguna Seca, Pete Lovely. He was a fixture at the race track from day one," said Gill Campbell, CEO of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. "It was on Nov. 10, 1957, that Pete overcame long odds to win the Pebble Beach Road Races at our then-named Laguna Seca Raceway, which was the very first race of the recently completed track. He was driving a 2-liter Ferrari Testa Rosa against more powerful cars driven by bigger-named racers like Carroll Shelby, Jim Hall and Richie Ginther. But Pete's perseverance and keen race strategy earned him the historic win and permanent place in the record books. Pete will forever be remembered in the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca family for his passion and kindness."



Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2011051 ... z1Me2vjnB5
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