André Jacques Boillot (8 August 1891 – 5 June 1932) was a French

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

driver. Born in

Valentigney Valentigney () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Valentigney is best known as the place where Peugeot began operations; several members of the Peugeot family still live in the area. ...

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Georges Boillot. Following in his brother's footsteps, André Boillot began racing cars at a young age. However,

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

not only disrupted his career but claimed the life of his brother in 1916. After the war, André Boillot returned to racing as part of the

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

factory team and drove their EXS model to victory in the 1919

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...

. French drivers had been a major force since the inception of the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and he was part of a large post-war contingent of entrants from France. Boillot competed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 1919 "500" and was in the thick of things when he crashed with only five laps remaining. He returned to race in the event in 1920 and 1921 but both times went out early with mechanical problems. In Europe, he won the 1922 and 1925 editions of the

Coppa Florio The Coppa Florio (or Florio Cup) was a motorsport race for automobiles first held in Italy in 1900. It was renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50,000 Lira prize money and a cup designed by Polak of Paris. The cup was to be aw ...

and in 1926 he and co-pilot Louis Rigal won the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Williams, Boillot and Conelli at the 1929 French Grand Prix

André Boillot was driving a Peugeot 201 when he crashed during practice for the 1932 Ars

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

race at

La Châtre La Châtre () is a commune in the Indre department in central France. Population Personalities *It was the birthplace of Henri de Latouche and Emile Acollas. André Boillot the auto racing driver crashed here in 1932 and died from his injur ...

. He died in hospital a few days later from his injuries.

Indy 500 results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boillot, Andre French racing drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Grand Prix drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Peugeot people 1891 births 1932 deaths Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in France