Chuck Daigh (November 29, 1923 – April 29, 2008) was an American racing car driver. He broke into

Grand Prix racing Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition, has its roots in organised auto racing, automobile racing that began in France as early as 1894. It quickly evolved from simple Road racing, road races from one town to the next, to End ...

through

Lance Reventlow Lance Graf von Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow, (February 24, 1936 – July 24, 1972) was a British-born American entrepreneur, racing driver and heir to the Woolworth fortune. Reventlow was the only child of heiress Barbara Hutton and her se ...

's Scarab team, through the virtue of being one of the resident engineers. Born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, he participated in six World Championship

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

races, debuting on May 29, 1960, and scoring no championship points. He also participated in one non-Championship Formula One race. Following the 1960 season, Chuck Daigh went on to contest races in the International Formula league in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, driving the previous year's front-engined Scarab. He finished eighth at Goodwood contesting the Lavant Cup and finished seventh in an attempt at the

International Trophy The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. For many years it formed the premier non-championship Formula One event in Britain, ...

. He went on to crash out of the British Empire Trophy at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

. He was also a successful sportscar driver in America, winning the 1959 Sebring endurance classic & also tried to qualify twice for 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 ...

, but without success. He also won the 1958 United States Sports Car Grand Prix at Riverside, California, driving a Scarab. This event was largely credited with launching professional sports car racing in the United States. He died in hospital in

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

after a brief battle with heart and respiratory problems.

Racing record

Formula One World Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

References

External links

Profile on Historic Racing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daigh, Chuck 1923 births 2008 deaths American Formula One drivers Sportspeople from Long Beach, California 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Racing drivers from California Scarab Formula One drivers Cooper Formula One drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers 12 Hours of Sebring drivers British Touring Car Championship drivers Carrera Panamericana drivers