John Morton (born February 17, 1942) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
racing driver from
Waukegan, Illinois
''(Fortress or Trading Post)''
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.
Early life
After his father took him to a race at
Road America in 1957, Morton became an avid racing fan. He went on to race jalopies in South Carolina before he dropped out of
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...
to attend Carroll Shelby's racing school at Riverside Raceway in California. Taking a menial job working in
Carroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. Shelby is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified dur ...
's race shop, Morton saved his money to purchase his first race car, a
Lotus Super 7 which he raced in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) amateur races in 1963.
Career
In 1964, he drove with
Ken Miles
Kenneth Henry Jarvis Miles (1 November 1918 – 17 August 1966) was a British-American sports car racing engineer and driver best known for his motorsport career in the US and with American teams on the international scene. He is an induct ...
at
Sebring in a
427 Cobra for Shelby American Racing. Teaming with Miles and Skip Scott, Morton won the GT class at the
Road America 500, second overall, in a team Cobra. That year, he bought his second race car: a
Lotus 23B
The Lotus 23 was designed by Colin Chapman as a small-displacement sports racing car. Nominally a two-seater, it was purpose-built for FIA Group 4 racing in 1962–1963. Unlike its predecessors Lotus 15 and 17, the engine was mounted amidship ...
.
John raced mostly SCCA Club races through 1968 until
Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, a ...
(the American designer, motorsports writer and photographer, not the
Australian racer) hired him for his new BRE
Datsun
Datsun (, ) was an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986, but relaunche ...
team. The period between 1969 and 1972 was fruitful for John, Peter and Datsun. The team disbanded after the 1972 season after dominating both SCCA C Production with the
240Z (National Championships in 1970-71) and the 2.5
Trans-Am
The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).
Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includi ...
with the
510.
Racing in
F5000
Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars tha ...
,
Can-Am and
IMSA
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...
occupied the next few years. A short almost accidental foray into the movie industry in 1975 led to stunt work on films and several TV shows, including ''
The Rockford Files
''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investiga ...
'' and ''
Fantasy Island
''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. ...
''. In 1981, Phil Conte joined John's small Can-Am team as a sponsor for two years after which Phil formed his own IMSA team with John as one of his two drivers in the GTP category.
In 1985, Jim Busby hired John as team driver in one of his BF Goodrich sponsored
Porsche 962s with
Pete Halsmer. The pair won the Times GP at
Riverside in 1985. In 1987 John drove for the Group 44 Jaguar team of
Bob Tullius
Robert Charles "Bob" Tullius was born 7 December 1930 in Rochester, New York. He is best known as a race car driver and racing team owner.
Early years
Tullius considered a career in teaching after graduating from high school. He served a term in ...
and won the last Times GP at Riverside and the West Palm Beach GP, both sharing the car with
Hurley Haywood
Hurley Haywood (born May 4, 1948) is a retired American race car driver. Haywood has won multiple events, including five overall victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, three at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and two at the 12 Hours of Sebring. He is cre ...
. The Walkinshaw team replaced Tullius' Jaguar team for 1988 and the
Electramotive Nissan Team signed Morton. John and
Geoff Brabham
__NOTOC__
Geoff Brabham (born 20 March 1952) is an Australian racing driver. Brabham spent the majority of his racing career in the United States.
Racing career
CART
He raced successfully in CART early in his career, finishing 8th in 1982, 19 ...
won several races that year setting the stage for Nissan's domination of the IMSA series for several years.
Other notable Nissan races for John during 1989–95 include an overall victory at
Sebring and several class wins, including
Le Mans. Morton was third overall in a Joest Porsche in 1986 and class winner in a BFG Mazda Lola in 1984, competing nine times at Le Mans. Several races in various other classes and categories include Sprint cars and karts. He made his CART debut in the first race of the 1984 season at the
Long Beach Grand Prix
The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder of the event. It w ...
and finished 9th but was never able to get a ride in competitive car.
In his most recent professional races, 1997–2001, John raced Porsches in both the Grand Am
Rolex Sports Car Series
The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...
and
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American Le Mans' hea ...
. Currently most of John's competition is in vintage races driving a variety of cars, which include Cobra coupes, Corvettes, Porsches, and a Sunbeam Tiger.
Morton has competed at the
Monterey Historic Automobile Races
The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is an annual event held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Its purpose is to provide an event in which historic racecars can compete. It takes place over the course of one weekend ...
many times. In 2010, he suffered a crash when his
Scarab flipped end-over-end near turn two of
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...
, landing upside down with a broken roll bar. He was taken to the hospital, and was determined to be fine. The Scarab was seriously damaged, but it was rebuilt and restored to original specifications and recently won the Amelia Island Concours.
In 2013, the Sports Car Club of America held the 50th Running of the National Runoffs. Because of this momentous event special rules were in place to allow former champions to enter the event without running any of that season's qualifying events. Bonk Brothers Racing and LNA Enterprises prepared a Nissan 240Z for Morton to run at the event. Due to poor weather he was only able to have 2 sessions in the car. He was able to qualify 13th and finish 10th.
In 2013, Motorbooks published John’s first person account: “Inside Shelby American - Wrenching and Racing with Carroll Shelby in the 1960s."
Racing record
SCCA National Championship Runoffs
24 Hours of Le Mans results
References
External links
John Morton Racing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, John
1942 births
Champ Car drivers
Trans-Am Series drivers
Living people
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
American Le Mans Series drivers
Sportspeople from Waukegan, Illinois
Racing drivers from Illinois
World Sportscar Championship drivers
SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers
SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners
12 Hours of Sebring drivers
Oreca drivers
Team Joest drivers