Lee E. Brayton (August 13, 1933 – April 30, 2022) was an American racing driver from

Coldwater, Michigan Coldwater is a city in Branch County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,945. It is the county seat of Branch County, located in the center of the southern border of Michigan. The city is surrounded by Co ...

. He competed in the USAC

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive events ...

series from 1972 to 1975, making 16 starts with the best finish of 10th three times (twice at

Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway (MIS) is a moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than approximately south of the village of Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is ...

and once at

Texas World Speedway Texas World Speedway (TWS) was a motorsport venue located in College Station, Texas.The track was one of only eight superspeedways of or greater in the United States used for racing, the others being Indianapolis, Daytona, Pocono, Talladega, ...

). He attempted to qualify 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 ...

in 1972, 1973, and 1974, but after missing the field his first year, was taken out of contention by practice crashes the following two years. His son,

Scott Brayton Scott Everts Brayton (February 20, 1959 – May 17, 1996) was an American race car driver on the American open-wheel circuit. He competed in 14 Indianapolis 500s, beginning with the 1981 event. Brayton was killed in practice after qualifying ...

, was a long-time

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

and

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

driver, who was killed in a crash during a practice run after qualifying for the pole position for the 1996 Indy 500 race. Lee Brayton owned Brayton Engineering, an engineering firm that helped build the

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

V6 IndyCar engine as well as fielding a car in the CART series, primarily for his son Scott, from 1981 to 1986 and then fielded an

car in 2002. They entered two cars in the

2001 Indianapolis 500 The 85th Indianapolis 500 (aka “the 2001 Indianapolis 500”) was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 27, 2001. Race rookie Hélio Castroneves, a three-year veteran of the CART series, led the final 52 lap ...

for

Memo Gidley José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley is a Mexican-born racing driver, of German and Canadian ancestry, born in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico on September 29, 1970. He holds dual citizenship - American and Mexican. In his early years, he sold his a ...

and

Steve Knapp Steve Knapp (born April 17, 1964, Minneapolis, Minnesota), is a former driver in IndyCar. He raced in the 1998–2000 seasons with 13 career starts, including 3 at the Indianapolis 500. His best career finish was in his first race, a third pl ...

but both missed the field; their single-car assault on the field in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

with John de Vries again failed. Their last Indy Car event came at the Michigan 400 in 2002 with Scott Harrington at the wheel. He died on April 30, 2022, at a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

in his hometown of Coldwater.

Racing results

USAC Championship Car series

(

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 ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

References

External links

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Lee Brayton
at Champ Car Stats 1933 births 2022 deaths People from Coldwater, Michigan Racing drivers from Michigan Champ Car drivers IndyCar Series team owners {{IndyCar-bio-stub