Ed Hugus

Edward James Hugus (J. Edward Hugus on his FIA CSI racing licence, 30 June 1923 – 29 June 2006) was an American racing driver and car dealer.

Hugus was a veteran of World War II and as a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division on February 16 was dropped on Corregidor for the Battle of Corregidor (1945).

In 1949, Hugus discovered sports cars, got a MG TC, then started an MG dealership in Pittsburgh, also adding Jaguar to the lineup. Hugus was the first Shelby Cobra dealer.

By 1956, Hugus started in two of the biggest sports car racing endurance events, 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida, and 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, and he even competed successfully in South America, where Hugus won his class at the 1957 Venezuelan Grand Prix in a Porsche 550, the type in which James Dean had died. His career as race driver ended after the 1964 Le Mans resp. the 1969 Sebring races.

About 34 years after the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, at age 75 and older, with most eyewitnesses already dead, Hugus started to claim that he, too, had been a driver of the winning Ferrari during a foggy night, never getting credit for it. The media

did like to believe that Ed did drive that car ... with most of the press and officials either drunk, asleep or both, and picked up the tall tale. It was debunked in 2020 by Doug Nye based on official records of pitstops.

24 Hours of Le Mans Between 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans and 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans, Hugus finished 7th, 8th or 9th overall for a total of five times, and two DNF. He won his class, 1.5 Liter Sportscars, together with Carel Godin de Beaufort on his private entry Porsche 550A Lucybelle at the 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans.

About 1999, after Rindt (1942–1970), Gregory (1932−1985) and Chinetti (1901–1994) had died, Hugus started to claim that he, too, had driven the winning car, and the story circulated, with some sources stating that he raced at Le Mans for 10 consecutive years starting in 1956.

According to Doug Nye in the October 2020 issue of Motor Sport , in a 24 May 2005 letter to race fan Hubert Baradat, Hugus claimed that he was a reserve driver for the team, and when Gregory, who wore glasses, went out at 4 PM at night and came in when he could not see well, with Rindt absent, Hugus was told by Chinetti to get his helmet on and Go, finishing the last hour of Gregory's part. Chinetti supposedly had tried to inform the pit officials, but maybe they were too busy with a bottle of wine behind the pits, and both were disappointed, as Hugus wrote.

With help from the Automobile Club de l'Ouest Heritage Committee and the official 1965 Journal de Course race records from the ACO archives, Nye found out that Rindt had taken over from Gregory in the car’s eighth pit stop, at 01:59 Sunday morning, June 20, in a very short night with dawn in Le Mans at 04:18 UTC+1 and sunrise at 04:59. After a stop at 03:38, Rindt is named specifically as the incoming driver for the 10th stop at 05:14, and Gregory as the driver who then rejoined at 05:16 for a triple stint, stopping at 06:44 and 07:32 before ending his drive with stop 13 at 08:21 when Gregory is named specifically in the Journal as being the incoming driver. Thus, it must have been in broad daylight, not in night and fog, when Gregory and Hugus supposedly swapped places behind the wheel of a Ferrari that challenged for the lead, not once but twice unnoticed by officials, press, competition and spectators, but with pit stop times recorded in the sheets.

The magazine article photos, taken by Bernard Cahier, Luigi Chinetti Junior and others, show that Hugus, along with Rindt and other team members also dressed in Goodyear-sponsored shirts, were celebrating on and around the winning car steered by Gregory to the podium, but Hugus was dressed like a spectator, with golf hat and sunglasses and sneakers, not like active race drivers or mechanics.

Nye did emerge from this investigation 99 per cent sure that Ed Hugus’ claim simply cannot stand. On the evidence, Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt won Le Mans 1965, unrelieved by any other driver.

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results