John Paul Jr.

John Lee Paul Jr. (February 19, 1960 – December 29, 2020) was an American racing driver. He competed in CART and the Indy Racing League competitions, but primarily in IMSA GT Championship, winning the title in 1982.

During his career, Paul was a twice winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the first of these was while co-driving with his father, John Paul Sr. A few weeks later, the pair won the 1982 12 Hours of Sebring. Paul also triumphed in another major U.S. race, the 1983 Michigan 500.

Beside racing with his father, Paul also joined his father in criminal activities, in particular a drug smuggling operation. In May 1986, Paul Jr. received a five-year sentence for racketeering, with the drug charges dropped. Paul Sr. was found guilty, served time for a number of crimes, and disappeared in 2001.

Career Beginnings After graduating from high school, Paul Jr. started working for his father's team, JLP Racing, learning the ins and outs of what a racing organization was. He became some kind of jack-of-all-trades within the team. As Paul Jr. started to learn about engines, his father decided his son needed to go to a racing school. He was enrolled at the Skip Barber Racing School, but Paul Jr. was deemed to be hopeless. Despite this setback, Paul Sr. bought his son a new Van Diemen Formula Ford. In 1979, he took part in SCCA National Formula Ford races, and made the SCCA National Championship Runoffs.

1980s Pauls career really launched in 1980, when he became part of JLP Racing's driver line-up. His first race was at Coca-Cola 400 at Lime Rock. Co-driving alongside his father in a Porsche 935, they won the second heat, and subsequently the race overall. Junior had won the first IMSA race he entered. He repeated this feat by winning the Road America Pabst 500 three months later. With three second places, he would finish fourth in the final IMSA GTP standings.

During the 1981 season, the Porsche team faced a new challenge from the Lola T600. The Chevrolet-powered prototype with its better handling, driven by Englishman Brian Redman, quickly dominated the IMSA Championship. During the season, it became clear that only Junior could challenge for race victories, so Senior became JLP Racing's team manager, while Junior did the driving. Senior then only co-drove in the endurance races. Despite having the Lola, the Pauls won a rain-shortened race at Pocono in their Porsche 935 JLP-3. Using the same 935, Junior would go on to win the Daytona finale.

John Paul Jr. became the youngest-ever IMSA champion in 1982. The Pauls started the 1982 season with back-to-back wins in the US classic endurance races, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. For the Daytona race, they were partnered by the 1977 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft Champion, Rolf Stommelen. At Sebring, they overcame a gearbox failure in their 935 to win over the March 82G, led by the hard charging Bobby Rahal. The Pauls' second team car was also on the podium. More importantly, Paul's win at Road Atlanta attracted Miller Brewing Company sponsorship for the remainder of the season. He then switched to the Lola to win at Laguna Seca. He teamed up again with his father in the 935 JLP-3 to win the Charlotte 500 km.

Outpowered by championship rival, John Fitzpatrick in Porsche 935K4, Paul drove a new Porsche 935 JLP-4 to a debut victory at Brainerd. He scored another win at Portland, before swapping back to the older Porsche for the endurance races. He drove the JLP-3 with his father to win the Mosport 6 Hours. For the next endurance race, Paul was partnered with Mauricio de Narváez, and the pair finished second in Road America, behind the English pairing of Fitzpatrick and David Hobbs. He was re-united with his father at Road Atlanta for the 500 km event. Their last race together resulted in a second place in Pocono. Paul Jr. had clinched the IMSA GT Championship at the age of 22, becoming IMSA's youngest ever GTP champion.

In 1984, Paul finished second in the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jean Rondeau in a Preston Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop Porsche 956. He also finished second in the Six Hours of Watkins Glen, this time driving with Bruce Leven in his Bayside Disposal Racing Porsche 962. After this race, he was offered a seat alongside John Morton, by Conte Racing. Apart from an eighth place in Road America, Paul and Morton did not finish any races aboard the March-Chevrolet 84G. The CART scene did not fare much better. Although he entered nine of the sixteen races, this was for four different teams. The best result was a third-place in the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, for Provimi Veal Racing, in their March-Cosworth 84C.

Paul Sr. was finally indicted, tried, and convicted, in 1985. Paul Jr. started the season with Conte Racing, who had switched to Buick engines, but these proved to be unreliable. In total, he had 11 DNFs in 11 IMSA starts. After wrecking his AMI Racing March-Cosworth 85C in Indianapolis 500, he would finish only one race, the Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix in 17th.

Early in 1986, Paul broke his string of seventeen IMSA DNFs by finishing second at Road Atlanta alongside Whitney Ganz for RC Buick Hawk, in their March-Buick 85G.

A full-time return to sportscar racing was possible in 1990, when he was offered a ride by Jim Busby, who had entered a Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo. In only his second race for the team, Paul and Kevin Cogan were on the podium after taking second place in the Grand Prix of Miami. Following a fifth place in Sebring, the Nissan was maintained by Seabrooke Racing. He ended the season with two second places in the World Challenge of Tampa and Grand Prix of Greater San Diego (Del Mar). His reward was eighth in the overall standings, but as he found, a lot of things had changed in these four seasons he missed. Full factory supported teams like Tom Walkinshaw Racing (Jaguar), Electramotive (Nissan) and All American Racers (Toyota) were now the ones to beat.

During the 1992 season, Paul experienced his first ever GTU class win in Leitzinger Racing's Nissan 240SX, which he shared with Butch Leitzinger and David Loring, the 12 Hours of Sebring. He accepted an offer from Giampiero Moretti to race at Watkins Glen, where the pair finished sixth in a Joest Racing Porsche 962. Another outing for Hotchkiss Racing resulted in 8th in Laguna Seca in their Spice-Pontiac. This was followed by three more races with Moretti, but Paul ended the season by trying yet another car, the Intrepid RM-1, but this resulted in another DNF.

In 1997, Paul competed with a contemporary IndyCar for the first time since 1985, and promptly finished 15th in the points. He also competed in the WSC with Dyson Racing. He continued where he left off in 1996 by winning at Daytona. His victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona came as part of seven driver crew. This was followed by two victories, partnering Leitzinger in the Sportscar Grand Prix and VISA Sports Car Championship.

In his seven Indy 500 starts, Paul had a best finish of seventh in 1998. He made his last IRL start the following season. His first legal troubles were on January 10, 1979, when he and another accomplice were caught by customs agents loading equipment onto a pickup truck on the bank of a canal in the Louisiana bayous after dark. Following questioning, when one of them smelled cannabis on their clothing, his father was apprehended on his 42-foot boat named Lady Royale, where customs discovered residue of marijuana and $10,000 on board. A rented truck was discovered nearby, which contained 1,565 pounds (710 kg) of marijuana. In court, all three pleaded guilty to marijuana possession charges, where each was placed on three years' probation and fined $32,500.

Paul's racing career was interrupted in May 1986, when he was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in a drug trafficking ring with his father and subsequent refusal to testify against him. He was sent to a minimum-security prison in Alabama. He served a total of 30 months, being released in October 1988.

Retirement and death Paul retired from professional racing in 2001 after noticing that the telemetry of the Corvette GT-1 he was testing did not match what he thought his feet were doing in the car. A subsequent medical evaluation confirmed he had Huntington's disease, a progressive neurological disorder.

In 2018, author and racing journalist Sylvia Wilkinson published a book about Paul, titled 50/50, The Story of Champion Race Car Driver John Paul Jr. and his Battle with Huntington's Disease.

Paul died on December 29, 2020, in Woodland Hills, California.

Racing record Career highlights

American Open Wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

CART

IndyCar Indy Racing League results Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Rank Points Ref 1996 PDM Racing WDW9 PHX14 INDY31 15th 153 1996–97 PDM Racing NHM10 LVS15 WDW18 PHX9 INDYWth TXS PPIR CLT11 NH27 LVS12 15th 163 1998 PDM Racing WDW10 PHX19 11th 216 Team Pelfrey INDY7 Byrd-Cunningham Racing TXS16 NHM26 DOV21 CLT6 PPIR15 ATL23 TXS1 LVS4 1999 Byrd-Cunningham Racing WDW11 PHX22 CLTC INDYWth TXS PPIR ATL DOV PPI2 LVS 28th 39 McCormack Motorsports TXS18 2001 Zali Racing PHX HMS ATL INDYDNQ TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH KTY STL CHI TX2 NC –

Indianapolis 500 results Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Ref 1983 Penske Cosworth Practice Crash 1984 Penske CosworthPractice Crash 1985 March Cosworth 24th 15th 1986 March BuickFailed to Qualify 1989 March CosworthFailed to Qualify 1990 Lola Buick 32nd 16th 1994 Lola Ilmor 30th 25th 1998 Dallara Oldsmobile 16th 7th 2001 G-Force OldsmobileFailed to Qualify

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series NASCAR Winston Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Pts Ref 1991 Team Ireland 53 Chevy DAY RCH CAR ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL CLT DOV SON POC MCH DAY POC32 TAL GLN16 MCHDNQ BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL 56th 182

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Class No Tyres Car Team Co-Drivers Laps Pos. ClassPos. Ref 1980 IMSA 73 Porsche 935 JLP-2 J.L.P. Racing John Paul Sr. Guy Edwards 312 9th 2nd 1982 IMSAGTX 72 Ferrari 512BB/LM North American Racing Team Alain Cudini John Morton 306 9th 4th 1984 C1 26 Porsche 956 Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop Jean Rondeau 3582nd 1995 GT1 30 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 ZR1 Corvette Team Chris McDougall James Mero 57DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results