Jerry Grant

This notable Indycar veteran has passed away in California, aged 77.

Jerry Grant was renowned as a ‘nearly man’ who threw away the 1972 Indy 500 when he made a confused, unscheduled pit stop with a dozen laps to go, handing victory to Mark Donohue. Later that year, in qualifying for the California 500 at the Ontario Motor Speedway, in one of Dan Gurney’s AAR Eagle-Offies Grant became the first man officially to lap a closed course at 200mph.

He made his name in the early ’60s, driving first a Ferrari then a Lotus 19, and went on to become Gurney’s favourite co-driver. Grant co-drove a Shelby Cobra with Gurney in 1964 at the Targa Florio and Le Mans and they almost won the 1966 Sebring 12 Hours in a Ford MkII.

He made 10 Indy 500 starts and ran his last Indycar race in 1978, but remained a popular man at the tracks with his easy manner and quiet, sharp sense of humour.