Harry
Schell

Harry Schell was born in Paris on 29 June 1921 and raced with American nationality. His father, Laury, took part in racing from time to time, and his mother, Lucy O'Reilly Schell, ran the Ecurie Bleue team. After the Second World War he tried and failed to qualify for the 1946 Indianapolis 500. He then raced in Europe, driving Coopers in Formula 3 and Formula 2.

He made his Formula One debut at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix in a Cooper. His race ended in a crash at the harbour chicane that involved most of the field, and he was the first American driver to start a Formula One Grand Prix. Over the following years he drove for teams including Maserati and Gordini, and for Ferrari in 1955. In the works Maserati team, Juan Manuel Fangio was his team-mate. At the 1954 Spanish Grand Prix he led from the start in a privately entered Maserati, but he lost the lead with a spin and later retired with a transmission failure. At the 1956 French Grand Prix he took over Mike Hawthorn's car and worked his way back up to second place, before a long pit stop ended his challenge.

In 1958 he drove for BRM and Maserati and finished sixth in the drivers' standings, his best championship placing. At the Dutch Grand Prix that year he took second place, one of his two podium finishes. In total he started 56 World Championship races without a win. Away from the championship, he won the 1956 Caen Grand Prix. With Stirling Moss he finished second in the 1957 12 Hours of Sebring, and he took third there in 1959.

In 1960 he joined the British Racing Partnership, where he was to team up with Tony Brooks and Chris Bristow. He started one more championship round that year. On 13 May 1960 he died after a crash in his Cooper during practice for the International Trophy at Silverstone. Schell had campaigned for roll bars on European racing cars. By the 1961 season, with the 1.5-litre formula, they had become standard in Formula One.

Source: Wikipedia, “Harry Schell”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.