Peter
Ryan

Peter Ryan was born in Philadelphia in 1940 but came from Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, and raced as a Canadian. He began as a ski racer and won the junior downhill championship of the American national ski association in 1957. In 1959 he turned to motor racing and had success in sports car racing in Canada, the United States and Nassau. In 1961 he won the first Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport, then a sports car race outside the World Championship, and the Vanderbilt Cup for Formula Junior cars at Bridgehampton.

The Mosport win brought an invitation from Colin Chapman. At the 1961 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Ryan started his only World Championship race for Lotus, finishing ninth without scoring points. He was the first Canadian to take part in a Formula One Grand Prix. In 1962 he raced in Europe, including Formula Junior for the Ian Walker Racing Team, and won at Mallory Park. On 2 July 1962 he was killed in a crash during a Formula Junior race at Reims, aged 22. In 1993 he was among the first inductees into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

Source: Wikipedia, “Peter Ryan (racing driver)”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.