Slim
Borgudd

Karl Edvard Tommy Borgudd, known as Slim, was born on 25 November 1946 in Borgholm on the island of Öland. His first career was as a drummer, mainly in jazz-rock, and he also worked with Björn Ulvaeus's group the Hootenanny Singers. From the mid-1960s he raced now and then in a Lotus Formula Ford car, but he only took motor racing seriously from 1972. From 1972 to 1975 he contested the Swedish Touring Car Championship in a Hillman Imp and a Volvo 122, finishing runner-up in 1972. In 1973 he won the Scandinavian Formula Ford series. He stepped up to Formula 3 in 1976 and ran his own team from 1978. In 1979 he became Swedish Formula 3 champion and finished third in the European series.

Borgudd reached Formula 1 in 1981 at the age of 34, driving for ATS. He made his debut at the San Marino Grand Prix, where he qualified ahead of his team-mate Jan Lammers. Of his twelve entries that year, seven resulted in a start. He finished sixth in the British Grand Prix, which gave him his first world championship point, and ended the season 18th in the standings. In 1982 he drove for Tyrrell alongside Michele Alboreto, but his time with the team ended after three races. In total he had 15 entries and ten starts in the world championship.

Away from Formula 1, he entered five races in European Formula 3000 in 1985 and drove an Arrows A6 there. In truck racing he won Divisions 2 and 3 of the European championship in 1986 and 1987 respectively. He took part in the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans and won the Willhire 24 Hour in a Ford Sierra in 1989. In 1994 he won the Nordic Touring Car Championship, and in 1995 he beat Steve Parrish and Markus Oestreich by a large margin in the Truck Racing Cup. After finishing fifth in 1996 and fourth in 1997, he announced his retirement, although he later returned occasionally at amateur level. Slim Borgudd died on 23 February 2023, aged 76.

Source: Wikipedia, “Slim Borgudd”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.