Vern
Schuppan

Vern Schuppan was born on 19 March 1943 in Booleroo Centre, Australia. He won numerous Australian state and national titles in karting before moving to Britain, where he took the 1971 British Formula Atlantic Championship and became a test driver for BRM. In 1972 he qualified for the Belgian Grand Prix but did not start, as his team-mate Helmut Marko took over his car.

Schuppan drove for Ensign in Formula One in 1974. He finished 15th in Belgium and retired from the Monaco Grand Prix on lap four after an accident. He was disqualified in Sweden and the Netherlands, failed to qualify in France and Britain, and retired in Germany on lap four with gearbox trouble. In 1975 he contested the Swedish Grand Prix for Embassy Racing with Graham Hill and retired with transmission problems. In 1977 he drove for Surtees, finishing 12th in Britain, seventh in Germany (his best result) and 16th in Austria, before failing to qualify in the Netherlands. In total he started nine races from 13 entries.

In sports car racing, Schuppan won the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans for the Porsche factory team, sharing a Porsche 956 with Hurley Haywood and Al Holbert. He also finished second at Le Mans in 1977 in a Mirage with Jean-Pierre Jarier and in 1982 in a Porsche 956 with Jochen Mass. He was third in 1975 and sixth in 1984, the latter in a Kremer Porsche 956B. After the Le Mans win he took the 1983 Japanese Sports-Prototype Championship.

He started the Indianapolis 500 in 1976, 1979 and 1981, was named Rookie of the Year in 1976 and finished third in 1981 in a McLaren-Ford. He also won the Macau Grand Prix in 1974 and 1976 and the Singapore Grand Prix in 1973. In 1984 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia. He also helped bring Formula One to Adelaide, where the Australian Grand Prix was held from 1985 to 1995.

Source: Wikipedia, “Vern Schuppan”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.