FYI
Matt Murray
Briggs Cunningham, 96, Racecar Pioneer and Sailing Champ, Dies
July 5, 2003 By BARBARA LLOYD
Briggs Swift Cunningham II, a sportsman whose affinity for
yachts and cars drew him to sailboat racing as an America's
Cup skipper and to auto racing as the creator and driver of
his custom sports car, died Wednesday at his home in Las
Vegas. He was 96.
Cunningham sailed in the 1958 Cup races off Newport, R.I.,
as skipper of the 12-meter sloop Columbia, successfully
defending the America's Cup against the British challenger,
the 12-meter yacht Sceptre.
"Briggs was like a fine violinist with boats," said Victor
Romagna, who sailed with Cunningham in the competition. "He
would need someone to do the tuning, as one might with a
Stradivarius, but afterwards, we would hand the boat back
to Briggs. Then he would play the instrument absolutely
perfectly."
Cunningham was born Jan. 19, 1907, in Cincinnati. His
family helped finance railways, telecommunications,
meat-packing and commercial real estate, and his father was
the chief financier of two young men who had developed a
bath soap that floated. Their names were William Cooper
Procter and James Norris Gamble.
Cunningham spent his summers in the Northeast and learned
to sail by the time he was 6. His family moved to
Southport, Conn., when he was a teenager. At age 17,
Cunningham joined the Star Class racing fleet at the Pequot
Yacht Club in Southport. The venture was the beginning of
his 30 years of sailboat racing on Long Island Sound.
He attended Yale for two years, then left in 1929 to marry
Lucy Bedford, daughter of a Standard Oil heir, Fred
Bedford. It was during this period that he entered into
sport as a way of life.
As a member of the New York Yacht Club, he continued to
sail the Columbia in club races through the 1960's. He also
developed the Cunningham, a common device on sailboats that
adjusts sail tension.
Cunningham's interest in racecars began in 1939 when he
participated in the New York World's Fair.
After World War II, he began competing in the 24-hour auto
races at Le Mans, France, and in 1951 he showed up with the
Cunningham C-4R, a racecar he had designed and built. Made
with a sleek, hand-hammered aluminum body and Chrysler's
newly introduced V-8 engine, the Cunningham has been called
America's first sports car. A year later, Cunningham and
his partner, Bill Spear, placed fourth with the car at Le
Mans, averaging 88 miles an hour.
"Cunningham himself was never particularly interested in
short races," Road and Track magazine said in 1979. "What
he liked to do was get out and drive and drive and drive,
which was why Le Mans was so fascinating to him."
Having raced his sports car for the last time in 1955,
Cunningham began competing on a Jaguar team and became a
Jaguar distributor in New England. After moving to
California in 1962, he bought several vintage powerboats
and, in 1964, opened the Briggs Cunningham Automotive
Museum in Costa Mesa, Calif., which has since changed
ownership and was moved to a private museum in Florida.
In 1993, he was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of
Fame at the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, R.I.
Earlier this year, he was inducted into the Motor Sports
Hall of Fame.
Cunningham was married 40 years to his second wife, the
former Laura Cramer. He is survived by his wife; a son,
Briggs Cunningham III of Danville, Ky.; two daughters,
Lucie McKinney of Green Farms, Conn., and Cythlen Maddock
of Palm Beach, Fla.; two stepsons, 19 grandchildren and 31
great-grandchildren.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/05/obituaries/05CUNN.html?ex=1058458601&ei=1&en=31f5c401ea90ba81
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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