John Fitch may aptly be called the father of Corvette racing. After returning from the European theater of war, where he flew numerous combat missions until being shot down in a P-51 Mustang and taken prisoner by the Nazis, he began a most illustrious racing career.
In addition to being crowned the SCCA's first national champion in 1951, Fitch earned laurels all over the world driving Jaguars, Ferraris, Mercedes and a wide variety of other cars. He was one of the shining stars on the Cunningham team and became the first American to drive for a European factory program when he was signed on by Daimler Benz. Fitch drove for Mercedes in 1955, the year in which the resurrected German manufacturer won the World Championships for Sports Cars, Formula I cars, and Grand Turismo cars, making its team the first in history to win three world titles in a single season.
It was quite logical then that Chevrolet would turn to Fitch for help when it decided to try to make Corvette into a competitive racer in 1955. Along with Zora Arkus-Duntov and Betty Skelton, he drove Corvettes in competition at the Daytona Speedweeks in early 1956. Soon thereafter he was enlisted to manage the entire four-car effort at Sebring.
In what he labels the most intense challenge of his entire racing career, Fitch was given responsibility for making the Corvette, a car with no racing heritage or development whatsoever, into an endurance racer capable of holding its own with the best European cars of the era. And he was given five weeks in which to do this!
In addition to managing the entire program, Fitch also drove one of the cars in the 12-hour race. When it was over, he and Walt Hansgen had finished first in class and ninth overall, while another of the team cars came in sixth in class, 15th overall. The Corvette team also won the official production sports car prize and the official team prize.
After he had time to reflect on the accomplishments at Sebring in '56, Fitch wrote "Chevrolet had done something-something no other American manufacturer had dared to do before. We had stepped brashly into racing's biggest league and walked off with three prizes on the first try." He concluded, rather philosophically, "It was less than we had hoped but more than we deserved."
In 1957 Fitch again managed the factory effort at Sebring and again drove one of the team cars, this time the ill-fated Corvette SS, which dropped out early in the contest with suspension failure.
Three years later Fitch again raced a Corvette, teaming with Bob Grossman at Le Mans in a production '60 model. The Fitch/Grossman car, one of three Corvettes entered by Briggs Cunningham, finished a remarkable first in class and eighth overall in the grueling 24-hour race-to this day Corvette's best showing in the French classic.
In addition to his racing career, Fitch has been and continues to be involved with an incredibly wide array of other endeavors. He worked for 20th Century Fox as a key player in the making of the movie The Racers, which critics still hail as one of the most authentic racing movies ever made. In addition, he was instrumental in creating Lime Rock Park Raceway, became a successful specialty car builder, conducted the world's first Advanced Driving School, and devoted considerable time and energy to his lifelong pursuit of increasing safety on the world's racetracks and roadways. The next time you're cruising down the highway in your Corvette, take notice of those large, sand-filled plastic barrels in front of bridge abutments and other hazards, which appropriately enough are called "Fitch Inertial Barriers."
Dick Thompson was a dentist by trade who began sports car racing on a whim in 1952. His innate talent and dedication to the sport quickly made up for lack of experience and formal training, carrying The Flying Dentist to the very pinnacle of success in the ensuing years.