Hurley HAYWOOD

Born in 1948 in Chicago, Hurley Haywood has an exceptional track record. The American did indeed make his mark in the most true endurance classics.

He was thus five times winner of the 24 Hours at Daytona, which remains a record for this race. He also won the 12 Hours of Sebring on two occasions. With his victories at the Le Mans 24 Hours, he obtained the Triple Crown of Endurance, which was reserved for drivers who won the three races. They are only nine drivers to have achieved this feat.

Hurley Haywood won his first Le Mans 24 Hours in 1977 at his first attempt. He could have never won these like the race back in 1983. After two legendary finals, the cars he would drive would end the race on the verge of engine failure. Hurley Haywood achieved a third success at Le Mans aboard a Dauer-Porsche 962 in 1994 after the Porsche 936 in 1977, and the Porsche 956 in 1983. And once again, he became the star: he owes his place in the winning car to his ability!

“It's a funny story. We had been testing with a 24-hour simulation on the Paul Ricard circuit. I was going to drive with Hans Joachim Stuck and Thierry Boutsen, while Danny Sullivan was paired up with Yannick Dalmas and Mauro Baldi. Both returned to the plant to make a special seat. Danny Sullivan was unable to settle there, therefore, the team principle decided to transfer me to their car to have three drivers of the same ilk.

Hurley Haywood is part of the very elite circle of drivers who have won the Le Mans 24 Hours in three different decades (1977, 1983 and 1994). He can share this achievement with Jacky Ickx and Tom Kristensen. No other driver has experienced such a big gap of seventeen years between their first and last victories.

At the end of a career of over forty years in motorsport, Hurley Haywood has been named Grand Marshal at the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours event, twenty-five years after his last victory. He is the sixth driver to receive this accolade which was introduced in 2013 for the 90th anniversary of the event being held.

He was inducted into the American Hall of Fame in 2005, while Hurley Haywood is also an instructor and ambassador for the Porsche brand with which he set his highest ever ranking.

As a big motor racing fan and a regular at the Le Mans 24 Hours, actor Patrick Dempsey produced a film about the life of his compatriot called Hurley (in 2019). This film is adapted from the driver's autobiography in which he publicly reveals his homosexuality.

In 1975, Hervé Poulain had an innovative idea at a time when the worlds of art and industry were totally at loggerheads with one another: to put cars on the track decorated by the greatest artists!

Calder, Andy Warhol, Franck Stella, Jeff Koons, the biggest names in American painting have decorated the classic cars hired by the auctioneer.

In 1977, it was Roy Lichtenstein, a great figure of Pop Art, who painted the lively nature of the BMW driven by Poulain and the adopted driver from Sarthe, Marcel Mignot.

A series of classic cars highlights these mobile works of art when following the course of the drivers' footprints.