Considered one of the greatest sports car racers of all time, Vic Elford died March 13 after a long battle with cancer. He was 86 years old.
Elford raced in Formula One, Can-Am, NASCAR and in rally competition and earned the nickname, “Quick Vic” by his peers.
Elford earned a pair of class victories in eight starts in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and won the 24 Hours of Daytona.
In 1968, Elford won the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally and the following weekend claimed victory at Daytona in what was the first overall victory for Porsche in the twice-around-the clock classic. He then won the Targa Florio and the Nurburgring 1,000 later in the same season. He also claimed the European Rally championship that season.
Elford also co-drove to victory at Sebring in 1971.
He was best known for driving Porsches and was the only driver to race every version of the Porsche 917.
Elford was hired by Steve McQueen to do the high-speed close-up driving of the 917 for the film “Le Mans.”
After retiring from driving, Elford was involved in the creation of the Inaltera in 1975 and managed the team in 1976 and ’77. He later managed the ATS F-1 team.
Eventually, Elford moved to the United States and managed the Porsche Owners Driving School and the Porsche Driving Experience. He also wrote two books.