Peter Gregg

Did You Know?

• Artist Frank Stella was a passenger in Gregg's car when he crashed near Paris in June 1980, and Stella later painted Gregg's BMW M1 Procar, the only BMW Art Car not owned by the factory.
• After Gregg's death, his widow Deborah Marrs became a successful driver in Trans-Am and endurance series for Brumos in the 1980s.

Background

Peter Gregg was born in New York City to a mechanical engineer who built marine incinerators. After prep school at Deerfield Academy and a Harvard English degree in 1961, he tried filmmaking and squash before turning to racing. He trained at Europe’s Centro-Sud Driving School, then served as a Navy air intelligence officer in Jacksonville and on the USS Forrestal. Discharged in 1965, he married Jennifer Johnson and had two sons, Jason and Simon.

Racing career

Gregg began his motorsport career in gymkhanas and ice races after a hill climb in 1958 in Laconia, New Hampshire. In 1963 he drove an unmodified production Corvette in Osceola County, Florida, and won the SCCA sanctioned race. He became a serious Porsche racer in 1964 with a Porsche 904 and then moved into competition with a Porsche 906. In 1965 he purchased Brumos Porsche after the death of the owner, Hubert Brundage. He was the SCCA's Southeastern Division champion in 1967 in two classes and scored victories in Daytona and Sebring. In 1968 he acquired a Mercedes-Benz dealership and entered the SCCA's Under-2-Litre section of the Trans-Am Series, winning six Trans-Am races in 1969 and the SCCA's B Sedan National Championship. In 1970 he opened a third dealership, SportAuto, selling Fiats and MGs. In 1971 he drove Bud Moore Ford Mustangs alongside George Follmer in the major Trans-Am Series. He won the Trans-Am Series in 1973 and 1974 in a Brumos Porsche. He won the IMSA GTO overall championship in 1971 and 1973, earning the nickname "Peter Perfect." In 1973 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche Carrera co-driven by Hurley Haywood, then announced retirement to lead a life as a director of the Jacksonville National Bank, a club tennis player, and a speedboat racer. He retracted his retirement and won the 24 Hours of Daytona three more times, in 1975, 1976, and 1978. His 1976 Daytona victory in the #59 BMW E9 Coupe Sport Leicht (CSL) "Batmobile" with co-driver Brian Redman is cited as BMW's first major victory on American soil. Gregg numbered his cars 59 whenever possible in homage to his Naval career aboard the USS Forrestal, whose original ship designation was CA 59. He won IMSA GTO overall championships in 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979, giving him six career titles in the class. In June 1980, he was due to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a 924 Carrera GTS for the Porsche factory team with Al Holbert, but was injured near Paris when, attempting to overtake an ox cart, a car pulled out in front of him and his car careered into a ditch. Artist Frank Stella was his passenger. Doctors refused to allow Gregg to race, and his place was taken by Derek Bell. Gregg was given clearance to compete at the Paul Revere 250 at Daytona the following month. His partner Haywood fell ill while leading, leaving Gregg to fill in, but their Porsche fell back to finish third. Suffering from double vision, he was soon barred from racing by IMSA.

Death

Following his road accident in France on June 10, 1980, Gregg suffered from lingering concussion symptoms including headaches and double vision for several months. Business partner Bob Snodgrass said, "Peter had been concerned with a lot of things philosophically... after the accident that happened in Le Mans, Peter went through a rough period of having to face the reality that he was physically not able to race because of his medical problem." Gregg qualified 11th for the November 30 250-mile race at Daytona but withdrew before the race, claiming the car suffered handling issues. After a five-month courtship, he married Deborah Jane Marrs, a 25-year-old commercial artist from Miami, on December 6. Peter Gregg committed suicide by firearm on December 15, 1980, near the beach south of Jacksonville. In his briefcase, he left a suicide note that said, in part: "I just don't enjoy life anymore. I must have the right to end it." Police said he had recently undergone psychiatric care. Hurley Haywood suspects that Gregg's decision was due to multiple factors, "not the least of which was the realization that the man other racers called 'Peter Perfect' was no longer the best." New drivers were driving the same kind of car, a Porsche 935, and they were faster. "Peter could not accept the fact that he was not the top dog anymore."

Brumos racing after Gregg

Gregg's endurance racing partner, Hurley Haywood, assisted Deborah Gregg as she took the position of Owner/CEO at Brumos Motorcars. She became a successful driver in the Trans Am and endurance series driving for Brumos in the '80s. She remarried and sold the dealerships in the mid-'90s. In 1991, Brumos Porsche entered a two-car Porsche team in the newly created IMSA SuperCar series and won three straight manufacturer's championships for Porsche with a pair of traditional white, red, and blue 911 Turbos. Peter's son Simon later competed as a driver in Trans-Am, the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am Series. Simon Gregg campaigns a Chevrolet Corvette under the Derhaag Motorsports banner in the SCCA's GT-1-class. He won the SCCA Southeast Conference Major's Tour GT-1 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in January 2015, and set a new track record for the GT-1 class.