Corvette Racing Team Alumnus John Paul Jr: 1960 – 2020
Two-time Daytona 24 winner battled Huntington’s for two decades, dealt with his father’s chaos at the peak of his career.
This year, the Year of Our Corona 2020, is finally over. Not that the start of 2021’s any better, but there it is. Though a few happenings related to our beloved LS and LT V8s made it through the darkness, it’s wonderful not to experience this year any longer.
Alas, 2020’s not leaving without acquiring more blood on its hands. On December 29, two-time Daytona 24 winner John Paul Jr. ended his battle with Huntington’s at the age of 60, according to Sportscar365.
Born February 19, 1960 in Muncie, Indiana, John Paul Jr. first turned a wheel in anger out of high school, when he joined his father’s team, JLP Racing, in the 1970s. Alongside John Paul Sr., Paul Jr. co-drove a Porsche 935 in the 1980 IMSA Coca-Cola 400 at Lime Rock, taking the overall win. In 1982, the father-son duo took back-to-back wins at the Daytona 24 and Sebring 12. Meanwhile, Paul Jr. would become the youngest IMSA champion ever at the end of the ’82 season at the age of 22.
Alas, Paul Sr. would do more harm than good for Paul Jr.’s career. Rather than testify against his father on drug smuggling charges, he would spend 28 months in jail at the peak of his racing career, according to Autoweek. Paul Jr. returned to racing in 1989, while his father would eventually disappear in 2001.
Paul Jr. wasn’t restricted to Porsches, of course. Throughout his racing career, he campaigned equipment from Lola, March, Oldsmobile, and even Chevrolet. He was one of the first drivers to pilot the Corvette Racing Corvette C5-R in 1999, driving in that year’s Sebring 12 as one of the three drivers for the No. 3 car. A few years prior, he campaigned a Corvette ZR-1 at the 1995 Le Mans 24, though his team failed to finish.
Paul Jr. retired from racing in 2001. According to Autoweek in 2008, he was testing a Corvette GT-1 when he saw his movements weren’t line with the car’s telemetry. That is when he learned he had Huntington’s disease, a rare, inherited neurological disease which destroys nerve cells in the brain over time.
“John was an outstanding race-car driver whose talent and attitude always shone above the cloud of his father’s dark past,” three-time IndyCar champion Bobby Rahal said to Autoweek. “He will always be remembered as an enthusiastic, fun and strong competitor whether he was racing at the Indy 500 or at an SCCA National race.”
Photos: SportsCar365, Autosport, Wikimedia Commons, Netcarshow.com, Endurance-Classic
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