The Triple Crown of Motorsport is an unofficial achievement for motor racing drivers that is generally regarded as winning motorsport's three most prestigious races. [lower-alpha 1] [3] [4] These annual events are the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the Indianapolis 500 for American open-wheel racing cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Monaco Grand Prix for Formula One cars at the Circuit de Monaco. The Indianapolis 500 was introduced in 1911, followed by the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1923 and the Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. [3] [5] All of the races are held between the months of May and June. [6] As the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix are both traditionally held on the last weekend of May, it is impossible for modern drivers to enter all three Triple Crown events in the same year. [7] No trophy is awarded to the driver who completes the Triple Crown. [3]
As of 2023 [update] , 257 drivers from 23 different countries have won a Triple Crown race and only Graham Hill has completed the Triple Crown. [3] Tom Kristensen has won the most Triple Crown races with nine victories, all at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is a record for the most victories at the event; Hill claimed two fewer in total, including five victories at Monaco. Ayrton Senna won six Triple Crown events, all at the Monaco Grand Prix, placing him alongside Jacky Ickx in joint-third overall and breaking Hill's record for the most race wins at Monaco. [8] [9] [10] With four victories each, Hélio Castroneves, A. J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser hold the joint record for the most Indianapolis 500 wins. [9]
There have been 19 drivers who have partaken in all three Triple Crown races and have achieved victory in at least one of them. [11] No one has won all three Triple Crown races during the course of a calendar year. [3] Fernando Alonso, Foyt, Bruce McLaren, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tazio Nuvolari, Jochen Rindt and Maurice Trintignant are the seven drivers to have won two of the three Triple Crown events. [12] Of those seven, only Montoya has won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix, while only Foyt has won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500. The remaining five won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix. [12] [13]
* | Driver has completed the Triple Crown of Motorsport |
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The Monaco Grand Prix is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world, and is one of the races—along with the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans—that form the Triple Crown of Motorsport. It is the only Grand Prix that does not adhere to the FIA's mandated 305-kilometre (190-mile) minimum race distance for F1 races.
Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. is an American former racing driver who competed in numerous disciplines of motorsport. He is best known for his open wheel racing career, and for becoming the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He holds the most American National Championship titles in history, winning seven.
Norman Graham Hill was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in 1962 and 1968 as well as being runner-up on three occasions. Despite not passing his driving test until 1953 when he was already 24 years of age, and only entering the world of motorsports a year later, Hill went on to become one of the greatest drivers of his generation. Hill is most celebrated for being the only driver ever to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, an achievement which he defined as winning the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. While several of his peers have also espoused this definition, including fellow F1 World Champions Jacques Villeneuve, and Fernando Alonso, the achievement is today most commonly defined as including the Monaco Grand Prix rather than the Formula One World Championship. By this newer definition, Hill is still the only driver to have ever won the Triple Crown, since Alonso has not won the Indy 500. Hill also won at Monaco with such frequency in the 1960s that he became known as "Mr. Monaco". Hill crashed at the 1969 United States Grand Prix and was seriously injured, breaking both his legs and ending his season. Although he recovered and continued to race until 1975, Hill's career never again reached the same heights, and the Monaco Grand Prix victory earlier in 1969 was his last victory in Formula One.
Sir John Young Stewart OBE is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships and twice finishing as runner-up over those nine seasons. He was the only British driver to win three championships until Lewis Hamilton in 2015.
Scott Ronald Dixon is a New Zealand racing driver who races the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Dallara DW12-Honda car in the IndyCar Series. He is a six-time drivers' champion of the IndyCar Series, having claimed the title in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020 and he won the 2008 Indianapolis 500 with CGR. Dixon has three 24 Hours of Daytona victories, with CGR in 2006 and 2015 and in 2020 with Wayne Taylor Racing.
Daniel Sexton Gurney was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, and Trans-Am Series. Gurney is the first of three drivers to have won races in sports cars (1958), Formula One (1962), NASCAR (1963), and Indy cars (1967), the other two being Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing in the GTP category. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships under Champ Car World Series sanction from 2004 to 2007. Later he competed at the IndyCar Series from 2011 to 2021. He also entered 27 races in Formula One for the Toro Rosso team during 2008 and the start of 2009.
Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela is a Chilean former racing driver. As of 2024, he is the only Chilean to have participated in a Formula One World Championship. He made his Formula One debut on 15 March 1981, and ultimately contested 37 races scoring a total of three championship points. After Formula One, Salazar has participated in numerous motorsport disciplines, including the Chilean national rally championship, Formula 3000, IndyCar, and the World Sportscar Championship.
Masten Gregory was an American racing driver. He raced in Formula One between 1957 and 1965, participating in 43 World Championship races, and numerous non-Championship races. He was also a successful sports car racer, winning the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with the Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500—that form the Triple Crown of Motorsport, and is also one of the races alongside the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring that make up the informal Triple Crown of endurance racing. Run since 1923, it is the oldest active endurance racing event in the world.
Scott Sharp is an American professional racing driver in the United SportsCar Championship. He is the son of six-time SCCA champion Bob Sharp. Sharp is best known for his years as a competitor in the Indy Racing League.
Marco Werner is a professional racer from Germany. Born in Dortmund, he was the eighth driver to complete the informal triple crown in endurance racing. In his early career, Werner finished runner-up in the Formula Opel Euroseries in 1989 and runner-up in the German F3 series in 1991 behind Tom Kristensen. Having failed to graduate to Formula One, Werner switched to sports car racing and touring car racing. Werner was a regular driver in the STW and Porsche Supercup during the 1990s, but he found more success in the 24 Hours of Daytona, which he won in 1995 in a Kremer-Porsche.
Harris Hurley Haywood is a retired American race car driver. Haywood has won multiple events, including five overall victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, three at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and two at the 12 Hours of Sebring and was the third driver to complete the informal triple Crown of endurance racing. He is credited with the 1988 Trans-Am title, two IMSA GT Championship titles and 23 wins, three Norelco Cup championships, a SuperCar title and 18 IndyCar starts.
Michael Robert Conway is a British professional racing driver. He lives in Sevenoaks, Kent and is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The Triple Crown of Motorsport is an unofficial motorsport achievement, often regarded as winning three of the most prestigious motor races in the world in one's career. Those races being:
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The 1911 Grand Prix season consisted of Grand Prix races in the United States and Europe. It was a significant year as European racing gradually came out of the doldrums. A Grand Prix was held in France again. The first Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, joining the American Grand Prize as a leading race.
DragonSpeed Racing is an American racing team that competes in the European Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2019, the team entered the NTT IndyCar Series with a five race schedule, including the 103rd Indianapolis 500, with car #81 driven by Ben Hanley. For the Year 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans race, Team DragonSpeed USA won First Place Trophy in the LMP2 Pro/Am Category, in an Oreca 07, car #21, driven by Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Motor sports are widely popular in the United States, but Americans generally ignore major international series, such as Formula One and MotoGP, in favor of home-grown racing series.