Ross de St. Croix

Last updated

Ross de St. Croix is a Canadian sports car racing driver. He is known for winning the 1967 Canadian Can-Am Championship in a McLaren and for being president of the Canadian Automobile Sports Club and the Montreal Motor Racing Club. Along with Bruce McLaren and Jim Hall, he is cited as the creator of the hugely successful Can-Am series in North America. He raced all disciplines of motorsport including National Rally's and Ice Racing in his native Quebec. He was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1994. [1]

A native of Montreal, Quebec, [2] de St. Croix competed in a Trans-Am Series race in 1966 driving a McLaren M1B purchased directly from Bruce McLaren. [3]

Related Research Articles

McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formula One team after Ferrari, having won 183 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships. McLaren also has a history of competing in American open wheel racing, as both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and has won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) sports car racing championship. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Villeneuve</span> Canadian racecar driver

Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve is a Canadian professional racing driver and amateur musician who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams. He currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Vanwall Racing Team. In addition to Formula One (F1) he has competed in various other forms of motor racing, winning the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series. He is the son of former Ferrari racing driver Gilles Villeneuve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Surtees</span> British motorcycle and automobile racer (1934–2017)

John Norman Surtees, was a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. On his way to become a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, he won his first title in 1956, and followed with three consecutive doubles between 1958 and 1960, winning six World Championships in both the 500 and 350cc classes. Surtees then made the move to the pinnacle of Motorsport, the Formula 1 World Championship, and in 1964 made motor racing history by becoming the F1 World Champion. To this day Surtees remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels. He founded the Surtees Racing Organisation team that competed as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978. He was also the ambassador of the Racing Steps Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Grand Prix</span> Formula One Grand Prix

The Canadian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a sports car event, before alternating between Mosport and Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, after Formula One took over the event. After 1971, safety concerns led to the Grand Prix moving permanently to Mosport. In 1978, after similar safety concerns with Mosport, the Canadian Grand Prix moved to its current home at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Notre Dame Island in Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denny Hulme</span> New Zealand racing driver

Denis Clive Hulme, commonly known as Denny Hulme, was a New Zealand racing driver who won the 1967 Formula One World Drivers' Championship for the Brabham team. Between his debut at Monaco in 1965 and his final race in the 1974 US Grand Prix, he started 112 Grand Prix, resulting eight victories and 33 trips to the podium. He also finished third in the overall standing in 1968 and 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce McLaren</span> New Zealand racing driver, designer and team owner

Bruce Leslie McLaren was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Amon</span> New Zealand racing driver (1943–2016)

Christopher Arthur Amon was a New Zealand motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One racing in the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand Prix. His reputation for bad luck was such that fellow driver Mario Andretti once joked that "if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying". Former Ferrari Technical Director Mauro Forghieri stated that Amon was "by far the best test driver I have ever worked with. He had all the qualities to be a World Champion but bad luck just wouldn't let him be".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Revson</span> American race car driver (1939-1974)

Peter Jeffrey Revson was an American race car driver and heir to the Revlon cosmetics fortune. He was a two-time Formula One race winner and had success at the Indianapolis 500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Redman</span> British racing driver

Brian Herman Thomas Redman, is a retired British racing driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Bell (racing driver)</span> British racing driver

Derek Reginald Bell is a British racing driver. In sportscar racing, he won the Le Mans 24 hours five times, the Daytona 24 three times and the World Sportscar Championship twice. He also raced in Formula One for the Ferrari, Wheatcroft, McLaren, Surtees and Tecno teams. He has been described by fellow racer Hans-Joachim Stuck as one of the most liked drivers of his generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Hall (racing driver)</span>

James Ellis Hall is a retired American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner. While he is best known as a car constructor, he was one of the greatest American racing drivers of his generation, capturing consecutive United States Road Racing Championships, two Road America 500s, two Watkins Glen Grands Prix for sports cars, the 1965 Canadian Grand Prix for sports cars, the 1965 Pacific Northwest Grand Prix, and scoring a massive upset at the 1965 12 Hours of Sebring over a contingent of factory-backed Ford GTs, Shelby Daytona Coupes, and Ferrari entries. If anything Hall's accomplishments behind the wheel have been overshadowed by his pivotal contributions to race car design through his series of Chaparral sports racing and Indy cars. Hall's cars won in every series in which they competed: USRRC, Can-Am, Trans-Am, Formula 5000, World Sportscar Championship, Autoweek Championship, Canadian Sports Car Championship, and the Indianapolis 500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cannon (racing driver)</span> Canadian racing driver

John Cannon was a sports car racer, who competed under the banner of Canada, though he was born in London, U.K. He raced in the USRRC series, the CanAm Series and the L&M Continental Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Donohue</span> American racecar driver

Mark Neary Donohue Jr., nicknamed "Captain Nice," and later "Dark Monohue," was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circuit Mont-Tremblant</span>

Circuit Mont-Tremblant is a 4.26 km (2.65 mi) race circuit located approximately 130 km (80 mi) north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the second-oldest existing race track in Canada, and was originally known as Circuit Mont-Tremblant-St-Jovite until it was renamed in the 1970s. Set in the shadow of the Mont-Tremblant ski hill, the twisting fifteen-corner track uses the natural topography and elevation of the land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Can-Am</span> Sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987

The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Miles</span> British racing driver (1918–1966)

Kenneth Henry Jarvis Miles was a British sports car racing engineer and driver best known for his motorsport career in the US and with American teams on the international scene. He is an inductee to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs</span>

Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs (CASC) was the national governing body for auto racing in Canada from 1958 to 1988.

Charles W. "Chuck" Parsons was an American sports car racing driver. Parsons drove in SCCA and USSRC competition, then became a driver in the Can Am series. Like many drivers of the era, he participated in multiple venues, such as the 24 Hours of Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance races while driving the same year in the Can Am series.

Monte Shelton was an American racing driver from Portland, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorsport in Canada</span>

Motorsports are a popular non-physical sport competed in many countries worldwide, including in Canada. One of the most internationally significant Canadian events is the Montreal Grand Prix, a race for the Formula One World Championship. Ongoing since 1967. Lance Stroll is the only Canadian competing in the series in 2023.

References

  1. "Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame | Ross de St Croix".
  2. Allan, Chris (27 May 1967). "Five Share Quebec Driving Lead". The Montreal Gazette . Montreal, PQ. p. 8. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
  3. Ross de St. Croix - career detail, Driver Database, Retrieved 2012-12-05