Harley Cluxton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harley Cluxton III, motorcycle and automobile race car driver turned Ferrari dealer and race team owner. After retiring from racing competition he turned to collectng some of the rarest racing and historically significant automobiles. Mr. Cluxton raced for the Ferrari factory team and NART (North American Racing Team). Mr. Cluxton has owned and raced many of the most desirable Ferrari's, Ford GT40's and Cobra's. Mr. Cluxton sold the most expensive American car at auction, the Carroll Shelby surviving sole Cobra Super Snake, for $5.5 million.
Upon the request of the Ferrari Factory, Grand Touring Cars, Inc. (GTC, Inc.) was first incorporated in Chicago, Illinois in 1972, by Harley E. Cluxton III, who became the youngest exclusive Authorized Ferrari Dealer in the United States. It relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1973, and the dealership has been in Scottsdale, Arizona ever since. GTC, Inc. was awarded the Lamborghini importership for the Western United States from 1973 through 1977.
In late 1975 John Wyer, the guru of LeMans (with World Championships for Aston Martin, Porsche, Ford, and Mirage) approached Mr. Cluxton as to whether he would be interested in purchasing his Mirage Team from the Gulf Oil Corporation in Pittsburgh. Mr. Cluxton had competed against John while he was racing for Ferrari and had struck up a close friendship with both John and his drivers. Mr. Cluxton purchased the Mirage Team from Gulf in early 1976. By June of 1976, he had become a team owner, hired John as a consultant, retired from driving, hired drivers, found the sponsorship and achieved team finishes of 2nd and 5th behind the factory 936 Porsche.
Mr. Cluxton directed the extremely successful GTC-Mirage two-car team from 1976-1982 in the F.I.A. World Sportscar Championship. In 1982, Mario and Michael Andretti, sixth on the grid out of 58 cars, the only American owned, American manufactured and American driven Group C car was excluded 20 minutes before the start of the race for a 2 centimeter infraction. The Mirage team has not been back to Le Mans since. But that is not to say GTC has been dormant in the world racing arena. Quite the opposite.
GTC developed and manufactured 2.65 c.i. turbo charged Indy motors for Renault. GTC continues to represent, unabated from 1978, Formula 1 drivers, CART drivers and selected Sportscar drivers in sponsorship, legal and management matters. Mr. Cluxton continues to provide these services to major Formula 1 teams, CART teams, manufactures and Fortune 500 corporations.
 |
This article is uncategorized.
Please help improve this article by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles (how?). Please remove this tag after categorizing, but not before. |
