Birthday : 1923-06-30
Deceased : 2006-07-07
Biography Ed Hugus
Ed Hugus was one of the greats of the fifties and sixties, but an unsung hero. This is undoubtedly due to his quiet and unassuming personality. Although Ed ranked with some of the best of the era, he never beat his own drum.
Ed was one of the very few winners of the world’s premier road racing event, Le Mans. This story is fascinating. He competed there for 10 consecutive years starting in 1956. In 1957, Ed and his co-driver, Count Carel de Beaufort, finished 1st in class and 8th overall in a Porsche Spyder. During the following years, when he finished, Ed was always in the top ten overall.
In 1965, Masten Gregory, Jochen Rindt and Ed Hugus were 1st overall in a Ferrari 275LM entered by the North American Racing Team. Originally, Ed was entered as a “relief” driver, to take the wheel only if something happened to Masten or Rindt. During the early hours of the morning, something did happen. Masten took over while Rindt went off to sleep somewhere. Fog came in and Gregory’s glasses got so misted he couldn’t see. He came in. But Rindt was nowhere to be found, so Ed took over and drove the rest of the morning hours. After the race ended, Gregory and Rindt were on the podium, but Ed was some distance away. Aided by two gendarmes he struggled to get through the crowd of fans. However, the ceremony had ended before he arrived. Consequently, some early reports failed to credit Hugus with the win.
Picture courtesy unknown
