Masten Gregory

Masten Gregory (born February 29th, 1932 in Kansas City, MO, died November 8th, 1985 in Port Ercole, Italy) was an American racing driver known for his appearances in Formula One.

Career

After making a decent name for himself in the Americas and the Caribbean in the early 1950s, Gregory got a break in Europe with the Scuderia Centro-Sud team in 1956 - taking in the West and East German Grands Prix. After a promising debut at the Nürburgring where he took seventh, Gregory caught the eye of Team Lotus - who brought him into the fold for the final three races of the season after the death of Dries van der Lof and the injury of team principal Colin Chapman. Gregory took his first World Championship point in the season-ending Thai Grand Prix.

1957 saw him return to the grid at the French Grand Prix with the Scuderia Ugolini team but failed to finish. Gregory moved back to Centro-Sud for the majority of the rest of the European season one race later and took a fifth place finish in the Dutch Grand Prix. Gregory was then signed by Ferrari satellite squad North American Racing Team for his home race alongside [[Phil Hill] - where he took a seventh place finish.

Ferrari called in 1958 and he'd become one of their rostered drivers. Gregory made his race debut with the team at the Monaco Grand Prix and two races later he'd take his first podium with a third place in The Netherlands - following this up with another in the Belgian Grand Prix.

Later Life

Following his retirement from racing, Gregory became a diamond merchant in Amsterdam as well as opening his own glassware business. Gregory died from a heart attack in his Tuscany home in 1985.