Peter Jeffrey Revson (February 27, 1939 - March 22, 1974) was a United States racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1964 until his death in an accident in testing for the 1974 South African Grand Prix.
Despite never completing a full season of F1, Revson won for the first time on his 24th attempt, at the 1973 British Grand Prix. He repeated that feat in Canada. There was also a seven-year gap between successive starts for Revson; the 1971 United States Grand Prix was his first since the 1964 Italian Grand Prix. Revson remains the last American-born driver to win a race (Mario Andretti, a naturalized American, was born in Montona, Italy - now a part of present-day Croatia).
His younger brother was Doug Revson who also lost his life in a race car, in Denmark in 1967.
Formula One Career[]
Before Formula One[]
1964[]
1971[]
1972[]
1973[]
1974[]
Death[]
While participating in a test session for the 1974 South African Grand Prix, Revson's car suffered a suspension failure. His car crashed into the Armco barrier on the outside of the flat-out Jukskei Sweep. Part of the car broke through the bottom layer of the barrier while the rest of it wrapped over top of the barrier, catching fire. By the time the safety car, with the help of other drivers, were able to free Revson from the wreckage, he was already dead.
"Revvie was a fabulous easy-going guy, fitted in well, and a very good driver. But tragically he wasn't with us for long. He qualified on row 2 for Argentina and row 3 for Brazil. Then he and I, our chief mechanic Pete Kerr and two other mechanics went down to Kyalami for testing before the South African GP. Revvie was going very well, very happy with the car, and then he didn't come around. We rushed out to the back of the circuit and found the car buried under the Armco on the outside of a quick corner. Peter was already in the ambulance and gone. I phoned the hospital, and they told me I had to go to the morgue and identify him. When the news got out all hell let loose, journalists banging on my hotel door, then the Revson family lawyer arrived and took over. "We were using titanium quite a lot on the DN3, which was quite a new material then. Titanium is finicky, it has to be machined smooth and the surface polished, and a ball joint which had some coarse machining on it had failed. There was only one layer of Armco and the car, instead of being deflected or stopped, had gone right under as far as the cockpit. I felt personally responsible. It was a very difficult time. The glamour of Formula 1 had gone, replaced by a sort of loneliness. You just had to work on. Of course I replaced all the titanium components with steel before the next race. - Tony Southgate (Team designer)
Formula One Statistical Overview[]
Formula One Record[]
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Revson Racing | Lotus-BRM | 0 | NC | Report |
| Reg Parnell Racing | |||||
| 1971 | Elf Team Tyrrell | Tyrrell-Cosworth | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1972 | Team Yardley McLaren | McLaren-Ford Cosworth | 23 | 5th | Report |
| 1973 | Team Yardley McLaren | McLaren-Ford Cosworth | 38 | 5th | Report |
| 1974 | UOP Shadow Racing Team | Shadow-Ford Cosworth | 0 | NC | Report |
Career Statistics[]
| Entries | 33 |
| Starts | 30 |
| Pole Positions | 1 |
| Front Row Starts | 5 |
| Race Wins | 2 |
| Podiums | 8 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 |
| Points | 61 |
| Laps Raced | 1568 |
| Distance Raced | 7,516 km (4,670 mi) |
| Races Led | 2 |
| Laps Led | 63 |
| Distance Led | 271 km (168 mi) |
Race Wins[]
| Win Number | Grand Prix |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1973 British Grand Prix |
| 2 | 1973 Canadian Grand Prix |
Career Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Pts | Pos | ||||||||
| 1964 | 
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| DNQ | DSQ | DNS | Ret | 14th | 13th | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971 | 
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| 1972 | 
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23 | 5th | |||||||||||
| Ret | 3rd | 5th | 7th | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 2nd | 18th | |||||||||||||||||
| 1973 |
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38 | 5th | ||||||||
| 8th | Ret | 2nd | 4th | Ret | 5th | 7th | 1st | 4th | 9th | Ret | 3rd | 1st | 5th | ||||||||||||
| 1974 |
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| Key | |||||
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| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
Notes[]
External links[]
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