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Reginald Harold Haslam "Reg" Parnell (born 2 July 1911 in Derby, Derbyshire – died 7 January 1964 in Derby) was a Formula One driver. He raced for the Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari, BRM and Cooper in seven races, from 1950 to 1954. He entered with the Scuderia Ambrosiana, G.A. Vandervall and AHM Bryde team. He is most notable for finishing on the podium in the very first Grand Prix.
He also took on a role as team principal twice, for the Yeoman Credit Racing Team and for Reg Parnell Racing. As team principle, he did not achieve much success, with one pole position and a couple of second places.
He has a son, Tim Parnell, who also had a short career in Formula One. Tim did not have much success in F1, and joined his father at Reg Parnell Racing.
Reg died in 1964 of peritonitis after an appendix operation. Despite this, Reg Parnell Racing continued on until stopping in 1969.
Before Formula One World Championship[]
Parnell came from a family that ran a garage in Derby. In 1933 when nearby Donington Park held its first ever race Parnell was in the crowd and decided he would like to give it a try. He had started racing prior to the war in Bugatti's in 1935 and soon switched to driving an MG Magnette but was soon banned after an accident at Brooklands where he colided with Kay Petre's Austin causing her to barrell role and injuring herself badly.
After the war he drove an ERA and a Maserati and impressed Alfa Romeo.
Formula 1 Career[]
1950[]
Reg Parnell was given a factory Alfa Romeo as a guest driver at the first ever World Championship GP at Silverstone and he repaid the good faith that was shown on him by finishing a fine third after Juan Manuel Fangio retired.
Parnell would race again in 1950 for the Scuderia Ambrosiana team but his Maserati retired with engine trouble on lap 9.
Formula One Statistical Overview[]
F1 Career History[]
Note: Entries made solely in non-championship races are denoted in italics.
| Year | Entrant | Constructor(s) | WDC Pts | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | R. Parnell | MG | Non-European Championship | ||
| 1937 | R. Parnell | MG | Non-European Championship | ||
| 1938 | Stripped of racing licence | ||||
| 1939 | R. Parnell | BHW-Bugatti | Non-European Championship | ||
| 1940–1945: World War II | |||||
| 1946 | Reg Parnell Racing R. H. H. Parnell |
Maserati ERA |
No Championship | Report | |
| 1947 | Reg Parnell Racing R. H. H. Parnell |
ERA Maserati |
No Championship | Report | |
| 1948 | Reg Parnell Racing R. H. H. Parnell |
Maserati ERA |
No Championship | Report | |
| Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | ||||
| 1949 | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | No Championship | Report | |
| Reg Parnell Racing R. H. H. Parnell |
Maserati | ||||
| 1950 | Alfa Romeo SpA | Alfa Romeo | 4 | 9th | Report |
| Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | ||||
| BRM | BRM | ||||
| 1951 | G.A. Vandervell | Ferrari | 5 | 10th | Report |
| BRM Ltd. | BRM | ||||
| Reg Parnell Racing | Maserati | ||||
| 1952 | A. H. M. Bryde | Cooper-Bristol | 0 | NC | Report |
| Cooper Car Company | Cooper-Bristol | ||||
| Enrico Platé | Maserati | ||||
| BRM | BRM | ||||
| 1953 | BRM | BRM | Non-championship only | ||
| 1954 | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Ferrari | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1955 | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Ferrari | Non-championship only | Report | |
| Connaught Engineering | Connaught-Alta | ||||
| 1956 | RRC Walker Racing Team | Connaught-Alta | Non-championship only | Report | |
Non-Racing Formula One Career[]
| Year | Role | Employer |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Team Principal | Reg Parnell Racing |
| 1961 | Team Principal | Yeoman Credit Racing Team |
| 1962 | Team Principal | Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team |
| 1963 | Team Principal | Reg Parnell Racing |
| 1964 | Team Principal | Reg Parnell Racing |
Statistics[]
| Entries | 11 |
| Starts | 6 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Front Row Starts | 1 |
| Victories | 0 |
| Podia | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Points | 9 |
| Laps raced | 344 |
| kms raced | 1865.584 |
| Races led | 0 |
| Laps led | 0 |
| kms lead | 0.000 |
Non-Championship Wins[]
| No. | Race |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1949 Richmond Grand Prix |
| 2 | 1949 Goodwood Trophy |
| 3 | 1950 Richmond Trophy |
| 4 | 1950 Goodwood Trophy |
| 5 | 1952 West Essex CC Race |
| 6 | 1954 Levant Cup |
| 7 | 1954 BARC Formula 1 Race |
| 8 | 1954 Crystal Palace Trophy |
| 9 | 1954 August Cup |
| 10 | 1954 RedeX Trophy |
Career Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Pts | Pos | ||||||||||||||
| 1950 | 
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4 | 9th | ||||||||||||||||
| 3rd | DNA | Ret | DNA | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1951 |
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5 | 10th | |||||||||||||||
| DNA | 4th | 5th | DNS | DNA | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1952 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||||
| 7th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1953: did not attend any races | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1954 | 
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||||
| Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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[]
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