Death of John Paul Jr

Né dans l’Indiana le 19 février 1960, John Paul Jr suit d’abord les traces de son père en travaillant pour son écurie, le JLP Racing, après le lycée. À 20 ans, il est embauché par son père John Paul Sr pour conduire une Porsche 935 in IMSA, on the Lime Rock circuit.

Although he had been rejected from the Skip Barber Racing school, the young man revealed himself behind the wheel of the German monster and won the race on his debut! Three months later, he repeated this feat at Road America. The 935, JLP 3 version, then develops between 750 and 800 horsepower thanks to two KKK turbos and can reach 370 km/h.

In 1981, his son's talent pushed his father to take a step back and become solely a team manager. Faced with the new Lola T600, the Porsche 935 lacks steam but takes second place in the general classification.

The year 1982 will be that of consecration. First at the 24 Hours of Daytona, with the help of Rolf Stommelen and the father of the family, John Paul Jr finished in front of the Porsche 935 K3 of Bob Akin-Craig Siebert-Derek Bell. Seven other successes followed and allowed him to become the youngest IMSA champion (GTP class) at 22 years old.

Adroit in Endurance, John Paul Jr is also in Single seat. In 1983, for only his fourth CART start, he won the Michigan race by overtaking the expert Rick Mears on the last lap, then pushing the latter to make a mistake!

A jack of all trades, the American arrived in Sarthe in 1984 with a Porsche 956. Co-driven by the regular 24 Hours of Le Mans Jean Rondeau and Preston Henn, he finished on the second step of the podium at 24 years old.

However, his life changed in 1985, for non-sporting reasons. The John family is caught up in marijuana trafficking. Paul pleads as a couple and will serve a prison sentence of 2 and a half years between 1986 and 1988.

John Paul Jr will not find a contract in high-level teams, but will fight for the places of honor in IMSA, in CART, then in IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500. He won the Texas round of IndyCar in 1998.

A year earlier, he had won the 24 Hours of Daytona again in a crew as long as the arm of seven men!

His career came to an abrupt end in 2001. During a test session, the telemetry reading of his Corvette C5.R did not correspond, according to him, to his actions on the pedals. Doctors then diagnosed Huntington's disease, causing progressive neurological disorders, an illness that had previously killed his grandmother, mother and sister.

A foundation in his name is created to find treatments for this incurable disease. John Paul Jr underwent innovative treatment at UCLA, the University of California in Los Angeles, but died after a fight of nearly two decades.

CARhebdo extends its sincere condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of John Paul Jr.