Pat Pigott
The driver profiled in this website who has been gone the longest is Paul J. (Pat) Pigott Jr. Just when he was winning acclaim around the country, especially in the popular Formula Junior ranks, Pigott lost his life in a racing accident.
The Pigott family owned Pacific Car & Foundry, and Pat Pigott was the most unconventional member of that successful family. Drawn to racing as a young man, his name appears in racing results from the earliest days at Gray Field and Shelton.
He chose to focus his energies on oval racing for several years. When he did turn his energies to sports car racing in the 1959 and 60 seasons he drove Lotus cars almost exclusively and achieved immediate success with a Lotus 15. Pigott’s reputation really took off in 1961 when he acquired one of the first Lotus 18 F/Jrs in the area and was almost unbeatable with it that year. In 1962 Piggott and Pete Lovely raced F/Jr Lotus 20 and 22s for Team Rosebud and beat all comers across the country. He also was racing a Lotus 23 locally with success and was in that car when he suffered the fatal accident at Riverside Raceway.
The Pigott family owned Pacific Car & Foundry, and Pat Pigott was the most unconventional member of that successful family. Drawn to racing as a young man, his name appears in racing results from the earliest days at Gray Field and Shelton.
He chose to focus his energies on oval racing for several years. When he did turn his energies to sports car racing in the 1959 and 60 seasons he drove Lotus cars almost exclusively and achieved immediate success with a Lotus 15. Pigott’s reputation really took off in 1961 when he acquired one of the first Lotus 18 F/Jrs in the area and was almost unbeatable with it that year. In 1962 Piggott and Pete Lovely raced F/Jr Lotus 20 and 22s for Team Rosebud and beat all comers across the country. He also was racing a Lotus 23 locally with success and was in that car when he suffered the fatal accident at Riverside Raceway.