{"id":459915,"date":"2003-05-01T18:00:43","date_gmt":"2003-05-02T01:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=106659"},"modified":"2024-02-20T03:11:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T03:11:58","slug":"john-fitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/john-fitch\/","title":{"rendered":"John Fitch"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>For a \u201cround peg,\u201d John Cooper Fitch fits remarkably \u201csquarely\u201d in the pigeonhole marked \u201cTrue American Hero.\u201d In his 85 years so far on this planet, he has risked life and limb for his country as a WWII fighter pilot as well as for his own pleasure in racing cars and has saved thousands of other peoples lives through his commendable and important work in road and race track safety. While wearing his \u201cracing\u201d hat, he drove for both Mercedes and Corvette and had a long and successful association with Briggs Cunningham. He tried his hand at European Rallying, winning a Coupes des Alpes in 1953, had a brief flirtation with Formula One, and even attempted to qualify for the Indy 500. He was also Corvette Team Manager in the mid-\u201850s and later became manager of Lime Rock race circuit; but he excelled as a sports car driver, especially in arduous and difficult long distance races such as the Carrera Panamericana, the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio and the Le Mans 24-Hours where concentration, fitness and fine judgement are all essential ingredients for success. Our Steve Havelock recently had the chance to talk with Fitch, who seemed incredibly modest about his achievements.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>VRJ: You have had a very illustrious career, much of which has been intertwined with Briggs Cunningham. How did this association form?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For a \u201cround peg,\u201d John Cooper Fitch fits remarkably \u201csquarely\u201d in the pigeonhole marked \u201cTrue American Hero.\u201d In his 85 years so far on this planet, he has risked life and limb for his country as a WWII fighter pilot as well as for his own pleasure in racing cars and has saved thousands of other peoples lives through his commendable and important work in road and race track safety. While wearing his \u201cracing\u201d hat, he drove for both Mercedes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":315,"featured_media":817874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11272,18114],"tags":[18322,18435,11429,16462],"class_list":["post-459915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-members-only","category-people","tag-2000s-all","tag-people","tag-john-fitch","tag-interview"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>John Fitch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steve Havelock talks with the venerable American racer about his experiences with Briggs Cunningham, Mercedes and the Carrera Panamericana.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/john-fitch\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/john-fitch\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Fitch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steve Havelock talks with the venerable American racer about his experiences with Briggs Cunningham, Mercedes and the Carrera Panamericana.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/john-fitch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-05-02T01:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-20T03:11:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" 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