Masten Gregory

Masten Gregory (29 February 1932 - 8 November 1985), nicknamed 'The Kansas City Flash' for his American origins and daring driving style, was an American racing driver who competed in 43 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix between 1957 and 1965, predominantly with privateer teams, achieving one podium finish with third place on his debut at the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix—the first podium for an American in a Formula One World Championship race—while also winning the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans with NART Ferrari alongside Jochen Rindt, establishing himself as one of America's most talented and versatile racing drivers during the 1950s and 1960s before retiring following his friend Jo Bonnier's death at Le Mans in 1972 and working as a diamond merchant and glassware businessman until his own death from a heart attack in 1985.

Born on Leap Day, 29 February 1932, in Kansas City, Missouri, as the youngest of three children—his elder brother was racing driver Riddelle L. Gregory Jr., and his elder sister Nancy Lee Gregory married fashion designer Charles James—Gregory came from a wealthy family whose insurance company provided him with the financial independence that would later allow him to pursue racing without needing to earn income from the sport. In 1951, through the sale of his family's insurance company, Gregory received a considerable sum of money, and rather than pursuing a conventional business career, he decided to go motor racing, purchasing an Allard sports car and beginning his competition career as a wealthy amateur sportsman racing for pleasure rather than professional ambition.

Gregory's early racing career was spent primarily in sports car racing in America and Europe, and his natural speed and fearless driving style quickly established him as one of the most exciting drivers in international sports car competition, though his reputation for aggressive, sometimes reckless driving also made him controversial. His Formula One debut came at the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix driving a Maserati 250F for Scuderia Centro Sud, Guglielmo Dei's privateer team, and remarkably, Gregory qualified respectably and finished third in his maiden Grand Prix, becoming the first American driver to achieve a Formula One podium finish and suggesting that he possessed genuine Grand Prix talent if provided with competitive equipment.

However, Gregory's debut success would never be repeated, as he spent the remainder of his Formula One career racing for privateer teams with customer cars that lacked the competitiveness of works teams, and despite occasional flashes of speed, he rarely challenged for podium finishes, with his best subsequent result being sixth place at the 1962 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen driving a Lotus 24 for the UDT Laystall team. Throughout his Formula One career from 1957-1965, Gregory competed predominantly with independent teams including Scuderia Centro Sud, Cooper, Lotus, and BRM customer operations, and his one significant victory came in the non-championship 1962 Kanonloppet race driving for BRP (British Racing Partnership), though non-championship victories didn't count toward World Championship standings.

In sports car endurance racing, Gregory achieved far greater success than in Formula One, competing in 16 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1955 and 1972, and his greatest triumph came at the 1965 race when he partnered with Austrian driver Jochen Rindt in a Ferrari 250 LM entered by Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team (NART), and they won the prestigious endurance classic, giving Gregory victory in the world's most famous sports car race and cementing his reputation as one of the era's premier endurance drivers. Gregory's driving style was characterized by fearlessness bordering on recklessness, and he gained a reputation for dramatic saves and spectacular accidents, earning him the respect of fellow competitors for his courage while also making some team managers nervous about his aggressive approach, and his nickname 'The Kansas City Flash' captured both his American origins and his fast, flamboyant driving.

Following his close friend Jo Bonnier's fatal accident at the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans—Bonnier was killed when his car crashed—Gregory was so affected by losing his friend that he immediately retired from racing at age 40, walking away from motorsport permanently and never competing again. After retiring from racing, Gregory moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he worked as a diamond merchant, applying his business acumen to the diamond trade while living quietly far from the motorsport world he had left behind, and he later operated a glassware business, continuing to work in international trade. Gregory maintained a home in Porto Ercole, Italy, on the Tuscan coast, where he spent winters enjoying the Mediterranean climate, and it was at this Italian retreat on 8 November 1985 that he died suddenly in his sleep from a heart attack at age 53, passing away more than a decade after his retirement from racing.

Masten Gregory's Formula One statistics—43 starts, one podium, limited championship points—suggest a driver who never fulfilled the promise shown by his brilliant 1957 Monaco debut, though these numbers don't capture his significance as the first American to achieve a Formula One podium or his success in sports car racing where his Le Mans victory and numerous other endurance race successes demonstrated world-class ability, and his nickname 'The Kansas City Flash' has ensured that he remains remembered as one of the most colorful and daring American racing drivers of the 1950s and 1960s, a wealthy sportsman who raced for the thrill rather than financial necessity and whose fearless driving style made him one of the era's most exciting competitors even if sustained Formula One success eluded him.