Brett Lunger

Brett Lunger

Robert Brett Lunger (born November 14, 1945 in Wilmington, Delaware) is a former racecar driver from the United States. Lunger was educated in dancing schools in Wilmington, the Holderness School, and Princeton University. He dropped out of Princeton after three years to enlist for service in Vietnam. He was a political science major. At the time he was preparing a thesis on U.S. policy on Southeast Asia. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident refuted much of what Lunger contended in his writing. A former US Marine lieutenant who served in the Vietnam war, his racing career was mostly spent in privateer cars, paid for by his family wealth (Lunger was a scion of the DuPont family).

Lunger was not raised a car enthusiast. He was brought up to enjoy baseball, hockey, and football. He became interested in auto racing when a friend took him to a race in 1965. By 1966 he was the "rich kid" of the Can-Am series. Between 1972 and 1974 he faced the top competition in Formula Two, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson, and Graham Hill. His best finish was a 4th place at Mantorp Park in Sweden. The machinery he was in at this juncture did not allow him to do better. On a single weekend in Rouen, France, Lunger blew three engines.

He married Jo, the daughter of Sir Leonard Crossland, former chairman of Ford of Britain and an executive with Lotus in 1975. Lunger used his wife's English thatched cottage as a base to court a ride with Formula One teams in 1975.