Bruce McLaren, the New Zealander who founded the McLaren Motor Racing team has been posthumously voted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
The hugely successful Kiwi driver, designer, constructor and engineer’s name lives on in the Formula 1 team which has won eight Constructor’s Championships and 12 driver’s titles.
McLaren, who grew up in Auckland, died in 1970, four years before his Formula 1 team won its first driver’s and constructors’ championship.
The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti was honoured alongside McLaren at the Motor Speedway Museum.
McLaren’s car enjoyed particular success at Indianapolis, winning the 1972, 1974 and 1976 Indy 500s.
As a driver Bruce McLaren won four Formula 1 races, two Can-Am Series championships, and co-drove with fellow Kiwi Chris Amon, to a win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum historian Donald Davidson said of McLaren: “Even decades after his passing, the name Bruce McLaren instantly conjures up vivid memories for racing enthusiasts around the world.
“Whether they be for his Formula One driving days; for his analytical approach to racing; his decision to start up his own marque, when he could well have continued to drive for other people; his utter dominance, along with fellow New Zealander Denis Hulme of the Can-Am series in the late 1960s; or for the legendary organisations he left behind which compiled multiple Formula One constructor championships and Indianapolis 500 wins.”
McLaren and Franchitti were chosen by a panel of auto racing journalists, participants and historians from a ballot of 16 nominees, 7 of whom received at least 50 per cent of the vote.
A nominee needed to be named on 75 per cent of the ballots, or finish first in his or her voting category to be inducted, the IMS Museum said.
