One of the greatest chief mechanics in American National Championship racing history, George Bignotti, has died at the age of 97. Cars prepared by Bignotti won 85 Indycar races—second-most all-time—including a record seven Indy 500s, two each for A.J. Foyt and Al Unser, and single wins for Graham Hill, Gordon Johncock and Tom Sneva. He also collected eight Indycar National Championships, four with Foyt, two with Joe Leonard (where he was co-chief with Johnny Capels), and one each with Unser and Johncock.
Born in San Francisco during World War I, Bignotti abandoned his trade as a ship builder to follow his two older brothers into racing, crafting a reputation for flawless preparation of both engines and chassis while working on midgets and sprint cars. He graduated to Indycars in the ’50s and hooked up with Bob Bowes to field Foyt for the 1960 season, guiding the talented Texan’s rising star to the first of his seven National Championships in 1960.
Between 1960 and mid-1965 when they parted company, the Foyt-Bignotti tandem bagged 27 race wins, two Indy 500s and four National Championships, including an incredible 1964 season when they won 10 of 13 races. Foyt regards Bignotti as “the greatest mechanic who ever turned a wrench on an Indycar.”
Bignotti found himself in the middle of seemingly constant technical revolutions in Indycars, first with rear-engine placement and then with ground-effects, but worked everything out in his head in the days before computers and data analysis.
One of his trademarks was his ability to be with the right team and drivers at the right time. Upon splitting with Foyt, Bignotti went to work for Texas oilman John Mecom who was then the Lola importer, and in 1966, driving one of Mecom’s Bignotti-prepared Lolas, Graham Hill won the Indy 500. A young Al Unser settled into Mecom’s cars shortly thereafter, and once the team closed its doors, Unser and Bignotti moved together into Parnelli Jones’ new Vel’s-Parnelli Jones outfit.
Success shortly followed as Unser drove Bignotti’s cars to victory at Indy in both ’70 and ’71, taking the championship as well in the former year when he won 10 of 18 rounds. Unser and Bignotti won 25 races together. VPJ’s other driver, Leonard, completed Bignotti’s title hat trick by claiming the crown in ’71 and ’72, and Jones attributes much of his team’s success to Bignotti’s influence.
Patrick Racing was Bignotti’s next stop, and there he won his sixth Indy 500 with Johncock in 1973, following it up with his seventh and last National Championship in ’76. After the 1980 season he assembled his own team and set about making a reliable contender of March’s Indycar entry, winning his final 500 with Sneva in 1983.
Retiring from the pit lane several years later, Bignotti continued to be involved in the sport, doing research and serving as a spokesman for Mobil Oil while continuing to make regular visits to the races until recent years. He is a member of both the Auto Racing Hall of Fame and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. To his daughter, Mary Mendez, and all his family and friends in racing, Vintage Racecar extends its sincerest sympathies.
