John Fitch lived a life filled with adventure and invention that is difficult to capture in a brief such as this. For starters, his namesake ancestor built the first successful steamboat 11 years after the Declaration of Independence severed the bond between colonial America and Mother England. In his own lengthy lifetime he sailed, flew warplanes, was taken prisoner of war, dated JFK’s sister, raced cars, ran car dealerships, managed racing teams, helped design Lime Rock Park, designed and built cars, consulted on the production of the movie The Racers, campaigned for automotive safety by inventing a barrier system that has saved countless lives, and shared six decades of life and love with his wife Elizabeth, fathering three sons along the way. His life and career have been honored with induction to half a dozen Halls of Fame.
While studying civil engineering at Lehigh University, Fitch became aware of the looming threat of war in Europe. Deciding he’d like to see old Europe before it was destroyed, he dropped out of school and crossed the Atlantic on a freighter. His intended itinerary was, however, altered and ultimately truncated by the outbreak of actual hostilities, so he tried to volunteer to fly with the RAF, but found himself surplus to requirements.
Returning home he joined a Coast Guard program patrolling the waters of the Eastern Seaboard in search of German U-Boats. By ’41 he’d sold the boat and enlisted in the Army Air Corps, and by early ’42 was flying bombing missions over Europe. He was later assigned to North Africa as part of the effort to catch the Desert Fox, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and ultimately found himself back home helping develop the P-51 Mustang. He then returned to Europe, flying P-51s with the British-based Eagle Squadron. On one mission he shot down one of the early jet-powered Messerschmitt ME262s, and early in 1945 was shot down himself when he made one too many strafing runs over a munitions train. He spent the last few months of the war in a POW camp and upon release returned to the USA.
Fitch is likely best known to readers of this magazine for his exploits as a racing driver, competing and winning in MGs, Porsches, Jaguars, Ferraris, Corvettes, Cunninghams, Mercedes-Benz and Maseratis at legendary venues such as the Mille Miglia, Sebring, Le Mans, the Nürburgring, Monza, Bridgehampton, Watkins Glen, Elkhart Lake, the Carrera Panamericana and, of course, Lime Rock.
He first raced at Bridgehampton in 1949, representing his White Plains, N.Y., MG dealership by driving his TC, and taking along as his pit crew a young woman named Elizabeth who worked in advertising. He finished 5th that day against a field of more powerful cars, and that night proposed marriage to her. Their union lasted until she died in 2009.
Driving a Jaguar XK120 and a Cunningham C2R, he became the Sports Car Club of America’s first National Champion in 1951, and that same year drove a Cad-Allard to victory in the Argentine Grand Prix. That performance gained him notice by Alfred Neubauer, legendary boss of Mercedes-Benz motorsports, who offered him a slot with the works team at the 1952 Carrera Panamericana, an event Fitch had suggested the Mercedes team should enter.
One of his biggest successes followed at Sebring in 1953, when he and Phil Walters drove one of Briggs Cunningham’s Chrysler-powered C4Rs to victory in the second running of the 12-hour classic. Back in Europe, as part of the Mercedes-Benz effort for the 1955 Targa Florio, he won the GT class and claimed 5th overall with a production 300 SL Gullwing coupe—a drive he considered his finest performance—earning a slot in the works team for Le Mans.
That year’s 24 Hours will always be remembered for the tragedy that unfolded—John was paired with the doomed Pierre Levegh in a 300 SLR—and it made a lasting impression that never left him, inspiring some of his best work. Later that year he teamed with Stirling Moss in a 300 SLR to win the Tourist Trophy at Dundrod in Northern Ireland.
He and General Motors executive Ed Cole created a competition program for the struggling Corvette, with Fitch given charge of the factory’s effort at Sebring in 1956, where he and Walt Hansgen took their Vette to a class victory while finishing 9th overall. Four years later the Corvettes would tackle Le Mans in consort with Briggs Cunningham, and Fitch achieved similar glory in France, teaming with Bob Grossman to win the GT class while finishing 8th overall.
As John’s racing career wound down, he continued to race at Sebring until 1966, when he joined Cunningham (and newcomer Davey Jordan) in a Porsche 904 for what would be both men’s final race.
John’s memories of the 1955 Le Mans disaster remained strong, and upon stepping from the cockpit he crusaded for greater safety on both highway and racetrack. This ultimately led to his creation and patenting of the Fitch Inertial Barrier, essentially a collection of sand-filled frangible barrels that cushion impacts along major roadways across the land. Among his other inventions are similarly styled Compression Barriers and Displaceable Guardrails for use in racing applications.
To his three sons and the rest of the Fitch family, as well as his many friends in and out of the sport, Vintage Racecar offers its sincerest condolences.
