On January 5th 2015, Formula 1 and Le Mans racer Jean-Pierre Beltoise passed away at the age of 77. Jean-Pierre was the winner of the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix and proved his staying power with an impressive 84 world championship starts. Beltoise started his career racing motorcycles in France capturing 11 titles. Wanting a new challenge he moved onto auto racing, despite having a nearly fatal car crash early in his career and losing full movement in his left arm, he continued to race. Jeanne-Pierre (who raced for Matra) saw great success in both F3 and F2 racing winning titles in both, and eventually moving on to F1.
Beltoise greatest success came at Monaco where he took the gold for the Grand Prix. At Lemans, unfortunately the best Jeanne-Pierre could place was fourth. In 1974 Jeanne-Pierre retired from F1, and when most retirees usually end up in Florida, Jeanne-Paul Beltoise spent the rest of his life driving rally cars, testing super cars, and even tried his hand ice-racing. This French speed demon will be greatly missed.
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