SARATOGA SPRINGS.- The Saratoga Automobile Museum presents the exhibit John Fitch: An American Racing Hero presented by Mercedes Benz. Fighter pilot, race driver, racing team manager, Lime Rock Park circuit director, highway safety innovator, automaker, entrepreneur John Fitch has done it all, and more.

Born in Indianapolis in 1917, John attended his first Indy 500 as a passenger in a Stutz Bearcat. During World War II, he flew the P-51 Mustang and was one of the first Americans to shoot down a Messerschmitt. Shot down himself two months before the war ended, John was a POW when hostilities ceased.

Back home he began his racing career in an MG TC. His GP of Argentina win in an Allard J2 catapulted him into the limelight. Joining Briggs Cunningham, he co-drove a Cunningham C4R to victory at Sebring with Phil Walters in 1953.

The legendary Alfred Neubauer chose John as the first American driver for the Mercedes-Benz racing team, an adventure capped by his remarkable fifth overall and class win in the 1955 Mille Miglia driving a production Mercedes-Benz 300SL and breaking the class record by over an hour.

Heading up the Corvette racing team at Sebring following his return to the U.S., he transformed a passenger car-based boulevard sports car into a world-class competitor. Using his extensive experience at European and America circuits, he helped engineer Lime Rock race track.

During the 1960s John created the Fitch Sprint, based on Chevrolet’s Corvair coupe, and the Fitch Phoenix, a one-off sports coupe with a modified, four-carburetor, 170-bhp flat six Corvair engine. In his final racing years, John drove such diverse mounts as a Lotus 11, a 2.0-liter Maserati, a Cooper Monaco, and a Genie. He co-drove his last race with Briggs Cunningham in a Porsche 904 at Sebring in 1966.

Thereafter John began his crusade for automobile safety. His Fitch Inertial Barriers (the yellow, sand-filled plastic barrels used at intersections and bridge abutments) are credited with the saving of countless lives. His racing safety innovations include the Displaceable Guardrail, the Compression Barrier, and the Fitch Driver Capsule. His Fitch Fuel Catalyst enhances fuel volatility, improves mileage and reduces emissions. Like the steamboat pioneer from whom he is descended, John Fitch is a tireless and creative inventor.

Inducted into the National Corvette Hall of Fame in 2000, John has since competed at Bonneville in a specially-prepared 300SL Gullwing and hopes to set a record there this year. Eighty-nine years young, John Fitch is a hero, a legend, and a truly remarkable man. Historical information courtesy of John Fitch, Carl Goodwin and Rich Taylor.