Jean Lucas (25 April 1917 – 27 September 2003) was a racing driver from France.
He participated in one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, on 11 September 1955. Lucas was then manager of the Gordini team, and when regular driver Robert Manzon was unable to race, he stepped in to take his place. His retired his car with engine failure and scored no championship points.
Lucas’ best results as a driver were in sports car racing at the wheel of a Ferrari, winning at Spa-Francorchamps and Montlhéry in 1949. He retired in 1957 after a crash at the Moroccan Grand Prix. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Born in 1917, Jean Lucas began competing immediately after World War II in local rallies. He also drove an Alfa Romeo 8C Monza in several national races in 1946 and by the end of the decade was driving Luigi Chinetti’s Ferrari 166MM in endurance events.
In 1949 he contested Le Mans and the Spa 24-hour race though unfortunately at Le Mans his co-driver, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus (who raced as ‘Heldé’) crashed during the race. However, at Spa, he and Luigi Chinetti were victorious in their Ferrari 166 MM in what would be the major success of his racing career. But, during the race, L.Chinetti hit an oil patch from another driver’s car and the Ferrari slid out of control, knocked down a woman spectator and hit a house. Obviously shaken, he leapt and rendered first aid to the injured woman, then got in the car again and drove slowly to his pit. The car was hastily examined and then set to limp round for the two more laps necessary to win the race, finishing at 78.7 m.p.h. for 1,886.03 miles, a record for this race, in a rather battered condition. The year would also see him win at Montlhéry.
He was based in Africa for a while and (like fellow GP racer Andre Guelfi) made a fortune from sardines in Morocco. He was the owner of a sardine factory, based in Casablanca, but business issues forced him to miss the 1951 Tourist Trophy, when his workers went on strike.
He continued competing at Le Mans plus drove a private Ferrari sports car in France’s northern African colonies for a period before eventually moving into management.
In 1953 he joined Gordini as Team Manager and this led to his contesting his one F1 World Championship Grand Prix, in 1955. At Monza, regular driver Robert Manzon was forced to miss the Italian race due to family business and Jean stepped in to take his place, though his race ended after seven laps with engine failure.
He finished third in 1957’s Le Mans 24 Hours when he shared a Jaguar D-type with ‘Mary’ (Jean Brussin). The car was entered by Equipe Los Amigos, the regular title for his private racing entries. Later in the year, he drove John du Puy’s Maserati 250F in a non-championship Moroccan GP. Unfortunately he crashed and the car rolled and he broke his arm after being thrown out of the cockpit and into some parked cars.
He did not race again but stayed involved with racing through, creating the French monthly magazine Sport-Auto (with famed journalist Jabby Crombac) in 1962. He also served as a respected administrator in France and was a driver manager, managing Harry Schell and Jo Schlesser.
Jean passed away in 2003, aged 86.
