Eugène Chaboud
Eugène Chaboud ( born April 12, 1907 in Lyon, † December 28, 1983 in Montfermeil ) was a French Formula 1 and sports car racing driver.
The son of a businessman began as a promising athlete. By meeting with Jean Trémoulet he was infected but with the " Motorsportbazillus " of the 1930s, so he completed his first car race until the age of 29 in 1936 in a Delahaye sports car.
The following year he played various mountain race and debuted on the side Tremoulets at Le Mans. In Montlhery him the first victory was achieved in a mountain race.
1938 reached his fledgling career at a high point when on the wheel of a Delahaye for decided again on the side of its discoverer, the renowned 24 - hour race at Le Mans and in the Chamonix rally on a Lancia with a victory to its versatility evidence presented.
In 1939 he was engaged by the Ecurie France, whose trust he rewarded with a victory at the famous street race between Paris and Nice.
In the first race on French soil after the Second World War he proved in underpowered Delahaye with a third place at the Coupe des Prisonniers 1945 in the Bois de Boulogne behind Jean -Pierre Wimille and Raymond Sommer its class.
In 1946 he won the Grand Prix of Belgium again a sports car racing and was finally on Delahaye and Talbot - again for the Ecurie France - French sports car champion. When his team separated by Delahaye, he moved to at least the brand to remain faithful to the Ecurie Lutetia. However, until 1949 only moderate success jumped out of it; because the Delahayes were now no longer competitive, so that Chaboud more retired to his activities as automobile dealers, yet denied Le Mans and 1950 at the Monte Carlo Rally was on a Simca second behind Louis Rosier.
However, the newly formed Formula 1 irritated the all-rounder too much, but 1950-1951 was driving Chaboud only three Grand Prix races on a Talbot Lago. His best finish he reached fifth place in the Grand Prix of France in 1950 in Reims, as he looks at Philippe Étancelin the wheel of a Talbots announced, as it was then the regulations still allowed.
Then he turned back to his true passion, the driving of sports car racing, too. But in 1952 he was involved in Le Mans in a fatal accident in which he was trapped under the vehicle. Then he decided to renounce the Grand Prix racing. By 1953, the Frenchman drove a few rallies. Thereafter he devoted himself entirely to his business. Chaboud was one of the few semi-professional drivers of that era who made good time without serious accident the leap into private life.