{"id":2005,"date":"2012-11-14T15:51:09","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T15:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/history\/jimmy-murphys-1921-french-gp-victory\/"},"modified":"2019-09-19T08:06:36","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T07:06:36","slug":"jimmy-murphys-1921-french-gp-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/single-seaters\/f1\/jimmy-murphys-1921-french-gp-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Murphy’s 1921 French GP victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
After reading Paul Fearnley\u2019s excellent blog<\/a> about David Bruce-Brown I thought, on the eve of Formula 1\u2019s return to the United States, that I should add a few words about Jimmy Murphy.<\/p>\n Unlike Bruce-Brown, Murphy came from humble beginnings. Murphy was raised by his uncle and aunt on a ranch in Los Angeles after his father died in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. He started his career as a riding mechanic with the Duesenberg team and won on his debut sitting beside Eddie O\u2019Donnell in a 300-mile road race in Corona, sixty miles east of downtown LA. He also finished third in that year\u2019s Vanderbilt Cup race in Santa Monica partnering wealthy driver Bill Weightman.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n By 1919 Murphy had graduated to the driver\u2019s seat and scored his first win in February of 1920 in the debut race at the sparkling new Los Angeles Speedway board track in Beverly Hills. The hometown boy became an instant national hero and during the height of the board track era between 1920-\u201924 Murphy won 19 races, including the 1922 Indy 500, and posthumously took the 1924 AAA national championship.<\/p>\n Murphy was a gentleman and fan favourite who was known as the \u2018King of the Boards\u2019. Tragically, he was killed at the height of his career in a dirt track race at Syracuse, New York in September, 1924.<\/p>\n Murphy is also renowned for his historic victory in the 1921 French Grand Prix. Driving for Fred and Augie Duesenberg\u2019s team, Murphy scored the first all-American win in Grand Prix racing, a feat that would be duplicated only once again when Dan Gurney won the 1967 Belgian GP aboard his own All American Racers Eagle-Weslake F1 car.<\/p>\n Back in 1921, Murphy and the Duesenberg team chose to miss three AAA championship races in order to race in France, sailing from New York shortly after that year\u2019s Indianapolis 500. Because of World War I, the world\u2019s oldest Grand Prix race had not been run since 1914 and the Duesenberg brothers decided it was an occasion they could not miss. They took four cars to the French Grand Prix\u2019s revival, proudly painted in America\u2019s white and blue international racing colours.<\/p>\n