Drake Olson (born April 5, 1955) is an American former racing driver from

Bridgewater, Connecticut Bridgewater is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,662 at the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 1,727 tabulated in 2010. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. Bridgewater ...

. Olson made one CART World Series start in 1983 at

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

. In 1984 he drove in three

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987. The Can-Am rules were deliberately simple and placed few limits on the entries. This led to a wide variet ...

races, an

IMSA GT Championship IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States and occasionally in Canada. History The series was founded in 1969 by John and Peggy Bishop, and Bill ...

race and two World Endurance Championship races, including the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

where he was caught up in the debris field of his

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

teammate John Sheldon's crash that killed a track worker. In 1985 he won three races with

Dyson Racing Dyson Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Poughkeepsie, New York in the United States. Founded by Rob Dyson in 1974, the team competed successfully in North American sports car racing series, including the IMSA GT Championsh ...

in IMSA Camel GTP, the team's first, in a

Porsche 962 The Porsche 962 is a sports prototype racing car designed and built by Porsche. Created to replace the Porsche 956, 962 was introduced at the end of 1984 and replaced the 956 in the International Motor Sports Association, IMSA's IMSA GT Champio ...

. 1986 saw Olson continue in IMSA GTP with Dyson and Preston Henn fielding his entries. That year he also competed in the

1986 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 54th Grand Prix of Endurance as well as the third round of the 1986 World Sportscar Championship season, 1986 World Sports-Prototype Championship. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, France, on 31 May ...

, co-driving a

Rothmans Porsche Rothmans International PLC was a British tobacco manufacturer. Its brands included Rothmans, Player's and Dunhill. Its international headquarters were in Hill Street, London and its international operations were run from Denham Place in Denham ...

factory 962 with

Vern Schuppan Vernon John Schuppan (born 19 March 1943) is an Australian former motor racing driver. Schuppan drove in various categories, participating in Formula One, the Indianapolis 500 and most successfully in sports car racing. Although he considers ...

. Olson was away from racing after that until 1989 when he returned with the

All American Racers All American Racers is an American-licensed auto racing team and constructor based in Santa Ana, California. Founded by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in 1964, All American Racers initially participated in American sports car and Champ Car races ...

Toyota 88C The Toyota 88C was a racing car entered by Toyota from 1988 to 1989. It is the successor to the Toyota 87C and the predecessor to the Toyota 88C-V. Like other Toyota-powered sports prototypes of the era, it was designed and built by Dome. The 8 ...

factory team in IMSA GTP. He won two poles and finished ninth in points. 1990 would be his final year of professional racing as he finished tenth in GTP points with three poles for All American Racers in their

Eagle HF89 The Eagle HF89 and its evolution, the Eagle HF90, is a racing car built and entered by Dan Gurney's All American Racers team, for the IMSA GT Championship. It was raced from 1989 until 1991 in IMSA's premier sports-car racing category, the GTP ( ...

. After retiring from racing, Olson became a glacier pilot in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

,Drake Olson
''Old Racing Cars'', Retrieved 2013-08-29 and appeared as such in 2012 in

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

documentary show Alaska Wing Men.

References

External links

* 1955 births Racing drivers from Connecticut Champ Car drivers IMSA GT Championship drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers People from Bridgewater, Connecticut Sportspeople from Litchfield County, Connecticut Living people {{US-autoracing-bio-stub Porsche Motorsports drivers