Johnny Claes

Johnny Claes (; born 11 August 1916 in Fulham, London, England, United Kingdom – died 3 February 1956 in Brussels, Belgium) was a Belgian racing driver, born in Fulham, England to a Belgian Father and Scottish Mother. Claes was a Jazz musician who became involved in motor Sports after a chance visit to the 1947 French Grand Prix.
Johnny ordering a shortly after this visit would compete in this car for much of his career and totalled 23 World Championship Grand Prix starts from 1950 to 1955.
Johnny found World Championship racing tough but would find success in the Liege-Rome-Liege Rally winning the event in 1953, even though his co-driver fell ill and Johnny had to drive single handed for 52 hours. Other successes were achieved in GP des Frontieres in 1950 driving a and 1951 driving a . And in 1954 he finished 12th and achieved a class victory in a Porsche at Le Mans, followed up with a 3rd in the 1955 event, sharing the Ecurie Belge Jaguar with Jacques Swaters.
His health started to diminish in 1954 and he passed away suffering from tuberculosis in 1956 not long after his last competitive outing, sharing with Lucien Bianchi at the Liege-Rome-Liege Rally, finishing 3rd.
==Formula One Career==
===1950===
Johnny struggled in 1950 in his Ecurie Belge Talbot-Lago but was a popular diver. At the season starting British Grand Prix he started last and cruised around to an eleventh-placed finish. At Monaco he qualified 19th and had a good view of the first lap carnage, picking his way through to finish 7th, a season high followed by 10th at Bremgarten.
In Belgium, for his home Grand Prix, Johnny was allowed to start after missing qualifying due to crashing his Team Truck on the way to the track. His racing car needed to be escorted to the track, driving along the road at night making it to Spa-Francochamps the morning of the race where he finished 10th, 3 laps down.
In France, the Talbot-Lago's suffered overheating issues with Johnny retiring along with many other similar cars and he is also retired from the Italian Grand Prix with the same overheating issues.
==Formula One Statistical Overview==
===Formula One Record===
Year 	Entrant 	Team 	Pts 	WDC Pos. 	Report
Pre-Championship 	Pre-Championship 	Pre-Championship 	Pre-Championship 	Pre-Championship 	Pre-Championship
1949 	Ecurie Belge 	 	No Formula One Championship 	No Formula One Championship 	No Formula One Championship
Formula One World Championship	Formula One World Championship	Formula One World Championship	Formula One World Championship	Formula One World Championship	Formula One World Championship
1950 	Ecurie Belge 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1951 	Ecurie Belge 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1952 	Equipe Gordini 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1952 	Ecurie Belge 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1952 	HW Motors 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1952 	Vicomtesse de Walckiers 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1953 	Ecurie Belge 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1953 	Officine Alfieri Maserati 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1954: Did Not Compete 	1954: Did Not Compete 	1954: Did Not Compete 	1954: Did Not Compete 	1954: Did Not Compete 	1954: Did Not Compete
1955 	Stirling Moss Ltd. 	 	0 	NC 	Report
1955 	Equipe Nationale Belge 	 	0 	NC 	Report
===Career Statistics===
===Career Results===
|-
! 
| colspan=11| Did not compete in any races
==Notes==
==External links==
* Wikipedia article
* STATS F1 page
* OldRacingCars
Category:1916 births
Category:1956 deaths
Category:Belgian Drivers
Category:1950 Début Drivers
Category:Talbot-Lago Drivers
Category:Ecurie Belge Drivers
Category:HWM Drivers
Category:Simca-Gordini Drivers
Category:Connaught Drivers
Category:Maserati Drivers
Category:Ferrari Drivers
Category:ENB Drivers
Category:Deceased Drivers