Louis Wagner
Race car driver, Deceased Person
1882 – 1960
Who was Louis Wagner?
Louis Wagner was a French Grand Prix driver who won the first ever United States and British Grands Prix. Wagner was also a pioneer aviator.
Wagner was born in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, Seine-Saint-Denis. He began racing cars while in his teens and claimed victory in 1903 driving a Darracq in a voiturette class race at the Circuit des Ardennes at Bastogne, Belgium. Wagner was one of the drivers for the Darracq team in the 1904 Gordon Bennett Cup in Germany that finished 8th and in 1905 at the Circuit d'Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, he was eliminated in the first round.
Competing in the United States, Wagner won the Vanderbilt Cup of 1906 driving a Darracq model 120 over a Long Island racecourse. He finished 5th in the 1907 Kaiserpreis in Germany but the following year in Savannah won the first ever United States Grand Prix driving a Fiat.
Driving a Mercedes, Wagner finished second to Christian Lautenschlager in the 1914 French Grand Prix at Lyon. He competed in the 1919 Indianapolis 500 driving a Ballot but went out with a broken wheel on lap 45. In 1924 he drove for the Alfa Romeo team, in a P2 alongside Antonio Ascari and Giuseppe Campari. In 1926, Wagner teamed up with Robert Sénéchal to drive a Delage 155B to victory in the first ever British Grand Prix. In August he won the Grand Prix de la Baule in a Delage 2LCV. In addition to Grand Prix racing, Wagner also competed in the 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Feb 5, 1882
Le Pré-Saint-Gervais - Nationality
- France
- Profession
- Died
- Mar 13, 1960
Montlhéry
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Louis Wagner." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/louis_wagner>.
Discuss this Louis Wagner biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In