Lance Reventlow
Lance Reventlow was born in London on February 24th, 1936 and is the Race Car Driver. At the age of 36, Lance Reventlow biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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Lance Graf von Haugwitz-Reventlow (February 24, 1936 – July 24, 1972) was a British-born American entrepreneur, racer, and heir to the Woolworth fortune.
Barbara Hutton and her second husband, Count Kurt Haugwitz-Reventlow, were the only children of Reventlow.
Cary Grant and Prince Igor Troubetzkoy were among his stepfathers.
Early years
Lance Haugwitz-Reventlow was the only child of Danish nobleman Count Kurt Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow and American socialite Barbara Hutton. Hutton inherited the Woolworth department store's success and became one of the country's richest women. Reventlow was born in Winfield House, London, and was named for her grandfather Frank Winfield Woolworth. Reventlow's birth was difficult, and his mother almost died during his delivery. He had respiratory difficulties as a child and was asthmatic.
The parents' marriage, Reventlow's second of seven children, was turbulent and did not last; after the couple divorced in 1938, Reventlow became the subject of a bitter custody dispute. In 1944, Reventlow's father was refused custody until he reached school age, after which his mother would obtain custody. Reventlow was sent to Canada by his father before he was expected to relinquish custody. In 1945, Hutton took possession of Reventlow. Reventlow was largely disregarded from his father until the count's death in 1969.
Personal life
Reventlow was given the freedom to choose either American, Danish, or British citizen at the age of 21. "I thought it over for a full 20 seconds," he said of American citizenship.
Jill St. John, a retired singer from Reventlow, married her in San Francisco, died on March 24, 1960. In October 1962, the two families separated. St. John filed for divorce on October 2, 1963, citing extreme cruelty; she said that Reventlow branded her "stupid and incompetent" in front of others and coerced her into participating in dangerous sports. On October 30, 1963, they were divorced.
Reventlow married ex-Mouseketer Cheryl Holdridge in a lavish reception in Hollywood on November 6, 1964. Barbara Hutton, Reventlow's mother, could not attend the wedding due to sickness, but the couple's $500,000, five-bedroom home on 21 acres in Benedict Canyon was given to him.
Reventlow was looking for real estate developers as partners to create a ski resort in Aspen, Colorado, where he had a home. He was an experienced pilot with thousands of hours of IFR on multi-engine planes, but Reventlow, a passenger, scouting locations for real estate in a hired single-engine Cessna 206 on July 24, 1972, was a passenger. The pilot, a young 27-year-old student with only 39 hours' flying time, crashed into a blind canyon and stalled the aircraft when trying to turn around. All aboard were killed as the plane crashed to the ground, killing all on board.
Reventlow was initially buried, but his remains were later exhumed and cremated. In the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, his remains are laid to rest.
Racing career
When Reventlow's mother married Prince Igor Troubetzkoy, who won the Targa Florio that year, he was introduced to grand prix motor racing in 1948. Reventlow's money in his teenage years bought him the latest exotic cars, which culminated in his participation in motor racing.
Reventlow, a Los Angeles resident, made friends with fellow auto enthusiast James Dean and competed in club competitions. He was one of the few people to meet with Dean on their way to an auto race in Salinas, California, on September 30, 1955. Dean was killed in a car accident near Cholame, California, while riding his Porsche 550 Spyder, according to Reventlow.
Reventlow began racing in America in the 1950s, first with a Mercedes before he upgraded to a 1100cc Cooper in 1956. He travelled to Europe in the next year to buy a Maserati, which he crashed heavily at Snetterton, but was unhurt. He also drove a Cooper Formula 2 car for a short time before returning to the United States. He then formed Scarab with Phil Remington as the chief engineer, but later decided to build Chevrolet-powered race cars. The two teams were very competitive in racing, with hired driver Chuck Daigh. They won the majority of major sports events they entered, many in alliance with Lister Jaguars' Cunningham squad. Reventlow had considered buying a Lister Jaguar but decided he'd build a better car. Daigh led a Scarab to victory in the 1958 Riverside International Grand Prix in California, defeating a field of international race car teams, including the world-famous race car driver Phil Hill and the Ferrari Team. Carroll Shelby rode a Scarab to first place at Continental Divide Raceways in Castle Rock, Colorado, where he set a course record.
His racing team had been lauded for building the first Formula One race car in America. Reventlow's team, which was overseas based in the United Kingdom, had no success competing the Scarab cars in Formula One against the new rear-engine race cars. He returned to the drawing board and built a competitive prototype Scarab rear-engined vehicle, but he was not keen on racing until the testing was complete. He halted production, leased the California plants to Shelby, and banned auto racing altogether in 1962.
During its existence, Reventlow's company produced a total of eight Scarabs. Reventlow revealed that three front-engined sports cars, three front-engined formula cars, one rear-engined formula car, and one rear-engined sports vehicle were built in a 1971 interview. Two of the front-engined formula cars were powered by Reventlow-commissioned engines developed by American racing engine designer Leo Goossen to Reventlow's specifications, while the third vehicle was powered by a Goossen-designed and engineered Offenhauser engine. A modified Buick powerplant was used to power this engine and the suspension/brake kit on the last Scarab model.
Racing career results
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Reventlow drove the Cooper in practice only at the 1960 British Grand Prix. Chuck Daigh was driving the car in the championship.