Congrats to the father of the Chaparral Can-Am and Indy car, who turns 77 today.
Although renowned to U.S. race fans as the man behind the innovative Chaparral Can-Am cars of the 1960s, as well as the Chaparral 2K Indy car of 1979-'82, Hall also competed as a driver in Formula One 1 1960 to 1963, participating in 12 World Championship Grands Prix and numerous non-championship races.
His place in motorsports history, however, largely is owed to his being the "motivating force" and part owner, with Hap Sharp, of Chaparral Cars, based in Hall's hometown of Midland, Texas. In the United States Road Racing Championship, and later in the Can-Am, Chaparrals were the consistently among most innovative cars in racing. Hall was a very early adopter of aerodynamics applied to racecars and was the leading proponent of that technology for an entire decade.
After taking a sabbatical in the early 1970s, racing in several SCCA Trans-Am Series races. Hall came back to prominence in the CART Indy cars, first using Lola customer chassis and later with the Chaparral 2K, designed by John Barnard, which was the first full ground-effect Indy car.
Since closing his team in 1996, Hall has resided in Midland, where he remains active in the oil and gas business. Earlier this year, he was honored by the Road Racing Drivers Club during the Long Beach IndyCar and American Le Mans Series race weekend.