Birthday profile

Michael May (racing driver)

Michael May, German-Swiss race car driver and engineer

Born
August 18, 1934
Age in 2026
92
Zodiac sign
Leo
Birth year
1934

About Michael May (racing driver)

Michael[1] May (born 18 August 1934) is a former racing driver and engineer from Switzerland. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 May 1961. He scored no championship points. == Racing career == May studied engineering. In 1956, he and his brother Pierre entered the 1956 1000km of Nürburgring in a modified Porsche 550 Spyder. The car was equipped with an adjustable elevated wing above the cockpit that generated downforce (or down thrust) for enhanced braking and cornering speeds to reduce lap times. During qualifying, the car lapped the circuit four seconds faster than the Porsche factory team 550s. Porsche racing director Huschke von Hanstein protested and May was not allowed to start the race with the wing. In 1961, May made his debut in Formula One with Wolfgang Seidel's team Scuderia Colonia. Driving a Lotus 18, May qualified 13th for the Monaco Grand Prix but was forced to retire due to an oil leak.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Michael May (racing driver) was born

Michael May (racing driver) was born in 1934. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1934

  • #1 song"Stars Fell on Alabama"
  • Top movieIt Happened One Night
  • Best-selling bookTender Is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst Masters Tournament held at Augusta National
  • Top headlineFBI kills John Dillinger outside a Chicago theater
  • Technology milestoneFirst streamlined passenger train (Burlington Zephyr)
  • Defining fadShirley Temple mania
  • Notable inventionLaundromat
  • World population2.20 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population126.4M

1934 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Michael May (racing driver)'s birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19342026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$4,900$435,000
Average income$2,500$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.20$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population126.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, German National Library. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.