About Vern Schuppan
Vernon John Schuppan (born 19 March 1943) is an Australian former motor racing driver. Schuppan drove in various categories, participating in Formula One, the Indianapolis 500 and most successfully in sports car racing. Although he considers himself to be a single-seater driver, Schuppan's biggest career victory was with the factory-backed Rothmans Porsche team when he partnered Americans Hurley Haywood and Al Holbert to win the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the Porsche 956. In 1984, Schuppan was made a Member of the Order of Australia for "service to the sport of motor racing". == Early career and Formula One == After a successful karting career in which he won numerous Australian state and national titles, Schuppan made the decision to pursue a career in motor racing. He and his wife Jennifer ventured to Great Britain (with a self-imposed two-year limit of making it big) to allow him to participate in the British Formula Atlantic Championship, which he won, leading to a test with BRM. As BRM's test driver he qualified for the 1972 Belgian Grand Prix at Nivelles-Baulers, but he did not start the race because teammate Helmut Marko commandeered his car, though he did compete in some non-championship races with BRM. In 1974, Schuppan went to Team Ensign, débuting again in the Belgian Grand Prix where he finished in 15th position. In Monaco, he retired on lap four because of an accident. Schuppan was disqualified in both Sweden and the Netherlands; in Sweden because he started illegally from 26th place on the grid and in the Netherlands for receiving a tyre change outside of the pits. Schuppan failed to qualify in France or Britain. He retired in Germany on lap four because of gearbox problems.
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