The Crittenden Automotive Library

People Index

People Index

The historical archiving mission of The Crittenden Automotive Library includes documenting the contributions people have made to the automobile and other topics covered by the Library. Here you will find indices of automotive pioneers, engineers, race car drivers, designers, authors, artists, and other people indexed here for so many reasons related to the world of wheeled transportation.

Remember that this is a library, not an encyclopedia, so whether an entry exists or not and how much is available on an entry is related to the amount of information we've had time to enter and not related of the size of their contribution to automotive history.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y, Z

A few notes about this list...

The category a person is listed with depends on how they were entered into The Crittenden Automotive Library, which is based on what information we have on them, and if multiple categories apply generally the one the person is most known for is used. For example, Bernie Ecclestone is widely known as the head of Formula 1, but he did technically attempt to qualify for an F1 race in 1958. His long career as head of Formula 1 far outweighs his very minor driving career, and he is classified as a Sanctioning Body Executive.

"Author" can refer to a wide variety of writing, from articles and commentaries published here at the Library or books printed by major publishers (Journalist refers to professional news writers). Because of the fundamental differences between types of racing, there are separate categories for "Race Car Driver," "Drift Driver," and "Drag Racer."

Highlights

This isn't a list of the greatest and most important people in automobile history, rather a list of people about which we have a lot of information.

Automobile Pioneers & Engineers Henry Ford Founder of the Ford Motor Company	Race Car Drivers Ralph DePalma Vanderbilt Cup & Indianapolis 500 Winner (1909-1936) Dale Earnhardt 7-time NASCAR Cup Champion (1970-2001) Bill Elliott NASCAR Cup Champion, 16-time Most Popular Driver (1973-2012) Richard Petty 7-time NASCAR Cup Champion (1958-1992) Patrick Sheltra ARCA Champion (2008-2011)	Artists Sam Curry Alfredo de la Maria Ken Eberts Peter Helck Hendrik Mueller
Current U.S. Government Officials Former U.S. Government Officials Anthony Foxx Secreatary of Transportation 2013-2017 Ray LaHood Secreatary of Transportation 2009-2013 Victor Mendez FHWA Administrator 2009-2014 Gregory G. Nadeau FHWA Administrator 2014-2017 President Barack Obama U.S. President 2009-2017 Mark Rosekind NHTSA Administrator 2014-2017 President Donald J. Trump U.S. President 2017-2021	Contributors John Walczak Motorsports photographer, 1985-1992 Bill Crittenden Owner of The Crittenden Automotive Library, 2005-2017 Anthony Fonatanelle SEO writer, 2007-2008 Gus Philpott Blogger, 2007-2017 Chris Knight Motorsports PR, 2007-2017 Matt Hubbard Blogger, 2012-2016 Geoff Maxted Blogger, 2013-2017

"Men and women, all over the world, right down the centuries, come and go. Some leave nothing behind, not even their names. It would seem that they never existed at all."
Nelson Mandela, Conversations with Myself, 2010

Here, their names are left behind. Here, they still exist.