He certainly didn’t look the part of someone who competed in European Formula One racing. His accent was Midwestern drawl instead of Italian. He wore thick horn-rimmed glasses. He was so short and skinny that he was often stopped when trying to enter the pits or check into a hotel, being mistaken for a school boy. But to the motor sports world he was known as “The Kansas City Flash”.

His friend, colleague, and sometimes competitor, Carroll Shelby, proclaimed Masten to be “the fastest American to ever go over and race a Grand Prix car.” Off the track, he was mild-natured. But once that flag dropped, he was totally fearless! — Louis Stanley, owner of British Racing Motors.

Masten’s racing career started on the streets in and around Kansas City, which made his hot-rodded ’49 Ford business coupe well-known to local police.

In 1953, Masten won his first track race driving a Chrysler-powered Allard J2X in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In the next three years, he would win SCCA races from California to Connecticut, driving Jaguars, Ferraris, and Porsches.

Also in those three years, Masten won six SC races in exotic locales like England, Portugal, and the Bahamas. Over the next dozen years, he won eight more in places like Canada, Belgium, Cuba, and France. These races were won driving Ferraris, Maseratis, Lister-Jaguars, Porsches, and Lotus.

Starting in 1957, Masten competed in European-dominated Formula One racing, the first American ever to do so on a regular basis. Over a nine year period, he entered 38 F1 World Championship races, completing 22 and earning three podium finishes, another first for an American driver.

Between 1957 and 1969, Masten won six WSC endurance races at tracks like the Österreichring, Le Mans, Buenos Aires, Monza, and the Nurburgring. He raced in Ferraris, Maseratis, Ford GT40s, and Porsches. Masten was the first Jaguar driver to break the 10-minute barrier at the Nurburgring in a Jaguar D-type, which was designed for straight-line speed, not the 160 turns in 14.173 miles of the Nurburgring “Nordschleife” (North Loop).

Masten’s skill to adapt to every type of racing was impressively demonstrated in the 1965 Indianapolis 500 where, in the first half hour, he went from starting 31st in the last row to running 6th in the lead pack. Racer Bob Said stated, “Anyone who blows off 25 Indy drivers in 30 minutes is serious.”

The pinnacle came in 1965 when Masten and co-driver Jochen Rindt, won 24 Hours of Le Mans in their #21 Ferrari 250LM.

Masten survived five severe crashes, including three in which he jumped from the car prior to the impact. In another, he was saved by the roll bar he insisted be installed.

Image Left 1:
Masten Gregory and his friend, Carroll Shelby, Sebring, 1960.

Image Left 2:
Masten and old F1 rival Phil Hill, in Kansas City, 1985.

Image Left 3:
In 1959, Gregory became the first driver to break the ten-minute barrier in a Jaguar D-Type at Nurburgring.

Image Right 1:
Masten Gregory with Alfonso de Portago, the finest driver of the 1950s, in Nassau, Bahamas, 1956. Due to his thin and youthful appearance, Masten was sometimes mistaken for a school boy and prevented from entering the pits or checking into hotels.

Image Right 2:
Gregory and Rindt, winners on the podium at Le Mans, 1965.

Image Right 3:
Racing in open cars is dirty business.

Image Right 4:
Ferrari 250 LM in which Masten & co-driver Jochen Rindt won the 1965 24 Heures du Mans.