Ken Wharton

Frederick Charles Kenneth Wharton (21 March 1916 - 12 January 1957): British racing driver from Smethwick, England who first raced at age 19 in an Austin at Donington Park. He started out racing an Austin Seven in 1935 and went on to make his name in sprints. War brought a temporary end to motorsport but he returned to racing as soon as hostilities ceased. He competed in off-road trials, hillclimbs, and rallying, and also raced sports cars and single-seaters.

He owned a Ford dealership near Birmingham where he built his own specials that enabled him to take successive British Trials Championship titles from 1948 to 1950. He won the British Hill Climb Championship every year from 1951 to 1954 and remains the only driver to have won four successive BHCC titles. Other successes with ERA R4D included winning the Brighton Speed Trials in 1954, 1955, and 1956. Success in rallies included winning the Tulip Rally in 1949, 1950, and 1952, driving Fords.

His World Championship Grand Prix debut was at the 1952 Swiss event, run to Formula 2 regulations, where he started from 13th position on the grid and finished 4th. He participated in a total of 15 World Championship Grands Prix from which he scored three championship points. During his F1 career he drove for various teams including Frazer Nash, Cooper-Bristol, BRM/Owen Racing Organisation, and Vanwall. On 4 July 1954 he and Peter Whitehead won the Reims 12-hour race in a Jaguar D-Type.

In 1957 Wharton was fatally injured when his Ferrari Monza crashed in a sports-car race at the Ardmore Circuit in Auckland, New Zealand. He was 40 years old at the time of his death on 12 January 1957.