25 Facts About John Duff

John Francis Duff was a Canadian racecar driver who won many races and has been inducted in the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

John Duff was one of only two Canadians who raced and won on England's famous Brooklands Motor Course.

John Duff held over fifty world records for speed and endurance.

John Duff's achievements helped make the name of the Bentley car company.

John Duff scored a top-ten finish in his first Indianapolis 500 and a top-three in his first board track race.

John Duff's parents were Canadians from Hamilton, Ontario who established a commercial outpost in nearby Kuling.

Gravely wounded at the Third Battle of Ypres, John Duff was sent to a hospital in England where he met and married his nurse.

In 1919, John Duff learned how to drive a car and became a dealer.

John Duff lost a number of races where he was the fastest.

Unable to stop the old car at the end of the last lap, John Duff shot over the top of the banking, crashing through trees and a telegraph pole outside the circuit before finally coming to rest.

Rough track conditions took their toll as a flying stone holed the fuel tank, forcing John Duff to run back to the pits.

John Duff then took his Bentley to the Spanish Touring Car GP at Lasarte.

John Duff crashed into a wall, injuring his jaw and breaking some teeth.

John Duff was still a private entrant, using one of the dealership's cars.

John Duff's car was prepared alongside the works entry using ideas Duff had come up with after the 1923 race.

John Duff had a special single-seater Weymann body on his Bentley and works driver Dudley Benjafield as his co-driver.

John Duff was able to claim two world records: 1,000 Kilometres in 6 hrs, 23 mins, 55 secs and 1,000 miles in 10 hrs 15 mins 59secs.

John Duff signed to drive a Miller sponsored by the Elcar Automobile Company in the Indianapolis 500, following the death of Herbert Jones, who was killed attempting to qualify for the race in the Elcar Special.

John Duff opened a fencing academy where he trained many of the movie stars of the day.

John Duff doubled for his friend Gary Cooper and others in swordfighting scenes in Hollywood films.

John Duff continued to be a successful swordsman into the late 1930s.

John Duff died in a riding accident in Epping Forest on January 8,1958.

John Duff can be found on the Canadian Census for both 1901 and 1911.

When John Duff started racing in 1920, he had lived a significant part of his life in Canada.

Finally, and most conclusively, John Duff's eldest son and daughter have no doubt that their father was a Canadian.