Biography
John Duff was born to Canadian parents in China in 1895. At a young age, he
was sent to their hometown of Hamilton, Ont., where he stayed till he was 16
before returning to China. After the First World War, in which he was
wounded while fighting for England, he learned to drive. A year later, in
1920, he started to race. Over the next six years, he became one of only two
Canadians who raced and won on England's famous Brooklands Motor Course (Kay
Petre, an honourable member of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame, is the
other). He also was overall winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and scored a
top ten finish in the Indianapolis 500. Although other Canadians have since
scored class victories at Le Mans, John Duff remains the only Canadian to
win the race. And to finish in the top ten in his first attempt during the
early, ultra-dangerous days at Indy, was similarly remarkable. John also set
more than 50 speed and endurance records. In his day, endurance and speed
records over distances of 1,000 or 2,000 miles, for 12 hours or 24 hours,
were considered astounding achievements and received big play in the press.
His greatest successes came while driving Bentleys. He was a Bentley dealer
and delighted in racing the cars to victory. His race wins and speed records
were responsible, in large part, for establishing the name and reputation of
Bentley cars as reliable sports/touring machines. An accident forced his
retirement from racing and he settled in California, teaching swordsmanship
to many of the movie stars of that time. An enthusiastic equestrian, he was
killed in a riding accident in England in 1958.