Lee Brayton

Lee Brayton (born August 13, 1933) is a former American racing driver from Coldwater, Michigan. He competed in the USAC Championship Car series from 1972 to 1975, making 16 starts with a best finish of 10th three times (twice at Michigan International Speedway and once at Texas World Speedway). He attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1972, 1973, and 1974, but after missing the field his first year, was taken out of contention by practice crashes the following two years. His son, Scott Brayton, was a long-time CART and IRL driver. Scott's CART career began in 1981. When the IRL began in 1996, he made the switch to the IRL with Team Menard. His Indy Car career spanned 145 races. He won the pole to the 1996 Indy 500, and was tragically killed 6 days later in a practice crash. Lee Brayton owns Brayton Engineering, an engineering firm that helped build the Buick V6 IndyCar engine as well as fielding a car in the CART series, primarily for Scott, from 1981 to 1986 and then fielded an Indy Racing League car in 2002. They entered two cars in the 2001 Indianapolis 500 for Memo Gidley and Steve Knapp but both missed the field, their single car assault on the field in 2002 with John de Vries again failed. Their last Indy Car event came at the Michigan 400 in 2002 with Scott Harrington at the wheel.