Briggs Cunningham was an extremely wealthy and very competitive sportsman for a good part of the last century. He attempted to become the first American in an American built car to win the 24 Hours of LeMans all through the 1950's. His family wealth came from Proctor and Gamble and his wife's family wealth came from Standard Oil so he always put forward a well funded and very competitive effort. Though he never managed to win LeMans, his cars always placed well. He also built and raced his own yachts and Captained the 12 meter sloop Columbia to an America's Cup victory in 1958. The C4R sported a Chrysler 392 Hemi which made it one of the fastest cars on the Mulsanne Straight but proved to be rather heavy and hard on it's huge drum brakes.