David H. Loring, 61, of Chocorua, passed away Friday night, Sept. 14, 2012 at Memorial Hospital in North Conway.
David was raised in Concord, Mass., but spent his summers at his family home in Chocorua. He was highly respected for his car building and restoration work, as well as being recognized as a championship-winning driver.
Loring’s career began in 1968 at Auto Dynamics, of Marblehead, Mass., which was the largest manufacturer of racing automobiles in the United States at the time. From there his career in racing took off. In 1969, he won the Canadian Regional Championship in Formula Ford. In 1971, Loring won 23 out of 28 races in North America as well as capturing four championships including the Canadian National Championship for Formula Ford, and the IMSA Formula 100 Championship.
In 1972, he was selected the Most Talented Upcoming Driver by British Motor Racing Press. From 1972-77, Loring turned his talents to car building on various Formula 5000 and Formula Atlantic cars. One of the most rewarding achievements of Loring’s career arrived in 1978, when he captured the SCCA National Formula Ford Championship in Dan Gurney’s Eagle — a car he helped to design and build. The Gurney team won the championship by the greatest margin in run-off history.
After his success with the Eagle, Loring turned his talents to instructing other young drivers at the Skip Barber Racing School for a few years. However, he was unable to keep his hands off the wheel — Loring re-entered the racing fold to build and develop the Denali for Pierre Honegger from 1985-87. After several successful years driving the Denali and competing in the Hong Kong 555 Rally, Loring signed with Essex Racing and drove their Camel Light car to victory at Daytona, Sebring, West Palm Beach, and Columbus in 1988. He was selected the Norelco Outstanding Driver in the series while co-driving the championship car.
In 1989, Loring drove for both the Ferrari and the Mazda teams and finished successfully throughout the year. From 1990 to 1992, Loring drove for Leitzinger Racing in their factory sponsored Nissan 240SX in the IMSA GTU program.
In 1992, Loring won the Exxon Supreme IMSA GTU series, winning at Sebring and Miami for the third year in a row. He later turned his talents toward coaching young drivers and building vintage racing teams. He opened David Loring Racing in early 2002 to develop racing programs for vintage cars as well as to provide auto restoration services.
He is survived by his wife, Kathryn; two sons, Evan and Aleks; his sister, Katherine Amador; brothers, Stephen, Charles, Andrew, and Eric, and let us not forget his dog, Sniffer.
A memorial service will be held at St. Andrews in the Valley on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 4:30 p.m.
The Furber and White Funeral Home in North Conway is in charge of arrangements.