Andy Pilgrim

Having taken a keen interest in motorcycles as a child, Pilgrim started racing them as soon as he started a full-time job (computer programmer). He raced them from 1978 to 1980, finishing 2nd in two National Championships (Avon/Bike Magazine Series & Kawasaki 400 Series) & won several Club championships in just two and a half seasons. He accepted a job offer in the USA towards the end of 1980.^[1]

Pilgrim was living in England when his job as a computer programmer necessitated a move to the United States. His first foray into racing stateside was with SCCA Autocross.^[2] In 1984, Pilgrim borrowed $3,000 to buy a Renault Alliance and began competing with it. He eventually moved up to professional racing in 1986 running the Firebird series.^[1] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pilgrim ran in the Corvette Challenge series.^[1]

Pilgrim made appearances in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the late 1990s, running for New Hardware Racing, Roock Racing and Corvette Racing.^[3] He joined the Chevrolet Corvette factory team in 1999. In 2001 he was selected as teammate for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Kelly Collins in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the team finished second in class.^[2] After the 24 Hours of Daytona, Dale Earnhardt Sr. promised to someday put Pilgrim in a NASCAR stock-car, a promise he was unable to fulfill due to his death a few weeks later during the 2001 Daytona 500. Pilgrim is the last person to have engaged in conversation with Earnhardt before he died.

From 2004 to 2008, Pilgrim drove for Cadillac in the SPEED World Challenge, winning a championship in 2005. He moved to K-Pax Racing in 2009 and 2010 before returning to Cadillac for another stint that lasted from 2011 to 2014. In 2015, he stepped away from the PWC to run various endurance races.^[4] In 2016, Pilgrim joined Black Swan Racing for a four-race endurance schedule, including the 24 Hours of Daytona. The move came after his FIA rating was changed from gold to silver.^[5] Pilgrim returned to the World Challenge in 2018 with Blackdog Speed Shop.^[6]

In 2007, Pilgrim drove two road course races in the NASCAR Busch Series for JR Motorsports.^[7] Pilgrim made his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in 2011 at Infineon Raceway driving the No. 46 for Whitney Motorsports, where he finished 26th.^[8]

Pilgrim operates a traffic safety foundation.^{[9] [10]}

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1996	New Hardware Racing Parr Motorsport	Stéphane Ortelli Andrew Bagnall	Porsche 911 GT2	GT2	299	17th	4th
1997	Roock Racing	André Ahrlé Bruno Eichmann	Porsche 911 GT2	GT2	306	10th	2nd
2000	Corvette Racing	Franck Fréon Kelly Collins	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	GTS	327	10th	3rd
2001	Corvette Racing	Franck Fréon Kelly Collins	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	GTS	271	14th	2nd
2002	Corvette Racing	Franck Fréon Kelly Collins	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	GTS	331	13th	2nd
2003	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Kelly Collins	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	GTS	326	11th	2nd
Source:[11]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Pilgrim did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.

• Official website
• Andy Pilgrim driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Andy Pilgrim on X
• Traffic Safety Education Foundation profile
• Automobile magazine page
• Corvette Racing profile Archived 11 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine
• Blancpain GT profile^{[permanent dead link]}