June 11, 1955

1955Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower (died 2021)^[†]

Yuriy Georgiyevich Sedykh was a track and field athlete who represented the Soviet Union from 1976 to 1991 in the hammer throw. He was a European, World and Olympic Champion, and holds the world record with a throw of 86.74 m in 1986.

1955Pierre Levegh, French race car driver (born 1905)^[†]

Pierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin was a French sportsman and racing driver. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh in memory of his uncle Alfred Velghe, a pioneering driver who died in 1904. Levegh died in the 1955 Le Mans disaster which also killed 81 spectators during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans automobile race.

1955Eighty-three spectators are killed and at least one hundred are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.^[†]

Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker established in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and design firm. Leonard Lord represented BMC and Donald Healey his firm.