The Innovators.

Father: Colin Chapman

Son: Clive Chapman

From East Asia to Europe, Anthony Bruce Colin Chapman rests on a pantheon with the Ferraris, the Porsches, the Giugiaros and Shoichiro Honda. Chapman used charm, originality and improvisation, often against more established, better-funded competition, to build one of auto racing's great marques. His road cars still inspire fierce loyalty globally.

The story goes that Chapman started Lotus in 1952 with a [pounds sterling]25 loan. Business took off in 1957 with the Lotus 7, a car that inspired dozens of knock-offs and is still manufactured by Cather-ham. Chapman pioneered the lightweight, midmount, stressed-engine monocoque that remains the race-car standard. His intuitive grasp of aerodynamics produced innovations such as the high-mount rear wing and ground effects. The same thinking that produced landmark race cars such as the Lotus 24, the 49, the 72 and the 79 was applied to his street cars, starting with the composite-aluminum Lotus Elite in 1958.

Between 1962 and 1978, Team Lotus won the Indian-apolis 500, seven Formula One constructor championships and six driver championships. As a businessman, Chapman introduced major advertising sponsorship to auto racing and persuaded Ford to fund development of the first Cosworth V8.

In 1982, when he died from a heart attack at 54, he had been tangentially implicated in fraud probes tied to ...