Background
He was the son of William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors.
He was the son of William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors.
Had four wives: Lena Pearl McFarland, Adelaide Pearl Frost, Lea Gapsky, and Charlotte Phillips. He was a co-owner and president of the Beverly Hills Speedway (1920–1924), a board track located where the Beverly Wilshire Hotel is today. Jack Prince designed the track.
Cecil B. DeMille was another co-owner.
In its day it rivaled the Indianapolis Speedway. In May 1923 shattered eight world speed records for events 75 miles (121 km) and under at the Beverly Hills Speedway.
He competed at many tracks and events around the country, including Elgin, Tacoma, Cactus Derby, Corona, and the Industry 500 from 1919 to 1932. In 1923 Cliff had the largest stable of cars (6) ever to participate in the Industry 500 until modern times.
He came in 7th that year.
Cliff was the financial backer of the famous Harry Miller racing engines which dominated the racing world in the 1920s–30s. His old car the “Detroit Special” which was designed by Tommy Milton and Harry Miller and cost $250,000 was later bought by Harry Hartz, who installed a new Miller engine. was to have driven the car in the 1932 Industry 500 race, but Fred Frame drove it to victory instead. Cliff had his own flight school, airplanes for sale, and 72-acre (290,000 m2) field, “ Field” in Oakland, California in 1919.
lieutenant was located between 80th Avenue., 83rd Avenue., and Snell Street.
He also had Air Mail contracts for mail delivery with the government. He had a large estate in Roscommon, Michigan on the South Branch of the Au Sable River, where "The Castle," a 54-room mansion, burned to the ground February
6, 1931. On the estate was his own private air strip, with several planes.
On April 27, 1930 test pilot Herb Fahy died two days after an airplane he had been showing had crashed on take-off at this airstrip. agreed to buy the airplane if Fahy could prove that the Sirius could land and take off safely from ’s personal strip. Herb and Claire landed the plane without incident, but as they took off, one of the wheels hit a partially hidden stump, which flipped the plane over.
Herb, at age 33, suffered a fractured skull and a severe concussion from which he never recovered. The community airport in Roscommon, Michigan was named Field in his honor on July 16, 1933.
At various times in his career he was also President of Motors, and Vice President of Sales for Chevrolet in Oakland, California. He owned the Guarneri del Gesu violin, and played the piano and trumpet.
In addition to being a businessman, race car driver, aviator and musician, he was also a yachtsman who owned the sailing yacht "Aurora." died on October 31, 1937 of a heart attack at age 46, and is buried in Los Angeles, California.