[2] A former US Marine lieutenant[3] who served in the Vietnam war, his racing career was mostly spent in privateer cars, paid for by his family wealth, as Lunger's mother, Jane du Pont Lunger, was an heiress to the Du Pont family fortune and a prominent racehorse breeder.

Lunger's Formula One career started alongside James Hunt in the Hesketh team, followed by a season with Surtees in 1976.

After a one-off drive for Ensign at the end of the season, Lunger moved on to sports car racing.

[4] Lunger fielded a Lola T160 chassis in the 1968 Canadian American Challenge Cup (Can-Am).

Lunger started the race with a 103 degree fever having been diagnosed with mononucleosis the previous day.

As race progressed he started to lose strength allowing Sam Posey to pass and moving Lunger to third in the championship.

[citation needed] His first major win was that year at Brainerd International Raceway in the Minnesota Grand Prix.

[7] In March 1973, Lunger placed 2nd to Peter Gethin in the opening race of Rothman's Formula 5000 European Championship at Brands Hatch.

Lunger drove for the Dan Gurney's Anglo American Racers team, in their Jorgensen Eagle 73A which debuted in Formula 5000 in 1974.

[14] He started all seven races of the 1974 SCCA/USAC F5000 Championship, posting a second, third and a sixth place, ending the season fifth in the overall standings.

[17] In July 1974, Lunger piloted a BMW 3.0 CSL in the six hours of Watkins Glen and competed in a Trans Am race, sponsored by the Sports Car Club of America, with George Follmer.

[19] Lunger won 2 heat races but crashed during the 1974 California Grand Prix at Ontario Motor Speedway.

He was trying to pass a slower car and at the same time hold off eventual race winner, Mario Andretti.

Lunger's Eagle Chevy collided with Mickey Rupp as they entered a turn at the end of the infield straight.

[20] Lunger and Follmer secured 2nd place in a turbocharged Porsche 935of Vasek Polak, in the 1977 six hours endurance race at Watkins Glen.

[21] Lunger teamed with Follmer and Derek Bell in a Vasek Polak entry in the Los Angeles Times 6-Hour Grand Prix of Endurance in April 1979.

[23] Lunger joined the Hesketh Racing Formula One team in 1975 for the running of the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix.

[26] In qualifying for the 1975 United States Grand Prix, Lunger wrecked his Hesketh, sustaining superficial damage to his car.

[1] On the 1st day of qualifying for the 1976 United States Grand Prix West in Long Beach, California, Lunger averaged only 83.61 miles per hour (134.56 km/h).

[29] Lunger is perhaps most renowned for being one of the drivers, along with Guy Edwards, Arturo Merzario and Harald Ertl, who saved Niki Lauda from his burning car during the 1976 German Grand Prix.

He had apparently crashed on exit, went through a couple of rows of catch fence, up a relatively steep bank, and back into the middle of the track, the Ferrari on fire.

Merzario unbuckled the seatbelts and Lunger and Lauda tumbled out of the car as a portion of the cockpit broke apart.

[32] He fielded a McLaren M23, the same car driven by James Hunt when he won the 1976 Formula One World Championship.

[31] In his first race of the season, Lunger finished 14th in the 1977 South African Grand Prix driving a March-Ford.

[32] Lunger qualified his March on the 11th row, 21st starting position for the 1977 United States Grand Prix West.

[48] In many ways, Lunger was one of the last privateers in Formula One, plying his trade in year-old machinery, prepared by small independent racing teams.

[50] The I Am Responsible Movement was Lunger's way of giving back to the community by drawing from his many successes and failures during his early life and racing career.

[51] Lunger takes part in cycling competitions in his spare time, when not running a research and development business.