Notes:
Pierre Bouillin took the racing name of "Pierre Levegh" in memory of his uncle Alfred Velghe, one of France's pioneering race car drivers and a successful Mors cars racer at the turn of the century, who created the nom de course of "Levegh", an anagram of his name. Frenchman Velghe won a number of hillclimbs and road races in his country, including the 1898 St. Germain-Vernon-St. Germain, the 1899 and 1900 Bordeaux-Périgieux-Bordeaux and the 1900 Paris-Toulouse-Paris and La Turbie hillclimb. He died of illness in 1904 at the age of just 33, and a few months later his sister gave birth to a son who was called Pierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin.

Pierre Bouillin, "Pierre Levegh" as he was known, was a brilliant sportsman, a talented skater and also a world-class ice hockey and tennis player. He was involved in motorsport after watching as a spectator the early editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He started racing in his twenties and had his debut au Mans in 1938, being hired by Anthony Lago to share a works Talbot Lago T150C with Jean Trévoux. But the car had mechanical failure before he could start driving in the race. He returned to the Sarthe circuit the following year with René Le Bègue in a 4-litre Talbot Lago SS entered by Luigi Chinetti.

His career was interrupted by the World War II, then in 1946 Levegh returned scoring a 2nd place behind Eugene Chaboud's Delahaye in the Grand Prix Automobile de Belgique, at Bois de la Cambre circuit of Bruxelles, at the wheel of a Talbot Lago T150C. On 21 September 1947, while driving a Maserati 4CL in the Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France held at Lyon-Parilly, he crashed hard on 23rd lap, killing three spectators. In 1948 he finished 4th in the 12 Hours of Paris, at Linas-Montlhéry with Marc Versini in a Delage, finally in 1951 at the age of 46 e came back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, obtaining an impressive 4th place overall with René Marchand in a Talbot Lago Monoplace Décalée. At the same time Pierre Levegh was competing in Formula 1 with the old Talbot Lagos, which were never very competitive. He scored six starts between 1950 and 1951, retiring in three and scoring no points, with a 7th place in the 1951 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in a Talbot Lago T26C as his best finish.

In 1952 he purchased a Talbot Lago T26GS Spider and had his career's moment of glory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, when he drove alone through 23 hours of the race, carrying the hopes of all France in his hands. He was leading the three Mercedes-Benz 300SLs of Fritz Riess-Hermann Lang, Karl Kling-Hans Klenk and Theo Helfrich-Helmut Niedermayr, only to suffer a broken crankshaft on his car in the last hour with a four-lap lead, depriving him of a well-deserved victory. During the race his co-driver René Marchand never drove a single lap at the wheel of the Talbot Lago #8. Whether the car had lasted to the end Levegh would have become the only driver to win the 24 hours of Le Mans alone. According to eyewitnesses, the car's failure was probably caused by a missed gear change due to driver's extreme fatigue. After his retirement between Arnage and Maison Blanche, a tired, unshaven, little Frenchman called Pierre Levegh walked sadly, thoughtfully along the pits to congratulate the Germans, after being greeted tearfully by his wife. The Mercedes-Benz great team-chief Alfred Neubauer told him: "The next time team Mercedes-Benz will participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, you will drive one of our cars". By the end of the year the Shell company produced a 30-minute film about the astonishing 1952 Le Mans race, paying special tribute to Levegh's gallant drive.

Later in the season he won the Coupe d'Automne at Linas-Montlhéry, and in 1953 he was once again at Le Mans, finishing 8th paired with Charles Pozzi in the same private Talbot. Later he won his second consecutive Coupe d'Automne at Linas-Montlhéry. By the end of 1953 he finished 3rd in the 12 Hours of Casablanca, sharing his Talbot with Philippe Étancelin. In 1954 he scored a 5th place in the Coupe du Salon, at Linas-Montlhéry and a 3rd place in the qualifying heat of the Dutch International Meeting, at Zandvoort. In the 24 Hours of Le Mans he raced his aged Talbot, with Lino Fayen as co-driver, being involved in an accident in the 7th hour of racing.

Pierre Levegh was getting rather old, being almost fifty when Mercedes-Benz finally returned to Le Mans and invited him to drive one of the three 300 SLR entered in the 24-hour race. Juan Manuel Fangio-Stirling Moss in the #19 and Karl Kling-André Simon #21 were his team mates, Pierre Levegh shared his #20 car with the American John Fitch. During practice Levegh proved to be the slowest driver of the team.

On race day, Saturday, 11 June 1955, Levegh and Fitch agreed to keep a regular pace for the first half of the race and to attack only on Sunday, when the competition was getting tired. On the third hour of racing, while Fangio and Hawthorn being locked in a huge battle for the lead, Pierre Levegh was in sixth place. While entering the Tribunes Straight, he clipped the rear of the Austin-Healey 100S #26 driven by British Lance Macklin that was forced to make an evasive move after Mike Hawthorn in the Jaguar D-type dived into the pits. After hitting an earth bank on the left side of the road, Levegh's car flew through the air, disintegrating, scattering components into the crowd. The driver was killed at the scene, as were more than 80 spectators, while over 100 were injured.

Known as the 1955 Le Mans disaster, the catastrophic crash remained the deadliest accident in motorsport history. Although the official report indicated that Levegh and 80 spectators were killed and 178 others injured, the actual death toll is usually placed at either 80 or 84. The Motorsport Memorial Team believes that a total of 84 victims, including Levegh, is the most likely number. Only 79 spectators were identified, 18 of them were women. Albeit not yet confirmed, it is most likely that the four unknown spectators were among the injured people who later succumbed to their injuries. Their date of death is still unknown.

Most of the deceased people were French, one was Belgian and the police list of dead included the names of only two British citizens.

The race was continued in order to prevent the spectators from leaving the circuit all at once, which would have blocked the access roads and prevented the ambulances attending the dying and injured. After consultation with Stuttgart, Neubauer withdrew all the Mercedes-Benz cars from the race as a sign of respect to the victims and by the end of the year from motor racing in general, for the next 30 years. Team Jaguar continued to win the race, with Mike Hawthorn-Ivor Bueb.

• Book "Le Mans '55 - The crash that changed the face of motor racing", by Christopher Hilton, Breeden Books Publishing, Derby, England, United Kingdom, 2004, ISBN 1 85983 441 8.
• Book "The International Motor Racing Guide", by Peter Higham, David Bull Publishing, Phoenix, United States, ISBN 1-893618-20-X.
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• Book "Grand Prix Data Book 1997", by David Hayhoe and David Holland, 3rd. edition, Duke Marketing, Douglas, Isle of Man, United Kingdom, 1996, ISBN 0-9529325-0-4.
• Book "Mike Hawthorn: Golden Boy" by Tony Bailey and Paul Skilleter, PJ Publishing Ltd, 2008, ISBN 978-0955010248.
• Book "24 Heures du Mans 1923-1992", Volume 1 - 1923-1962, by Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre and Alain Bienvenu, Editions D'Art J.-P. Barthélémy, Besançon, Automobile Club de l'Ouest, Le Mans, France, 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3, page 280.
• Book "Walt Hansgen - His Life and the History of Post-War American Road Racing", by Michael Argetsinger, © 2006 by Michael Argetsinger and David Bull Publishing, 4250 East Camelback Road, Suite K150, Phoenix, AZ 85018, ISBN: 1 893618 54 4, pages 68 and 74 [true name is Bouillin].
• Book "Albo della Gloria: Al Piloti Caduti in Tutto il Mondo al Loro Posto di Combattimento", by Emanuele Carli, Modena, Italy, 1972, page 35.
• Magazine MotorSport, issue of December 1952, page 558.
• Magazine MotorSport, issue of November 2010, page 71.
• Newspaper Le Figaro (Paris, France), issue of Monday, 13 June 1955, page 7.
• Newspaper Le Monde (Paris, France), issue of Tuesday, 14 June 1955 [from two pages, page numbers not shown].
• Newspaper La Croix (Paris, France), issue of Tuesday, 14 June 1955, page 4, article “Le Tragique Bilan”, retrieved by website https://www.retronews.fr/journal/la-croix/14-juin-1955/106/4510607/4 .
• The Wilson Howard Davis Archives.
• Website Accident - 24 Heures du Mans 1955, page http://chbastin.free.fr/dossiers/1955_accident.htm .
• Website GRAND PRIX WINNERS 1895-1949 by Hans Etzrodt, page http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw1.htm .
• Website Grandprix.com, page http://grandprix.com/gpe/drv-levpie.html .
• Website AUTOSPORT → Forums → The Nostalgia Forum, thread "Speed's Ultimate Price: The Toll", page 21, posting by "ReWind", message http://forums.autosport.com/topic/9705-speeds-ultimate-price-the-toll/page-21#entry1471685 .
• Website AUTOSPORT → Forums → The Nostalgia Forum, thread "Heroic Age drivers - Thery and Velghe", posting by Alessandro Silva, message http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=36711&view=findpost&p=722085 .
• Website AUTOSPORT → Forums → The Nostalgia Forum, thread "Pierre Eugene Alfred Bouillon - 'Levegh'", posting by "Marcel Schot", message http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=988&view=findpost&p=17589 .
• Website Museo dell'Automobile Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia, article "Le Mans 1955 La Corsa della Morte" by Donatella Biffignandi, page https://www.museoauto.it/website/images/stories/articoli/corse/le_mans_1955.pdf .
• Website Les24Heures.fr, page http://www.les24heures.fr/infos-spectateurs/1526-victimes-de-leur-passion .
• Website Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 September 2018), memorial page for Pierre Levegh (22 Dec 1905–11 Jun 1955), Find A Grave Memorial no. 12541184, citing Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris, City of Paris, Île-de-France, France ; Maintained by Find A Grave [K1].
• E-mail by Pier Paolo Garagnani, dated 1 October 2004, providing copy of Le Monde newspaper's list of casualties [cited above] from accident at Le Mans, 1955, obtained from local library microfilm files.
• E-mail by Hilary Edwards, dated 19 August 2004, providing address of website http://www.germaris.com/le_mans.html .
• E-mail by Rick Kelly, dated 10 October 2004, acknowledging receipt from U. S. Postal Service of package from Mr. Jean-Louis Turlin, a representative of Le Figaro in New York City, NY, United States, containing a faxed copy of Le Figaro's list of casualties from the 1955 Le Mans race [cited above] that Mr. Turlin obtained from Le Figaro's Paris offices.
• Message by Rick Kelly dated 20 Sept. 2018 citing [K1].
• E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 18 March 2024.