"In the 1930’s Cunningham developed a love of auto racing with his friends and classmates Miles and Sam Collier. They began by racing makeshift racers over the private roads of the Collier estate Overlook in Westchester County New York. They formed The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and promoted racing from 1934 to 1940. Briggs did not drive during his mother’s lifetime out of respect for her wishes. However, in 1940 he began a long career of constructing and entering cars of his own design. He entered a Mercedes body on a Buick Century chassis that he had built and named BuMerc in the final ARCA race on the grounds of the New York World’s Fair. He did not drive the car at this time. 

After the war, sports car racing re-emerged from a group formed in the Boston area known as The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). The first organized race was through the streets and over the public roads in the small village of Watkins Glen, New York on October 2, 1948. This time Cunningham drove his BuMerc to a second place finish and hired a driver who drove his supercharged MG-TC to a third place finish."