Founded by Louis Chevrolet and the deposed president (William C Durant) of General Motors in 1911. Louis Chevrolet had been a racing driver before founding his car company, and motorsport proved to be a good avenue for engineering development and to generate brand publicity. But General Motors was not always keen to support to Motorsport, or at least it wasn't keen to be seen to be involved. After 83 spectators were killed in the 1955 Le Mans 24 hours race American motor manufacturers agreed to pull away from Motorsport. Such an agreement didn't preclude privateers from racing and their need for cars and parts represented a business. By 1957 GM had set up an engineering company in Atlanta which not only developed a competitive Chevrolet but also published a recipe book on how to build the same, and then made available all the relevant parts. Chevrolet's sister Division in GM went racing more openly against the gentleman's agreement and by 1960 was chasing Chevrolet hard. The United States Government pressed GM in 1962 to abandon Racing and The General obliged until 1967. Privateers were still needing parts and expertise and the GM Performance Parts Division was set up for 'under the counter' trade. In 1970 GM announced it would re-enter NASCAR racing, and Chevrolet was openly supporting entries in a many different fields of racing.