LAS VEGAS (Fri July 4, 2003)(AP) _ Briggs Swift Cunningham Jr., the captain of the winning yacht in the 1958 America's Cup and a longtime sports car racing figure, has died. He was 96.

Cunningham died Wednesday at home in Las Vegas from complications of Alzheimer's disease, said his wife, Laura Cunningham.

Cunningham pursued yachting and auto racing with a fortune inherited from his father, a wealthy Cincinnati financier and early investor in Procter & Gamble.

He was the captain of Columbia when it won the America's Cup.

He helped found the Sports Car Club of America and the Automobile Racing Club of America.

His name became part of sailing terminology through his 1958 invention of the ``cunningham,' a line controlling sail tension.

Cunningham lived in Westport, Conn., and Newport Beach, Calif., before moving to Las Vegas in 1999.

Among survivors are a son, Briggs Cunningham III, of Danville, Ky., and two daughters, Lucie McKinney of Westport, and Cythlen Maddock, of Palm Beach, Fla.

A funeral is scheduled Aug. 8 in Corona Del Mar, Calif.

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