Bizarre incidents during race meetings

Enna-Pergusa, 1996
...There was - quite literally - a plague of baby frogs at Enna in '96. I'd never seen rain in Sicily before, but every shower prompted a mass exodus from the lake and zillions of tiny amphibians got squashed. It was impossible not to tread on them in the pit lane because they were absolutely everywhere. Tyres were coated in squelched, two-dimensional frogs and drivers were confused because the red-and-white kerbs provided one of the few useful clues at Enna. As soon as you saw the paint at the first left-hander, for instance, you were supposed to count, "One hundred, two hundred, three hundred..." before braking and turning, but the kerbs were sometimes invisible because they were covered with marauding frogs.

Hilarious, but don't they clean up the Sepang track in the morning by moving out snakes and frogs before a car hits the track?

No surprise it didn't get much attentio then. Wasn't there someone at Spain a few years ago, 2003 or 2004ish just before race start? I think he was in the pitlane or something and only got about one leg over the wall.

I *think* he came from the stands and ran across the track just before the parade lap. I remember thinking at the time that he'd probably used the same access point I had used in 2002 by nipping underneath the new stand and out through a marshal access slot in the wall. Mind you, I did it after the race was well over.


Johnny Jump - or something he called himself. Ted Kravitz made a complete prat of himself by haranguing the bloke on air as if he'd just shot the Queen instead of indulging in a spot of ambling about on a bit of tarmac.

The same bloke invaded a soccer final as well - Champions League I think and possibly some other event around the same period.

He was promoting some website or other and had it emblazoned on a shirt.

Speaking of cars being stolen...

Ballarat Aerodrome circuit, 1961, the BRMs looked set for a big day, Gurney and Hill had done well in qualifying. Overnight Gurney's car was taken for a joyride, it was found in the haybales in the morning.

But Dan won the race in it anyway.

I think Masten drove very close to Jack because he was avoiding those wires or the pole or somthing...

Ah yes right I remember now... Masten came close to running over Jack and when the latter asked him afterwards why did he almost kill him, the American answered he had his hands off the steering wheels and feet off the pedals as he didn't want to get eletrocuted

The kittens in Oulton Park remind me a similar incident at the inaugural Long Beach GP in 1975. Much to the surprise of the marshalls, a drunkard emerged from between some of the tyre barriers outside one of the turns once the racing action was all over - he spent the entire day sleeping there, and it was fortunate for him that no crash occured in this particular turn...

Ray the Bell,help me out with the factuals,please!!

lets say, 1972,last round of the Australian Touring Car Title,Oran Park Raceway,Bob Jane /Z28 Camaro and Alan Moffat 1969 'KarKraft'Mustang,fighting for the title,to be decided on the results of this race,WHEN,suddenly a Chrysler 6cyl.Valiant drives out onto the track,in front of the 'Battling' pair, to join the Action..........I'm trusting Ray to tidy this up........regards427

Was it 1972 or 1970? I think 1970, but whenever, it's already been mentioned in this thread.

I don't think he interfered with the results too much...

Just before the 1998 Indianapolis 500 race, there was this incident with a dog running through the pitlane and just refusing to be caught

...and the stolen pace car

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

Mugello, 1991
Photographer Steven Tee and I hadn't been to the circuit for a year or five, so on Friday afternoon we ventured out onto the track in our Avis Fiat Uno to evaluate the best locations. There were one or two marshals standing around, but nobody stopped us (and the F3000 cars weren't due out until the following morning). It was only as we approached the final corner that we heard the shrill bark of F3 engines: they were going out just as we headed in.

Off thread, Simon, or off circuit, you might like to remind Steven of the ?1983? Austrian GP, he, Andrew Marriott, John Dunbar et al were joined at their out-of-town gasthoff by three of us, for beer and a 'Flaming Sword' or several, when fire broke out on the first floor, in, I think, Steven's bedroom. In the panic, and with Franz Karno's Firebrigade adding to the confusion, Steven dropped his brand new 600mm f4 Nikkor out of the window onto a handy flat roof, but managed to crack the front element. Laugh! The smoulderings extinguished, the brave firemen spent the rest of the evening at the bar - I still have the set of schnapps glasses that I 'rescued' in the melee.

Just before the 1998 Indianapolis 500 race, there was this incident with a dog running through the pitlane and just refusing to be caught

That is wonderful I can't believe I've never seen that before. Did they eventually round it up or did it keep doing laps?

I was at an Oulton Park clubbie in the mid-80s when the meeting had to be abandoned as a culvert underneath Knickerbrook corner had collapsed, taking part of the track with it.

Peter

I was at an Oulton Park clubbie in the mid-80s when the meeting had to be abandoned as a culvert underneath Knickerbrook corner had collapsed, taking part of the track with it.

Peter

I remember that. I think it was where the Brook runs under Knicker

Diz posted an Oulton story sometime ago, which I can't find. It involved a Formula Ford going off into the undergrowth, continuing and then going off again having picked up a snake (or something similar) in the cockpit

Enna-Pergusa, 1988
Rescue truck tows Michel Trollé's undamaged Lola T88/50 from a gravel trap at the end of a qualifying session. Lola digs in and flips - with Trollé still on board - but the trucker carries on for several seconds before realising.

Pau, 1987
Tornado strikes just as French F3 race is about to start. Several trees fall in F3000 paddock, leading to a couple of broken bones and one or two squashed road cars, but there are no serious injuries at the racetrack. People elsewhere in the region weren't so fortunate.

Birmingham, 1990 (I think)
Very drunk spectator wanders across the track by the mini-roundabout that constituted the second corner. Plod was soon on the scene, not least because the local police station was immediately adjacent to that bit of the track.

Scanned from Autosport.

About the Pau incident, I thought it was 1988 and I recall the GDBA boss, the name escapes me, he was injured as he got carried away for a short distance in the tornado and he was injured or something.

Finally, with the Birmingham incident, it was 1987 and it was about a few laps away from the end of the F3000 race. Thankfully he didn't intervene the race or the Wallace/Moreno scrap!

Suzuka, 2005
Saturday cancelled because of an approaching typhoon, which actually blew off course in the end.

Blimey! I've never heard of an actual day being cancelled! Are they still a day behind the rest of us or did they insert a leap-Saturday to catch up?

Blimey! I've never heard of an actual day being cancelled! Are they still a day behind the rest of us or did they insert a leap-Saturday to catch up?

The next typhoon dumped a new, whole day on them, bright as a new pin.

I've just posted this on the "Speed on Sand thread".....

An amusing story re. my experiences of Southport Sand Races; marshalling there could be a challenging experience if the weather was non too clement, and I often returned home as a 15 year old suffering from mild exposure.
At one such race in 1970, I was a Startline marshal, and having ushered cars into grid position, was stood in a virtual sandstorm when Lotus Cortina Mk2 driver Don Robinson beckoned me towards his car and invited me to shelter in the passenger seat for a bit of relief & shelter. I thanked him for his thoughtfulness, and we started chatting away. Suddenly, the car infront of us shot away; the ruddy flag had dropped! Don instinctively dropped the clutch, and unwittingly I was in my first motor race! Fortunately, conditions were so bad that the Clerk of the Course didn't spot me, and Don dropped me off after a lap, whilst in second position, much to the consternation of my fellow startline marshals, who were wondering where the hell I'd dissapeared to!

Today during qualifying a very scary Helmut Marko-ish incident. A spring hit Felipe Massa in the helmet causing him to crash. He suffered a skull fracture out of it and was inches from being fatal.

Edited by Pikachu Racing, 25 July 2009 - 18:01.

David McKay was involved in an unusual incident during the inaugral Australian Touring Car Championship, which was held as a one-off race at the Gnoo Blas circuit on the outskirts of Orange on the 1st of February 1960.

Leading the race in his 3.4 litre Jaguar, Mackay came to the fast Connaghan's Corner/Sweep section on the back straight to find the track totally blocked by the crashed Holden of Roy Sawyer, the parked Holden of Des West (assisting Sawyer from his car), and a Zephyr blocking the clear section of the road.

McKay called out to the stewards to move the Zephyr, but nothing happened, so McKay put his car up against the safety fence and moved the Zephyr far enough to clear a passage for himself and other cars. This maneuvre cost McKay his 26 second lead over the similar Jaguar of Bill Pitt, but he recovered to win the race ahead of Pitt and fellow Jaguar driver Ron Hodgson.

The kittens in Oulton Park remind me a similar incident at the inaugural Long Beach GP in 1975. Much to the surprise of the marshalls, a drunkard emerged from between some of the tyre barriers outside one of the turns once the racing action was all over - he spent the entire day sleeping there, and it was fortunate for him that no crash occured in this particular turn...

Speaking of drunks being where the shouldn't and living to tell about it .

I was at a short track race years ago when there was a crash on the back straight . The wrecker tore out of the pits , down the embankment and , cutting across the infield hit a dirt embankment that was probably a couple of feet high . This caused the wrecker to buck like a horse , it's rear wheels coming about a foot off the ground .

At the same time , a fellow from the back of the wrecker went flying high in the air like a limp rag doll , hit the ground with a hard thud and rolled for a bit . There was an audible gasp from the crowd , for it looked like he had been terribly injured , as he lay there motionless .

Everyone assumed he was with the wrecker crew , but it turned out he was some drunk who had passed by looking for a place to pass out , and the back of the wrecker was it . They got him to his feet after a while . He claimed he was fine , and didn't know what had happened . I imaging a hangover wasn't the worst of his aches the next day .

Well, it didn't happen during a race meeting...

http://community.sea...mp;slug=1285943 (has pop-up ad)

Man Drives Pickup Truck On Indy Track, Dies In Crash
AP
INDIANAPOLIS - A man drove a pickup truck into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today for several fast laps, then was killed when he crashed into a vehicle parked on the track to stop him.

The man apparently got in through a gate left open during cleanup from Sunday's race, police said. The truck sped around the track three or four times before crashing near the start-finish line about 7:30 a.m., said Jeffrey Dine, police chief in the community of Speedway inside Indianapolis. The man carried no identification, police said.

Copyright © 1991 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.

a well remembered incident, but we were all standing outside the pits in Estoril 91 waiting for "sleazy" - or could have been "knackers" to come in , when a dirty great wheel off Mansell's car came bouncing through our car space, narrowly missing our front jack man

How we all laughed.

Edited by motomartin, 03 August 2009 - 22:43.

Do personal stories with karting count?

During my last kartrace (just a business-fun meeting), I managed to end the cart standing upright against a very steep embankment... almost perfectly vertical, feet pointing at the air. I had to hang on to the steeringwheel not to fall out, and the 'marshalls' (laughing their heads off) had to help me down.

At the late, great Westwood track just outside Vancouver, the back straight went over a low hill known as 'Deer's Leap'. Deer would indeed frequently appear there and at least one driver was killed by a collision with one. Fellow TNFer Miles Fenton had a slightly different experience though; driving his supercharged MG ND up the back straight during one race in the late seventies a mother bear and two cubs amble across the track in front of him?
By the early eighties warning lights had been set up and the race was stopped if deer appeared near the track.

3 incidents I can remember involving man hole or drainage covers:
The same thing happen in an Aussie V8 Supercar race, this time the drain cover came through the bottom of the car.

Alansart,
Your mention of the drain coming up through the bottom of the V8 Supercar reminds me of a bizarre and very painful accident that occurred in the World Rally Championship to Marcus Grundholm's co-driver Timo Rautiainen. From what I remember, their Peugeot had a hard landing after a jump, which led to a rock or other object punching a hole through the floorpan, and then going straight up through Rautiainen's seat, causing him a very painful injury.

Do personal stories with karting count?

During my last kartrace (just a business-fun meeting), I managed to end the cart standing upright against a very steep embankment... almost perfectly vertical, feet pointing at the air. I had to hang on to the steeringwheel not to fall out, and the 'marshalls' (laughing their heads off) had to help me down.

Derek Walker of Oulton Park and Ladybird fame managed to pull a similar stunt in his front engined Formula Ford Ladybird MkVIII in October 1968 at Oulton.
Here he is pictured in the national press at the time!


By giraffe138 at 2009-01-15

I presented him with the framed programme and cutting at the Gold Cup in 2007. Interestingly, competing in the same race were James Hunt, Great Train robber Reg James, Ray Allen who won the very first Formula Ford race (he took Tim Schenken's seat for the race) and Tony Trimmer in a Brabham BT21 converted to FF spec and entered by non-other than Frank Williams (Racing Cars) Ltd!


By giraffe138 at 2009-01-15

Edited by Giraffe, 04 August 2009 - 07:27.

Alansart,
Your mention of the drain coming up through the bottom of the V8 Supercar reminds me of a bizarre and very painful accident that occurred in the World Rally Championship to Marcus Grundholm's co-driver Timo Rautiainen. From what I remember, their Peugeot had a hard landing after a jump, which led to a rock or other object punching a hole through the floorpan, and then going straight up through Rautiainen's seat, causing him a very painful injury.

I think it was even worse than a rock, I seem to remember that it was one of those twisted steel rods used to support the plastic tape you see at roadsides. Potentialy lethal I'd imagine.

Do personal stories with karting count?

During my last kartrace (just a business-fun meeting), I managed to end the cart standing upright against a very steep embankment... almost perfectly vertical, feet pointing at the air. I had to hang on to the steeringwheel not to fall out, and the 'marshalls' (laughing their heads off) had to help me down.

Where was that? Zwanenburg or Bleekemolen?

Do personal stories with karting count?

During my last kartrace (just a business-fun meeting), I managed to end the cart standing upright against a very steep embankment... almost perfectly vertical, feet pointing at the air. I had to hang on to the steeringwheel not to fall out, and the 'marshalls' (laughing their heads off) had to help me down.

Andrew Meyrick did a similar thing at Oulton Park, but with an F2 car

http://www.flickr.co...N04/1252777242/

Where was that? Zwanenburg or Bleekemolen?

Slotervaart- at the now disappeared outdoor track there. Just the corner before the straight past the 'restaurant' (shag) on the left hand side there was a steep embankment. There was a hairpin before that little straight (leading to the last corner), in some strange way I applied the throttle fully instead of braking to slide the rearend around. I shot through the grass and whoops... up.

J.

I think it was even worse than a rock, I seem to remember that it was one of those twisted steel rods used to support the plastic tape you see at roadsides. Potentialy lethal I'd imagine.

The outside perimeter of over-the-brow, down-hill, left-hand U-turn of Riverside's Turn Seven was a favorite haunt of racers who just knew they could go that bit faster than the competition. On narrow tires and current technology of the Fifties and early Sixties, there was plenty of room to recover control and lead a trail of dust and gravel back onto the course. Stickier tires, faster cars, and I'm-invulnerable safety equipment eventually required measures to keep the errant off a low wall in front of the grandstand.

What it was, was a low (one meter or so high) chain-link fence, fronted by a row of straw bales. I happened to be very close to the top of the wall one day during a practice for large and small hard-top racers, to include an early-Seventies Camaro. The driver was really trying, and did find the limit, sliding off the course backwards, striking the bales, and bouncing up and crashing down as he came to rest, a little high-centered over the chain-link fence.

I saw the driver was motionless, and fearing he was unconscious (and having seen the near-immolation of an Alfa whose exhaust had ignited straw in similar circumstances), I quickly went over the spectator fence and looked inside the car, from the passenger side. The driver was conscious, just immobile and meditating, as he stared at the top of a fence post that had punctured the drive-shaft tunnel and nudged his right elbow at about navel level.

Derek Walker of Oulton Park and Ladybird fame managed to pull a similar stunt in his front engined Formula Ford Ladybird MkVIII in October 1968 at Oulton.........

.........I presented him with the framed programme and cutting at the Gold Cup in 2007. Interestingly, competing in the same race were James Hunt, Great Train robber Reg James

Roy James was well ensconced in prison by 1968.

Edited by MCS, 04 August 2009 - 19:19.

Roy James was well ensconced in prison by 1968.

Oops! He did come out and race again tho' IIRC, before he departed this mortal coil? I'm sure I saw him somewhere...............

Didn't he make trophies too?

Edited by Giraffe, 04 August 2009 - 21:37.

Oops! He did come out and race again tho' IIRC, before he departed this mortal coil? I'm sure I saw him somewhere...............

Didn't he make trophies too?

"Silversmith' was one of his trades, allegedly endorsed by one B Ecclestone. And of course he raced again - a Formula Ford Royale RP21, sponsored by Motor Racing Stables.

Now why on earth did they choose to back him I wonder...?

Certainly, a nasty incident, but the highlight of the video is yet another of Marcus' famous deadpan quotes, this time complete with appropriate hand gesture!!!

allegedly endorsed by one B Ecclestone.

Now why on earth did they choose to back him I wonder...?

One of their own....................

I thought it was Roy James??? BCE was his manager before his other, railway related "job", and it was BCE that gave him a job making trophies, some say it was a thank you, but or what.....................................

Donington Park, 2005, first BTCC meeting of the year. Part way through a BTCC practice session on the Saturday, spectator drives straight past the rescue unit parked up between McLeans and Coppice, and continues along the road that leads to the track. Frantic waving from the marshals post directly ahead of him suggests to the driver that he may wish to consider using the Coppice tunnel like everyone else who wants to leave the circuit! In his defence, there were only 12 BTCC cars running at that meeting, he obviously felt the grid needed bolstering!

Taking this thread onto a slightly different tack I have been thinking about pranks at race meetings.


Browsing through the Driver Database website this morning I came across Fernando Macedo. For those who don't remember he was Brazil's slowest ever driver but somehow got an F3 ride with the fledgling Eddie Jordan team for the British championbship in 1982.

One day I was walking behind the pits at Silverstone early in the morning and spotted a tatty 1920s Austin 7 painted by EJ's mechanics in the exact livery of Macedo's race car complete with numbers and fake helmet parked outside the back of the pit garage just where he would see it when he reported for duty. Unfortunately he didn't race the Austin 7. He might have gone quicker if he had. What became of it later I don't know. In any event he left the team shortly afterwards perhaps due to loss of face.

Moving forward to the ETC round in 1986 or 87 at Donington there was a psyching match during qualifying between Tom Walkinshaw's Rover drivers and the Schnitzer BMWs. I remember one driver replacing his helmet with a green monkey mask and showing it to his bewildered rival as he passed at full speed on the straight under the Dunlop Bridge. There was quite a furore about it at the time but the details are a bit vague now. Does anyone else remember this?

Does anyone know of any other bizarre pranks carried out by team members at race meetings.

Actually that mask story reminded me of an incident that actually has a long story that kind of goes along with it.

Wendell Scott was the first black NASCAR driver, WAAAY back in the day. He first drove in 1952. He won a race on December 1st, 1963. This was back in the days when each driver in a race might be on a lap by himself. In perhaps the most shocking case of discrimination in autosport, the race officials awarded the win to second place Buck Baker. There are varying stories but the most commonly accepted was that the race organizers supposedly feared a riot. The race result was adjusted later, though Baker refused to give up his trophy and Wendell was awarded some crappy chunk of wood.

(Just for the record, NASCAR makes no secret of those lamentable events and has apologized and pledged to never let it happen again)

Anyway the intersting thing is that throughout his career Wendell Scott was often the victim of malicious attempts to make him crash by other drivers. "dumping" a guy and "using the ol' chrome horn" was much more common in those days. In Wendell's case the other drivers didn't really need a reason...he was black after all and this was good ol' boy Southern culture, pre MLK.

Anyway the story goes that Wendell took to keeping a gun in the cockpit with him. Apparently some guy named Jack Smith used to wreck Wendell Scott pretty flagrantly. One race, during a caution lap, Jack Smith pulled up beside Wendell and made a menacing hand gesture, meaning "I'm going to wreck you, black guy!" Wendell pulled out his gun and pointed it at Jack Smith. Wendell never had another problem with Mr. Smith.

Turn 6 at Riverside at a Can-Am weekend in the 80's which included a semi-pro race for VW Rabbits.

During practice, a car gets out of shape and pounds the tire barrier on the outside of the turn. As the marshalls are pulling the car out and cleaning up, one of them starts laughing and reaching into one of the columns of tires, pulls a big old dead jackrabbit out by its hind legs.

I've always appreciated the irony of that one.

Actually that mask story reminded me of an incident that actually has a long story that kind of goes along with it.

Wendell Scott was the first black NASCAR driver, WAAAY back in the day. He first drove in 1952. He won a race on December 1st, 1963. This was back in the days when each driver in a race might be on a lap by himself. In perhaps the most shocking case of discrimination in autosport, the race officials awarded the win to second place Buck Baker. There are varying stories but the most commonly accepted was that the race organizers supposedly feared a riot. The race result was adjusted later, though Baker refused to give up his trophy and Wendell was awarded some crappy chunk of wood.

(Just for the record, NASCAR makes no secret of those lamentable events and has apologized and pledged to never let it happen again)

Anyway the intersting thing is that throughout his career Wendell Scott was often the victim of malicious attempts to make him crash by other drivers. "dumping" a guy and "using the ol' chrome horn" was much more common in those days. In Wendell's case the other drivers didn't really need a reason...he was black after all and this was good ol' boy Southern culture, pre MLK.

Anyway the story goes that Wendell took to keeping a gun in the cockpit with him. Apparently some guy named Jack Smith used to wreck Wendell Scott pretty flagrantly. One race, during a caution lap, Jack Smith pulled up beside Wendell and made a menacing hand gesture, meaning "I'm going to wreck you, black guy!" Wendell pulled out his gun and pointed it at Jack Smith. Wendell never had another problem with Mr. Smith.

Good for him!

Not strictly bizarre - more humourous.

Carlos Reutemann finished 2nd in the 1981 Argentine Grand Prix on his 39th birthday, so "Happy Birthday" was played for him during the podium presentation.

Ten minutes before the start of the Bathurst 1000 some years back,a disgruntled orchardist whose property inside the circuit has no access for most of a long weekend and more,decided to park his tractor on the circuit near the top of Mountain Straight.He punched a marshall who suggested he move it,by this time a police car could be seen moving up the back laneways,and the officers talked him out of it.
My heart went out to the farmer.The race annoys me now, it's so boring ,with long safety car periods thrown in,all the cars and drivers are clones.

Edited by johnny yuma, 17 June 2011 - 06:10.

Taking this thread onto a slightly different tack I have been thinking about pranks at race meetings.

Moving forward to the ETC round in 1986 or 87 at Donington there was a psyching match during qualifying between Tom Walkinshaw's Rover drivers and the Schnitzer BMWs. I remember one driver replacing his helmet with a green monkey mask and showing it to his bewildered rival as he passed at full speed on the straight under the Dunlop Bridge. There was quite a furore about it at the time but the details are a bit vague now. Does anyone else remember this?

I do remember that - was flagging at the post between Mcleans and Coppice. I think it was Hans Stuck - on the slowing down lap, as he came into McLeans he slowed and we saw him take his helmet off. We just assumed he was going to replace it with his tyrolean hat as was his wont. But then he replaced it with the mask as he came past us.

Not strictly bizarre - more humourous.

Carlos Reutemann finished 2nd in the 1981 Argentine Grand Prix on his 39th birthday, so "Happy Birthday" was played for him during the podium presentation.

In the same vein, I have a recollection of "We are the Champions" being played at the presentation one year ( ? at Monza ?late 90's )when Ferrari won the Manufacturers Championship.

Wendell Scott was the first black NASCAR driver, WAAAY back in the day. He first drove in 1952.

He wasn't that dark a pigment and with all due respect not a lot of typical features that one might associate with an African American which I'm sure was an advantage to him back in those days..



I saw the movie a loooong time ago

http://en.wikipedia....eased_Lightning

Carlos Reutemann finished 2nd in the 1981 Argentine Grand Prix on his 39th birthday, so "Happy Birthday" was played for him during the podium presentation.

His once-team mate, but not very close friend Alan Jones' win in the wet 1977 Austrian Grand Prix caused a problem for the organisers, with no copy of "Advance Australia Fair" to play : in the end, he's said a drunk played Happy Birthday on a trumpet...

I do remember that - was flagging at the post between Mcleans and Coppice. I think it was Hans Stuck - on the slowing down lap, as he came into McLeans he slowed and we saw him take his helmet off. We just assumed he was going to replace it with his tyrolean hat as was his wont. But then he replaced it with the mask as he came past us.

Re. the driver wearing a chimpanzee/monkey mask on track... I was at that meeting at which this was reported to have happened, although I didn't witness it myself. I understood the driver to have been Dieter Quester and he was reprimanded/fined/punished (or some combination thereof). Such a prank seems plausible for him or Stuck, although of the two I believe Quester had a more 'colourful' rivalry with Tom W, if that was the root of the prank. I'm glad someone else recalls this because, although I've related the tale to friends in the past, I was beginning to wonder if was a figment of my imagination (or perhaps a story which had misled a gullible journalist before me)!

Hans Heyer was the one especially noted for his Tyrolean (?) hat, wasn't he? - on one occasion it was reported that when running from a car in which he's crashed (Lancia Monte Carlo in the German G5 series, I think), he had replaced his crash helmet with said hat even before he'd reached the barriers.

Edited by 2F-001, 17 June 2011 - 10:42.

I understood the driver to have been Dieter Quester and he was reprimanded/fined/punished (or some combination thereof)

You are right - it was Quester when I think about it. You are also right about the fuss it caused.

My wife confirms that Stuck also used to switch to a Tyrolean hat when he got out of the car or even as he came down the pit lane - she remembers seeing it from Race Control.