Just a simple question...
Who is the driver on the photo?



Rainer

Is this another quiz - or do you really want to know who it is?

No quiz this time......!
This photo was sent to me by mail, for me to identify.
But I have little clues about the gentleman...

The 1940s are not my forte....


Rainer

There are bells ringing... but nobody's home. My brain says it recognises him but it's not telling me who he is.

My first instinct was "Indy car driver". If you say it is 1940s, the crash helmet seems to confirm this (very few crash helmets in European motor racing in the 1940s).

The high scuttle also says "Indy car".

I don't have the answer, but the photo is part of the current (Jan 8th) AUTOWEEK quiz. Entrants with the correct response are eligible to win some 200 items that were "donated" to the editorial staff in hope for some free ink!

All prizes are being stored "in the graft closet". You "experts" might let the novices do their own research on this one!

Glad you spoke up Bobdar because I know the answer and I just started a subcription to Autoweek.

Haha....
So, it was actually from a game...!
Well in that case I am sure we will find out who he is in the not too distant future...
And I am NOT subscibing to Autoweek....

Rainer

When does the deadline for the Autoweek quiz expire? The non-subscribing world is waiting in suspense!

Isn't Autoweek a weekly?

Shouldn't we have the answer by now?

Or will we just say it is Raoul Riganti?

Have I missed something???

Has anyone named this guy yet? It looks a bit like Richard Nixon to me!

How about Carol Shelby, Briggs Cunningham or John Cooper?

Barry, that's just what I thought Never knew he raced, though.

Hans

Shame on you!

I suppose it's because they're all basically post-1950 that you could offer such names.

Barry Boor's "Richard Nixon" is much closer to the mark.

Now Barry tell us, is it Señor Riganti, then? What do we know about him?

Raoul Riganti was an occasional Indianapolis 500 driver - 1923, 1933, 1940 - which is about as "occasional" as you can get.

But I don't really think that's the answer. It was just a name someone else dropped.

I had a bit of a look through photos of Indy drivers and couldn't see anyone who looks like this - although I do still feel it is an Indy car.

What I did learn is that helmets became common at Indy as far back as 1935, which is earlier than I had thought.

It was back around the mid 1930s when the cars commonly ran without windscreens, too.

The clues given in the Autoweek quiz are as follows:

The year is 1940, the picture was taken just after the driver failed to qualify, and the fact that he did not qualify is ironic given his last name.

Sorry, one more clue: the race is the Indy 500.

Non-starters at 1940 Indy 500:

Too slow:
- Tony Willman
- René Dreyfus
- Louis Durant

No attempt at qualifying:
- Babe Stapp
- Lou Webb
- Henry Banks
- Harry McQuinn
- Overton Phillips
- Ira Hall
- Port DeFraties
- George Bailey
- Bill Lipscomb
- Fred Winnai
- Wesley Crawford

Hhmm, I don't get that clue with the last name!

Well, I know how Dreyfus, Banks and Bailey looked, it's not one of them. McQuinn qualified another car, so he should be out, too. Stapp and Webb took over cars other drivers had qualified, do they still qualify for the quiz? That would leave Willman, Durant, Phillips, Hall, DeFraties, Lipscomb, Winnai and Crawford. Apart from DeFraties and Lipscomb, any of them qualified for the 500 before or after 1940. I have pictures of them in their cars, but unfortunately they're so small I cannot check their looks! Maybe tomorrow, with daylight applied... maybe I should go to bed!

Floyd Clymer's Indy Race History has an entry list for 1940 but, strangely, no detailed results. One of the drivers listed as an entrant is 'Unser'. I guess it would be ironic if he had failed to qualify given the family's performances in later years.

Given the clues, surely it's GOT to be Fred Winnai! Or maybe, as he didn't attempt to qualify, I suppose it's more likely to be Tony Willman.

Hey Bobdar!

Getting the clues a bit earlier would have been handy!

I just went through the list of non-qualifiers. Mine agrees pretty much with Fines and, given the clues, Willman looks to be the man.

Haven't found a photo of him to confirm this, though.

Sorry for not posting the clues earlier; didn't see a lot of interest at first, then went out of town for a week. The contest is open until Feb. 1st.

OK. Time's up.
Who is it?

Probably Louie Unser, uncle to Big Al and Bobby Unser. Louie went to Indy in 1940, but did not complete his rookie testing, therefore he "failed to qualify". He was, technically, the first of the Unsers at Indy.

Sorry, I seem to be a bit previous here. I thought that myself and Barry #1 had answered this one; given the clues, it has to be Mr. Willman.

Or is this one of those quizzes with no answer. Hang on, I think I'll phone a friend..... Damn, I don't have one.....

Naah, doesn't look like an Unser to me...

Fines, I'm no so sure about that... He does bear a certain ressemblance to the aging Al Unser, Sr.

Unfortunately, I'm moving and all my books are packed, but I found a photo of in Gordon Kirby's book "Unser" that seems to confirm that this photo is of Louis Unser. I'll look for it again when I get unpacked next week.

don

I thought the answer was going to be out in Autoweek by now.

Isn't there anyone other than me who just HAS to know who this is?

Does anyone subscribe to Autoweek?

I'm also still curious, don't think it's Unser!

Louie Unser is the driver in the mystery photo. After reading Milan's earlier post and doing a little research, I sent off that answer to Autoweek. They never replied, nor have they published the results, but they did send a sweatshirt (with no explanation). It's a nice sweatshirt; Louie Unser must be the correct answer.

Barry will be pleased...

Definitely had an Unser appearance about him!

You call that evidence?

What sort of historians are you?

Err... Barry wasn't pleased?

I was just recently reminded of this funny old thread when I found out that... Louis Unser tried to qualify in car #14 Bill Holabird Special (the 1936 Shaw/Offenhauser, winner in '37) for the 1940 Indy 500. Ole' Lou couldn't get up to speed, and two days before the race Billy Devore, a former riding mechanic with Shaw, got the ride and qualified easily.

Sadly, the original picture isn't up anymore, as I'm sure I would recognise him these days. :\