Re,F3000 list.Where is Giovanna Amati? She competed over part of 4 seasons 1987-8,1990-1. last seen comentating on German TV a couple of years ago.

Completed 2003 championship with F1 drivers competing

Amercian Le Mans Series
LMP900/GTP Class
3rd JJ Lehto (Champion Racing Audi R8) four wins, including Petit Le Mans, 163 points
4th Johnny Herbert (Champion Racing Audi R8 / Team Bentley EXP Speed 8 Audi) four wins, including Petit Le Mans, 160 points
11th Stefan Johansson (Champion Racing Audi R8) one win - Petit Le Mans, 48 points
12th Max Papis (JML Team Panoz LMP01 Elan) 46 points
18th Eric van de Poele (ORECA Dallara LMP2001 MG) 23 points
19th Emanuelle Pirro (Champion Racing Audi R8) 22 points
20th David Brabham (Team Bentley EXP Speed 8 Audi) 19 points
20th Mark Blundell (Team Bentley EXP Speed 8 Audi) 19 points
28th Mika Salo (Audi Sport UK Audi R8) 12 points
28th Perry McCarthy (Audi Sport UK Audi R8) 12 points

LMGTS Class
3rd Tomas Enge (Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello) two wins, including Petit Le Mans, 117 points
7th David Brabham (Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello) two wins, 114 points
8th Jan Magnussen (Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello) one win, 94 points
9th Emanuelle Naspetti (Oliver Garden Ferrari 550 Maranello) 70 points
9th Mimmo Sciattarella (Oliver Garden Ferrari 550 Maranello) 70 points
12th Anthony Davidson (Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello) 44 points
20th Jam Lammers (Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello) 16 points

LMGT Class
11th Alex Caffi (Seikel Motor Sports / P.K. Sport Porsche 996 GT3-RS) 51 points
28th Andrea Chiesa (Seikel Motor Sports Porsche 996 GT3-RS) 19 points
37th Hans-Joachim Stuck (Allegra Motorsports BMW E46 M3) 12 points
60th Mauro Baldi (Ayrton Intermotor Porsche 996 GT3-RS) 4 points

Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
1st Bernd Schneider AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM, 2 wins, 68 points
5th Jean Alesi AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM, 2 wins, 42 points
15th Karl Wendlinger PlayStation 2 Red Bull Abt-Audi TT-R, 1 point
15th Joachim Winkelhock OPC Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupe, 1 point

European Touring Car Championship
1st Gabriele Tarquini Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTa, 6 wins, 107 points
4th Nicola Larini Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTa, 1 win, 92 points
20th Alex Zanardi BMW Spain-Italy BMW 320i, 2 points
Giancarlo Fisichella Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTa, 0 points

FIA-GT Championship
GT Class
14th Jean-Denis Deletraz Lister Racing Lister Storm 23 points
25th Pedro Chaves Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R 15.5 points
35th Paul Belmondo Paul Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper GTS-R 10.5 points
39th Phillippe Alliot Force One Racing Carsport Chrysler Viper GTS-R 9 points
41st Jean-Marc Gounon Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R 5 points

N-GT Class
19th Alex Caffi Seikel Motor Sports Porsche 996 GT3-RS 14.5 points
19th Andrea Chiesa Seikel Motor Sports Porsche 996 GT3-RS 14.5 points
33rd Tomas Enge Menx Ferrari 360 Modena 7 points

F1 list, where she's always been. See the explanation in the F3000 thread.

Giebler, however, I appear to have missed out - he'll be in the next one.

Thanks for the other updates

Indy Racing League
10th Tora Takagi Mo Nunn Racing G-Force-Toyota 317 points
24th Michael Andretti Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda 80 points
29th Shinji Nakano Beck Motorsport Dallara-Honda 35 points

FIA Sportscar Championship
SR1 Class
1st Jan Lammers Racing For Holland Dome S101 Judd, 3 wins, 44 points
3rd Beppe Gabbiani Racing For Holland Dome S101 Judd, 36 points
7th Franck Lagorce Pescarolo Sport Courage C60 Evo Peugeot 24 points
11th Giovanni Lavaggi Gianfranco Trombetti Promec PJ119 Peugeot / Ferrari 333SP Judd 16 points
14th Alex Caffi Gianfranco Trombetti Promec PJ119 Peugeot 11 points
16th Jean-Christophe Boullion Pescarolo Sport Courage C60 Evo Peugeot 10 points
29th Mauro Baldi R&M SR01 Judd 5 points

International Formula 3000 Championship
7th Nicolas Kiesa Den Bla Avis Lola B2/50 Zytek, 1 win, 20 points
14th Zsolt Baumgartner Coloni Motorsport Lola B2/50 Zytek 6 points

Good to see so many of the guys still racing. There's a few more in championships still runing, Roberto Moreno, Max Papis, Mika Salo and Alex Yoong feature in the CART pointscore. Hideki Noda and Naoki Hattori are in Formula Nippon. Enrique Bernoldi and Marc Gene in the Superfund Formula Nissan series still has a round to run. Christian Fittipaldi still has races to run in NASCAR, while Larry Perkins has driven his last race in Australian V8Supercar after Bathurst, which also saw Jan Magnussen and David Brabham make guest appearances. Jean-Louis Schlesser featurs in the Rally-Raid pointscore too.

Ben Pon update!

At the Revival I spoke to David Holland on the mystery of Ben's birthplace, which is listed as either Leiden or Amersfoort. I told David that Amersfoort would be the obvious choice, as the Pon business was first based in Amersfoort before it moved to the adjacent village of Leusden (which could explain the confusion with Leiden). But then we know Richie is all but convinced that it is Leiden.

I can now confirm that Richie was right all along!

In the recently published Dwars door de Tarzanbocht by Hans van der Klis, a book covering the 11 Dutch Grand Prix drivers, Pon's place of birth is given as to be Leiden. So I went to check with the author whether he got this from Pon himself, and the answer was, "Not in particular, but he did read the entire chapter to give his final blessing and would have certainly stumbled on an incorrect place of birth!"

So Leiden it is.

Thanks all for the help either on this thread or by e-mail recently firstly.

Secondly, I wasn't sure where to post this but a few of the older threads are closed so this one will do:
When discussing Indy drivers, Hal Cole was an interesting case. According to virtually all records, he appeared to have been the only WDC entered driver thus far to to die on his birthday.

Being the cynical chap I am re. dates, I didn't think this was entirely right - and I was correct. So anyone who likes to know these things this should be Hal Cole's new dates:

Hal (Harold) Cole b. 20 November 1912, Tacoma, Washington (I believe) d. 12 November 1970, Los Angeles, California

Easy mistake to make but one that has stayed firm until now.

Re. WATN updates, expect one in a short while - I'm waiting on one source for a date of death & I need to check a few more of the more obscure Indy guys first - I'm amazed that it takes three months to have just a handful of news & then two weeks for, seemingly, virtually every living driver to do something!

With the death of the Fontana CART round....

CART
13th Roberto Moreno Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford 67pts
16th Mika Salo PK Racing Lola-Ford 26 pts
17th Max Papis PK Racing Lola-Ford 25 pts
23rd Alex Yoong Dale Coyne Racing Lola-Ford 4 pts

Updates are now up - reminder this includes the F3000 data as well - things are progressing well on that front, so Indy 500 starters may be brought forward - we'll see.

Anyway, the normal clearing up of routine stuff, spellings & mistakes & of course, the four missing F3000 drivers from the last update - plus I've sorted out some anamolies in the F3000 birthplaces - the other updates are as follows:

Incorrect Info
Jack Rounds didn't die in 1961 - as he raced in 1962! I don't know quite the full details so he simply has died ?? at the moment
Not incorrect, but Desire Wilson's birthplace now reads Brakpan, Johannesburg, which is more correct, I feel.
Federicks should be d. Michigan, not Missouri

New Info
SIX deaths - Sennett, Pagani, J Boyd, Bonomi, Lucas & Whiteaway
Pirocchi's death details - at last!
Birth places for: Stine, Munday. Mayes
Hal Cole's details now complete & correct
Dick Fraizer's death details - the name is FRAIZER - it isn't a mispelling - Frazier is! Definitely FraIZer!
Mauro was born in 1910, same date.
Marshall - death place
Cannon - full birthplace
Marvin Pifer - full details - these are the correct details - please disregard the former ones if you copied them down...
Arthur Owen - full birthplace
Stockman - full birthplace - his deathplace is spelt wrong, but that'll be fixed for next update


AND all that birthdate info in the F3000 thread is up - with more to come, I hope!

I must add in relation to a few queries some of us have had that Abecassis, Keegan & Bueb WERE born where & when they are listed on WATN - sometimes confirmation is as good as new info..


WATN Info
Davidson, Zonta, Zanardi, Caffi, Nielsen, Enge, Damon Hill, K Brack, T Scheckter, Lamy, Mauricio, Schmidt, Montermini, Alliot, Herbert, Bouchut, Collard, Lauda - all slight changes or updating so entry is as up-to-date as possible but the bulk of the entry remains the same.
Eyckemans - returning to endurance
Tarquini - ETCC Champ (provisionally)
Nurminen - TV & journalism
Kaiser - promo company
Tassin - little bit more info re. TV & likewise for de Dryver & his business interests
Naspetti, Schiattarella, Camathias - ALMS
P Freisacher - DTM
Belmondo & Derichebourg - F Nissans
Burgess - little more info about "what he got up to" after racing!
Ian Stewart - thanks to his posting on TNF, a slight change to his entry.
Manning - IRL
Pirocchi - more detail about his life

Thanks to: A huge thanks to some of you in particular -
Jim Thurman, Adam F, "Mickey", Giuseppe Montebello, Mark Jones (aka Falcadore), Richard (Vitesse), Rainer Nyberg, Viktor, Geza Sury, Ensign 14, Patrice Vatan, Gabriel Alejandro Engels, Alessandro Silva, Jeremy Jackson, Theunions, David Holland & Ian Stewart

FYI, David Hobbs lives in Milwaukee, WI and is an owner of a Honda car dealership in Glendale, WI.

Great site, kudos.

-Steve

Just was cruising through the list. Bob Drake was a restauranteur indirectly and for a fairly short time. His wife, Mary Davis, was really the money behind the Grand Prix restaurant in Los Angeles. After their divorce and his retirement from racing, he was involved for many years in stunt and car prep work for the movie industry, often working on projects with his friend, former racer, Max Balchowsky. He spent his last days in an institution provided by the motion picture industry because of belonging to one of the industry's guilds/unions.

Two small snippets:

Stefan Johansson ran a Champ Car team in 2003, now folded.
Devid Kennedy is also Ralph Firman's manager.

HTH!

Jon

PS: (probably off-topic but just in case someone's interested) Milt Fankhauser's son Merrell's group was responsible for the surf guitar classic Wipe Out! But as that was 1962 approx, the word 'now' in your biog isn't really correct (most of his other records since then are quite obscure.)

thanks folks.

I had noted Johansson - I think he's coming up on the next update (ie not the one up next, but the one after that) - Kennedy also is the manager of Richard Lyons, IIRC.

Derek Warwick's Triple 8 Racing outfit recently purchased an Australian V8Supercar outfit - Briggs Motor Sport, a Ford team to contrast their BTCC Vauxhall contract. Former F1 tester, Max Wilson is the #2 driver (to Paul Radisich).

Larry Perkins has now completely retired from racing after a year of partial retirement.

The recent Bathurst 24 Hour had four visiting F1 drivers.

Michael Bartels finished fourth in the Alzen brothers Porsche 996 GT3 S Cup, winning class B.

Alex Yoong finished 33rd and last still running driving a venerable BMW 320i Super Touring Car. THe car took pole in class F, but spent muhc of the race sidelined.

David Brabham and Andrea Montermini, team mates for two days at Simtek in the mid 90s were re-united in a Ferraro 360 Modena which pressured the leaders for several hours before crashing after an engine failure at Forrests Elbow.

Firstly, thanks Mark. Derek Warwick's uncle Stan passed away last week, by the way.


Okay, latest updates are up now - both Allen & myself have been busy lately so some of last week's developments - ie Bruni, Zanardi, Frentzen & some of the info above will be in the next one. It looks like a small update - but I've only included F1 in the total of updates - F3000 updates are absoleuty immmense & in this case only, have been dealt with in the specific thread - unless they are solely WATN updates - in which case they are here -

Incorrect Info
Stockman - deathplace spelt properly
Heath - birthdate corrected

New Info
Pla - new F3000 driver
Willard Cantrell - death date
Williamson - new & correct birthdate & place
Morgan - correct birthplace
Miles - correct birthplace
Crook - full birthplace
Lees - new & correct birthplace
Van Johnson - birthdate & birthplace
Klien - new Jaguar driver

WATN Info
Neve - where he lives & what he does
Mauricio - Spanish F3 champ
Piccini - switching GT teams
Kennedy - manager of Lyons
J Winkelhock - now retired
Montagny info refreshed
Voulaz - Porsche Cup
Angellelli - Grand Am
Marko- Klien's boss
Lauda - planes etc.

Thanks to:
Jim Thurman, David Holland, Adam Ferrington, O Volante, Mischa Bijenhof, Russ Creason (and Buford for pointing me in the right direction)



Now I will start to write out the F3000 updates - for anyone interested - there is a LOT of stuff to write down, so bear with me!!

Richie: ref: Loris Kessel...to add to your list, ( I'm at the "K" section) he is the factory authorized Ferrari dealer for Ticino in Switzerland, and has a huge team of Ferrari challenge cars, ( arrive & drive concept)
Loris, also has his orginial F1 car ( Planiing to restore and vintage race) and a few others sitting in his showroom, great guy, I visit him often...

Richie..really a Great job..interesting to say the least..
In reference to: Desire Wilson...sh also is now the Partner/owner with husband Allen, of Wilson MotorSport "track-design" http://www.wilsonmotorsport.com/
F.Y.I.

whooo-ops forgot to include these

All Japan Formula Nippon Series
12th Naoki Hattori (DoCoMo Dandelion) 7 points
16th Hideki Noda (Team Mohn) 1pt

By the way, two ex-F1 driver manage/own teams in FNippon. PIAA Nakajima Racing is perhaps unsurprisingly run by Satoru Nakajima. His two drivers, Andre Lotterer was 4th in the title, Takashi Kogure was 9th. Kazuyoshi Hoshino's Team Impul was rather more successful with Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer scoring a championship 1-2, taking six of the series ten victories.

Superfund Word Series by Nissan
6th Enrique Bernoldi (GD Racing) 112 points, including two wins
7th Stephane Sarrazin (Racing Engineering) 110 pts, including one win
12th Marc Gene (Adrian Campos Motorsport) 54 pts, including one win

V8Supercar Championship Series
36th Larry Perkins (Castrol Perkins Racing Holden Commodore VY) 180 points
46th David Brabham (Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon BA) 148 pts
Jan Magnussen (Team Dynamik Holden Commodore VY) 0 pts

Right, a small but needed update - the next update (whenever that is - probably late Jan) will include the Indy 500 WATN!! Fanfares all around
After that is up, I will then be sorting out every single driver (indy, F3000 & WC) to check their info is correct before I head overseas, so even though I have internet access, I don't have as much time, so the more things are correct, the better & a lot of WATN info this updates has helped...

Incorrect Info
Hal Robson - whilst researching George, it's become clear that Hal was also born in England & not Canada but was a mere tot when he moved to Ontario - so I've put the correct birthplace now, which is Newcastle, like George.
Klien - full birthplace, as opposed to just the town last update.
Constantino Jr refreshed & moved to C - Alfonso Garcia de Vineusa moved to G

New Info
Bruni - new Minardi driver
Carcasi - birthplace, correct spelling & WATN
Al Miller - have finally found birth & deathplace & correct birthdate for him & the other Al Miller too!
Matsubara - nationality & birthplace
Devore - birthplace


WATN Info
Bondurant - book
Dochnal - a little more info without spoiling a surprise
Rhodes - restorer
Zanardi - full ETCC
Frentzen - DTM
Ruby - still racing!!
Sarrazin - rallying
Skip Barber - new business interests
Papis - Grand Am
Haberfeld- refreshed for '04
Johansson - split with team
Hobbs - Milwaukee based & garage
Drake - stunt car etc.
Warwick - Oz Touring Cars
Perkins - retired
Yoong - Bathurst
Prost - ice racing
Coulthard - hotel
Rydell - switched teams in ETCC
Kennedy - manager of Firman
Kessell - lots of cars
D Wilson - track designs
Baumgartner - Minardi '04
Magee - living in London
Brundle - sold garage
Hoshino - good F. Nippon year
B Johnstone - bit more info

Thanks to:
Baggish, Szautke, Cabianca, Mark (Falcadore), Felix Muelas, Racer's Edge, Muzza, Ensign14, Felix

Is something wrong with the dates I have which are as follows: The first Al Miller was born on 28 April 1909 and died on 18 August 1967 (58 years old), the second Al Miller was born on 23 November 1923 and died on 28 July 1978 (54 years old)?

Yep.

Like many Indianapolis drivers, Al Miller (1) fudged his age - I've found out that Paul Goldsmith is actually older than thought, likewise.
Al Miller (1) is born in 1907, not 1909 - otherwise it's as above. I was having great trouble finding him & the above is the reason why!

Al Miller (2) is exactly the same. 23 November 1921, not 1923.

That is an awesome site you have there, you must have put alot of hard work into it, bravo!

I would just like to add that Andrea De Cesaris is also a currency trader and an avid windsurfer.

Bingo! I knew de Cesaris was doing the above but I couldn't think of a better way of describing it than the entry I had already - "currency trader" is the term I was looking for - thanks!

Hard work... yes! But enjoyable, too

Seconded

I read somewhere about ten-twelve years ago that de Cesaris wanted to be a professional windsurfer or a golf player after his retirement. It seems he had choosen the former...

After he retired De Cesaris traveled the world and windsurfed, nothing more! He seems to really enjoy it, good for him

Also I have some information to add:

Takachiho (Taki) Inoue founded and runs a company called the IMC or International Management Company.

Kunimitsu Takahashi retired from active competition in the year 2000.

Okay, this is part one of a big check & updating process for me, irrespective of the Indy 500 additions – so, along with the W A T N & new information, also, when you check the site, you will find that a lot of drivers have had minor refreshing or updates – not included here. I hope to have finished this process by March.

Latest Updates:

INCORRECT INFO
Joe Kelly was born in Ireland (Dublin) not South America.
Webb died in McMinnville, not McMinville.
M Light died in Manheim.

NEW INFO
Goldsmith – new birthdate & W.A.T.N. info
Alan Brown - RIP
Leston – precise birthplace
Doornbos, Heylen, R Ribeiro are all new F3000 drivers.
Merkel – full deathdate.
At last some progess has been made on the Indy questionables so:
Perry Grimm – full details
H Robson – deathplace
T Duncan – (virtually) full details
Giba – birthplace
Devore – real name & deathplace & corrected birthdate.
Houser - birthplace
Motter – birthplace
Jiggs Peters - deathplace

W.A.T.N. INFO
Schuppan – now out of direct motorsport
Schenken – businesses
D Cook – based in Yorkshire
Palmer – track ownership
Serrurier – ill health
Liuzzi - Arden
Heidfeld – Jordan
Herbert – dropped by team, plans uncertain – always seems to happen to Johnny doesn’t it?!
Godia - museum
Sarrazin – rallying
Magnussen – more touring cars
T Bell – left Arden
Wirdheim – Jag reserve
Schroeder – Durango F3000
Janis – DTM
Quester – still going strong
Campos – out of Dallara Nissan & in Spanish F3.
De Cesaris – currency & windsurfing
Galica – Skip Barber stuff
Filhol – Professor of English etc.
Pizzonia – Williams tester
Inoue – business
Takahashi - retired
Sandro Sala – back racing!
E Fittipaldi – CART owner
Belso – company & base
Couto – Japanese GT’s
Love – dealership
Skaife – honoured by Australia

THANKS TO
Theunions, Jim Thurman, Mike Thomsen, Muzza, Buford, Bob Simbel, Doug Nye, Mike Lawrence, Barry Lake, 00011, Adam F , Richard Line

Richie

An update on Peter Ashdown. My parents live in Danbury and last time I was there I checked on his garage which has been sold and is now a Tesco Metro. According to the current owners of his old house he has moved to the South of France.

Mike

Well done Richie

Sorry I haven't been of more help with some of the "difficult" ones, but I haven't had much of a chance to dig through the archives. The names you gave me certainly are a challenge. Some of the fellows that raced with them don't even remember them

Hopefully little tidbits like Frank Lueptow and his being from Michigan has provided some help.

Now that you've added an Indy-specific section, some comments:

Michael Andretti's Skip Barber-racing son is, of course, Marco.

Dick Ferguson still shows up at Indy nearly every (if not every) May, though I've never seen him once...about three years ago the Indianapolis Star did an article on autograph hunters and how one had spotted this elusive catch in Gasoline Alley.

I believe Gehlhausen does (did?) own a tire store in Indianapolis.

Tom Klausler works for McLaren Engines in Michigan (the McLaren Performance Technologies spinoff that built engines for Alex Barron and Blair Racing in the first part of the '02 IRL season).

Not only will Jaques Lazier not be back with Team Menard in 2004, Team Menard (as independently owned by John Menard) itself will not be back in 2004, having merged with Panther.

Loquasto died in a PA plane crash.

Mack is currently pursuing a NASCAR Craftsman Truck ride, not IRL.

The Dick Simon Trucking firm with vehicles frequently seen in the midwest has NO connection with racer Dick Simon. This is a very common misconception.

Threshie also does marketing for his brother's architectural firm.

Robby Unser is currently racing sprint cars in the Albuquerque area.

So you were able to verify that Mike Hiss indeed is still alive?

I've heard that Cliff Hucul (who last appeared in two 1986 Winston Cup races) suffered a debilitating injury of some sort a few years ago but have never been able to confirm it.

Earl, that took care of most of the entries I could add to

Les Anderson - died in a crash at Portland Speedway, Portland, Oregon

Don Davis – died in a USAC Sprint Car flip at New Bremen, Ohio (same track as Allen Crowe a year later )

Larry Dickson - hmmm, that's Larry Rice that does the TV commentary, I have no idea about Dickson, but whoever gave you that is confusing the two.

Racin Gardner – ummm, "Slick" is his father, who runs the ranch in Buellton, California (correct spelling). Slick competed in two (well, one officially) NASCAR GN races in 1973 - driving the Pea Soup Andersen's Mercury (I realize that's irrelevant to you, but I can't work it in enough ). I actually passed by the ranch in October. I had just said: "Wonder where Slick Gardner's ranch is?..." when I saw a gate that read: Gardner Ranch

Al Loquasto - I too was going to add that he died in a plane crash, not from cancer.

Bob Olivero - rumored to have died, but resurfaced. I believe working for a bank in Indiana, but, again, I am trying to confirm. This was even more persistent than the Mike Hiss rumors.

Billy "The Kid" Scott - did radio commentary for at least one '500' broadcast, but I have no idea what he's up to since. A racing buddy of Swede Savage's, they grew up together in San Bernardino, California and also started in motorcycles. He then moved to local Stock Cars and then on to Indy.

Johnny White - I believe built engines after his injury, but let me check to confirm that.

Jimmy Wilburn - IMCA Sprint Car star, I believe he retired to Florida, but I have no idea what he did between his career ending crash and his death.

I've made queries about these and several others you're looking for, let me see what turns up.

Okay - each post in turn

Mike - thanks for that. I had heard rumours to the effect, so thanks for confirming....

Earl - re. Mike Hiss - as far as I can make out & I double checked with this, I can't find anything, anywhere to say Mike Hiss is deceased. I remember your post & the ones on TrackForum but there appears nothing concrete to the rumours. HOWEVER - I had a lot of trouble finding out that Rick Muther had died & that was a few years ago now, so it may well be I don't find out for sure for another few years... - I will keep an eye on that one.

Jim - I'm confused now Racin' Gardner is nothing to do with the horses etc, right? That's all Slick.... It's because Racin Gardner's name is often given as "slick racin'" Gardner

Olivero - couldn't find anything to say he had passed away, either....


Anyway, thanks for the above, it all helps greatly...

No problem, thanks for taking on the project to begin with

I'm confused because I hadn't heard Slick Racin, but know of Slick (father) and Racin (son). Last I heard, Racin was helping out or worked on the ranch with Slick. What's Racin's full given name I wonder? (heard it, but don't recall. Could that be the issue? ).

Interestingly, a search at the time of the story on the wild horses turned up the Arciero-Gardner Ranch. Another name heavily connected to racing, including Indy.

Hopefully, my queries will prove as helpful as it did with Buddy Cagle.

Racin (whose main claim to fame was that he posted in the rec.autos.sport.indy newsgroup in late 1995 boasting he would be going to Indy the following year)'s full name is indeed Slick Racin Gardner. I can't find the issue right now (may have been the one with Vasser on the cover) but RACER last year did a story on the 1996 Indy/US 500's and interviewed many of the principals involved...including Racin. It indicated he's busy doing performance and stunt driving work - I don't think they mentioned the ranch.

The reason that the Olivero rumor persists is that about 2 years ago, several items from the "bobby olivero estate" showed up on EBAY.

I'm still looking for solid information on Olivero, Dick Ferguson, Jourdain, Garza, Rebaque, Bill Whittington, and more on Mike Chandler.

Last report was Chandler was alive and living in Bend, Oregon. I've learned nothing about Olivero or Ferguson, at all, literally. Jourdain supposedly runs a restaurant in California, but my correspondence has gone unanswered if that's true. Rebaque is a total mystery as well. My sources said Bill Whittington was working with his daughters in Arizona, but no evidence hs been found that that is true.

Ebb Rose is still alive and living in Houston, TX, btw, just in case you're still looking for info on him.

I just heard from Ebb a few weeks go.

Hucul is still alive and living in Prince George, British Columbia at last report.

Dunno precisely what he's doing beyond what Richie wrote, but here's a shot I took in Fontana 2002 of Michel Jr. with his uncle.



I looked at his event credentials to make sure it was him and not Michel Sr.

More info on Rebaque's resurfacing earlier that year at Elkhart Lake...I've read that he's gotten into architecture (like his late father) and land development, but I don't have further details:

Elkhart Lake Saturday notebook by Robin Miller

Rebaque press conference transcript

Mexico City track to honor Rebaque

Garza was interviewed by Derek Daly in the final SpeedChannel broadcast of CART Friday Night in Mexico City 2002. I'm not sure if he's still running Mexican open wheel teams or not.

I'd like to find out more info on Ed Pimm - I wrote to him at an Ohio address a few years ago but never heard back.

I got a photo from Ed Pimm last year at an address in Plain City, Ohio, which is near Columbus.

Earl, thanks for your continued info on this

I could swear I ran across a newspaper item on the problems at the Gardner Ranch that mentioned Racin as a "foreman" or "supervisor" or some such. I'll have to see if that is still available from either the Santa Maria or Santa Barbara newspaper.



Makes me wonder which came first...

I remember a regional racing paper on the West Coast reporting the rumors and it caused a flurry among columnists until, finally, Bobby Olivero came forward and contacted someone, giving an update on himself.

I would be glad to supply that to Richie, but unfortunately, I don't recall precisely when this was. IIRC, late 1999 or early 2000. It's just a matter of finding it :\

Thanks for the info on the other drivers

Recently items from the Larry Curry auctions have also shown up on eBay described as being items from his "estate." But even these days, Larry's much more of a public figure than Olivero ever was...

Richie,

According to the (good) Speed Online racing news website, Alex Yoong signed with ESPN-Star, a Malaysian networf, to present a series of programs that will be broadcasted before and after Formula 1 races.

Speed Online posts this comment from Yoong:

"Being a tv announcer is a new challenge to me and I am quite excited with this opportunity. With my Formula 1 experience, I can give the spectators a new viewpoint on it. And, even if I continue my career as a driver, I can record it from wherever I am."

Hope this helps,


Muzza

Richie

I've just changed "Grands Prix" to "Indy 500s" for the Indy drivers. I've also fixed that A | B thing on the search results page - it was building up the list using GP drivers' names instead of Indy drivers.

Allen

Thanks both

In addition to the Indy updates given to me on this & the other thread & numerous minor refreshments:

Incorrect Info:
Ader’s birthplace changed
Firestone’s nationality changed
Holbert – correct birthplace
Mosley – birthplace
Melgrati – correct birthdate
Crossley – correct deathplace
Romano – nationality changed
Elder Whittingtons - birthplace
Merrill Williams is NOT the youngest Indy 500 starter – I will need to reinvestigate this so I have put his original details down again.

New Info:
Alsup birthplace
Les Anderson’s birthplace & date
New F3000 drivers galore: Can Artam, Mathias Lauda (son of Niki), Jose Maria Lopez, Nico Verdonck & Olivier Tielemans.
Cantlon birthplace
Chandler birthplace & WATN
Corradi birthplace
Crossley - deathplace
Holbert – correct birthplace
McCluskey – birth & death details
Kane birthplace
Mosley – birthplace
Opperman – deathplace
Rounds – full birth & deathplace – at last!
Seifert – full birthplace & date – we hope! Plus spelling of surname changed
Van Acker – deathplace
Wharton d. Auckland

W A T N Info:
Auinger – Euro F3000
Ates – Louisana & motorsports visitor
Ashdown - France
Arnoux – shock return to GT’s
Burti – Ferrari tester
Bonnano – enthusiast & racer
Gary Brabham – racing school details & refreshing
Cecotto - refreshed
Coyne - stockcars
Crossley – more info about life & death
De Klerk - dealership
Dallest - instructor
Dussau – aerobatic brother
Danielsson – racing in Sweden
Fittipaldi C – Daytona win
Fama – Euro F3000 team.
Guelfi – jail sentence & million pounds poorer
Guerrero - spotter
Guerra – team director
Gianmaria & Monfardini – still in F3000
Grouillard – carriage builder
Herbert – sportscar switch
Kane – top soundman
Johansson - refreshing
E Lang – publisher etc.
C Muller – mum
McAlpine – grapes & building
J Miles – technical consultant
McNish - sportscars
Minassian – LMES.
Melgrati – furniture
Puzey – Mugabe & Australia
Paglicci- racing instructor
Redon – racing school
Redman – bit more detail about his large resume.
Rangoni – ETCC
Roos – racing car designer
Surer – refreshed
Salazar – rallying
Trolle – karts
Tambay – return to racing!
Watt- ETCC
Wissell – teacher & manager
Yoong - commentator

Other:
Pantano moved from F3000 to WC table – and whilst at it, full birthplace.
The next update will, amongst normal updates, include ALL the F3000 drivers and ALL the Indy 500 drivers in their respective tables, with their respective races & years after Allen suggested a workable answer satisfcatory to all (bar me, who’s now got to double check everything- again!!!)

Thanks To:
David Holland, Peter Higham, Donald Davidson, Jim Thurman, Earl (the Unions), Racing History Group, Mike B, Mike Thomsen, Uechtel, Muzza & Simon Kane , the F3000 driver, for supplying his birth details

Okay Folks -
it's all there now - Every Indy Driver from 1946-2003, plus the 1950's Indy NQ's (as they were there already) & pre-war qualifier & non-qualifier Louis Chiron & Gianfranco Comotti, respectively (again, they're already there, so it's easier to do) & EVERY F3000 driver 1985-now.

F3000 & Indy 500 starts (as I have been given - I might double check a few) & yrs raced are in place as well but all the WC drivers are still in the one "big WC" table as well.

The one thing I can't change is the WATN to either be F3000 biased, or Indy biased. It would mean three separate WATN's which would be a logistical nightmare for me, let alone Allen. So, please excuse the (very) slight F1 bias for some drivers.

Otherwise, I hope this will be easier for all concerned. This is my last update for a while - I start a new job which will impact my WATN but rest assured, not stop it

Allen & I think we have noticed any bloopers & everyone is where they should be - please point out if not, but we think we're covered it all...

As for the future, well, this depends on my work, but research into pre-war Indy is already well under way, likewise European F2 which is another possibility (when I am back, I will assess whether F2/F3000/GP2 is an avenue or not), but I'll be honest - I don't see any new columns in the next year, simply due to my potential lack of time - but who knows what will happen?!?!

A small update as well, generally - and I have been through any misspellings to the best of my trained eye & spell checker.
Also, I have gone through EVERY single driver over the past few months to iron out any past tenses, information etc. For people like Firman, Jos etc. I've come up with the best phrase I could use (or think of) at the time, so a lot have been updated. Some WATN entries will look different, but in reality, I've only changed a few words to make it more up-to-date.

The updates this month (there aren't many so I'll do it the old way this time) bar general refreshing/updating of minor information are:

Cotton Farmer - rodeo past (I've read on Track Forum he is ill, so let's hope he can pull through
Brian Smith - return to racing & general work
Johansson - return to more regular endurance racing
Kladis - he's alive but also ill.
Aguas works as a racing instructor as well now.
South, as seen on the thread about him, apparently works in a light engineering company.

A few minor changes of biographical detail
Hakkinen & Massa's birthplaces have been made more accurate than simply the city, whilst I had Chet Filip's birthplace wrong.
Tony Renna was born in 1976 not 1974, which I dragged from somewhere

Phil Giebler & John Herb are in the Infinti Pro Series (indeed Giebler won on his debut)
Jimmy Kite is in the Silver Crown series
Hearn is expanding his racing team
Leinders & Monteiro are now with Minardi in some form
Henton's birthplace has been put as it should be, with county & full name (not simply "Donington")
Vasser is with PK racing
Mollekens is part-time ETCC and Derek Hill is in endurance racing now.

Thank you to:
Jimmy Piget, Len Calinoff, Galen Kurth, Hfalc & Allen Brown for the ideas to keep improving the site. He informed me how many hits it got for the last update & I was astounded!! Thanks to everyone, whether silent or not (you know what I mean )for the support so far & I'll do my very best to keep the show going as smoothly as before, without compromising my own life in the process.


PS - Allen - I solved the disc problem. All is well, I am very relieved to say.

First Richie, great job

Err, ummm...I finally got a chance to peruse the full list and found a few corrections and have a couple of additions. I'll pm you with them.

I thought I'd go ahead and post here in case you strangled me for coming up with them this late!

Again thanks for your efforts

Incorrect Info/Slight changes etc.
Dav Hamilton - birthplace amended to correct term
P Jones - corrected to right state!
T Stewart - birthplace changed

New Info
Roy Sherman’s death year & birthplace

W A T N Updates
Most of it is regarding pastures new for the 2004 season, so by series:
CART: Mazzacane, J Wilson
GT’s: Sullivan, Giroix, Naspetti, Larini
Endurance: Deletraz
D Nissan: Ro. Sperafico, Camathias
IRL: Fernandez, Rahal, M Jourdain
F3000: Enge, Toccacelo
And around 5 others are slight changes to the wording from past to present tenses.

Other W A T N’s :
Light - promoter
Forberg - sprint car owner
R Crawford - food merchant
Sherman - mechanic & garage
Jiggs Peters - active since death!
R Amick - truck stop
Holmes J - TV shop
McQuinn & Houser - USAC officials
MCWithey - car salesman
P Russo & J Jackson - accessory reps
Shepherd - bus driver
Armi - sound technican
Pifer - garage & illness.
Furci - restaurants
Dochnal - at last, I can say what he did after his GP attempt!

Other
All current GP drivers up by 2.
Tielemans, originally signed to F3000 Ma-Con team, was dropped for Enge & has been removed. Pla is also provisional only, but I’ll keep an eye on that.

THANKS
Gil Bouffard, Gordon White, Art Braithwaite, Ensign14, F1 Rejects, Jim Thurman, Danny B, Rick Ockoman, Galen Kurth, Bob Lawrence, Marty Little, Steve Zautke, Terry Reed



This update was actually done a while back, but I've only just got around to noticing it's up, apologies for the delay. The WATN has also been done on a new machine & programme, so if anyone notices anything unusual about the entries, please let me know.

A couple of notes for you:

Jourdain did not go with Rahal to the IRL, he left the team and went to the new RuSport operation to stay in Champ Cars.

The Mazzacane/Fittipaldi deal is not official, it's probably a 50/50 chance of happening. We'll see in a week and a half when practice starts at Long Beach.

Aaarrrgh!! Did I forget to tell you again?

Sorry Richie - my memory is getting worse and worse.

Allen

Quite alright Allen! We all have memory lapses!

Disco Stu - yep, cheers - I am aware of both situations changing from when I actually wrote them - they're already changed for the next update, whenever that'll be.

Hi, all. I don't see Achille Varzi mentioned in the "V"s. Is my eyesight that bad? Thank you.