He's under R for Rosberg.

http://www.oldracingcars.com/bydriver/watn.asp?letter=R

George Metzler died "early today" on 03 June 1949, according to the newspaper Dixon (IL) Evening Telegram, page 7, from the AP wire, and the Nevada State Journal, page 7, from the UP wire ("today"), both newspapers and wire service feeds dated 03 June 1949. Metzler was a veteran of WW-II, and is also listed in the Find-A-Grave site as having died on 03 June 1949.

Rick Kelly
Oklahoma City, OK
erkelly2@cox.net

Some updates:

Allen Berg's team exists in Mexico no more...So also Carlos Guerrero is not in it
Roberto González is not racing in Mexico since he raced the last time in Champ Cars, I think he is retired

Thanks to you and to Rick for his post above

Latest updates are now on there - as both Allen & myself have been busy over the last month, it's a little out-of-date as it were, as it was done before Regazzoni's sad death.

Nonetheless, there's still a little bit of fun & games:-

2006/2007 News
Angellelli, D Brabham, Diaz, Davidson, Doornbos, de la Rosa, Frentzen, Franchitti, Hakkinen, hunter-Reay, Glock, M Gene, goeters, Goosens, Haywood, Klein, Johansson, Lavaggi, Lammers, Lotterer, Manning, Matsuura, Pescarolo, Nakajima, Pizzonia, Pruett, Rhodes, Rydell, Simmons, Sharp, A Suzuki, W Taylor, Zanardi

Birthplaces - new or changed
(changed unless otherwise stated)
Bellefroid (*new*), Bedard, T Bigelow, Bagley, Buick, Chassey, Caliva, Ciprich, D Ferguson, Hucul, Gascoyne, Gaudino (and nationality), Gelhausen, Klausler, Krueger, Krisiloff, Bo Lazier, G Leffler, Mahler, J Martin, Muther, J Miller, Olivero, Pimm, D Richards, Romcevich (*new*), L Rice, Rager, K Schrader, D Simon, Saldana, Vukovich II, Tempero, Vance (*New* - plus WATN info), Tempero, B whittington, Weiss, J Wood


New Information
Shahab Ahmed, B Harvey, Hostetler - full birthdetails & WATN
Cucinotta, Porporato, K Sailer, J Scales - birthyear, place
Delling, Christiaens - more complete birthplace
Ensley, S Greene, S Hudson - full birth & death details

Changes to previous info
Alderson - new birthdate & place
Baumann - deathdate & spelling of deathplace
Denver, Connor, Hoyt, Marshman, G Schrader, Thiesen (and place) - deathdate
Heath, T wright - birthdate
Larson, templeman - birthstate
B Robinson - birthyear, place & full death details
B Scott, Webb - birthyear
Schurch - deathstate
Shanebrook - new birth information, corrected death information

New Additions
Lewis Hamilton, Jerry Houck, Ab Jenkins, David Martinez

Deaths
Coy, Sutton, O Gonzalez, E Martin

Other WATN
Katayama, Koetzla, Mass, McRae, O Phillips, J & C Robinson


Also the interviews are up and should have a link to each entry soon.

Thanks
Disco Stu, Adam Ferrington, J P Cunha, Jean-Charles Colombier, Jim Thurman, Marty Little, David Seibert, Rick Kelly, Mischa Bijenhof, Wayne Doebling, Jean-Louis Mathieu, Malvi, Michael Ferner, CB, Don Radbruch



Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Here's hoping 2007 will see more mysteries being solved.

And a happy new year to you all -

Re: Mike Salay.

Where in Illinois is South Bend located?

The nearest South Bend that I can find is in Indiana; another is in Washington; and another in Paris, France.

Rick Kelly
Oklahoma City, OK

Oops. I was thinking cathedrals when I mentioned Paris.

Also, re: Michael Salay:

The 1920 US Census shows a Michael Szalai, the son of Vincent and Ethel, born in Indiana, age ten years old on 15 January 1920, the date that the census information was collected. Assuming that this is correct, then the information from http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/SalayMike.htm is probably correct - that Mike was born on 10 June 1909 rather than 1910.

His parents were born in Hungary. There was also a younger brother, Vincent, also born in Indiana, one year before Mike.

- - - -

Also, Forix, Champ Car Stats, and racing-reference.info all show Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela to have been born on 14 November 1954. Do you know something that the others don't know?

- - - -

And mentioned previously on this page, Joe Saldana was born in Clay Center, Nebraska, went to high school in Lincoln . . . My info also from previously cited Champ Car Stats site.

Best to all for the new year!

Rick Kelly
Oklahoma City, OK

. . . after Mike, not before . . .



K

Thanks for Salay - he should indeed be South Bend, Indiana.

Re. Salazar - I am confused. I have 1954 as well.

Anyway, 1954 is correct. Salazar confirmed it at the GP Masters event at Silverstone. If it comes straight from the horses mouth, I'm inclined to believe it.

This article contains an interview with Merle Bettenhausen where he says he was 17 years old when his father died at Indy in 1961. That supports the 1943 birthdate.

This is a difficult one. Normally the rule with me is "if they say it is this", then I'm likely to believe them.

Yet two different non-motor racing sources give it as 1939.

At the moment, I'm leaving it as it is.

"Go! The Bettenhausen Story" does not mention the date - but suggests it was during the war...at about the time NSSN started publishing as a monthly.

I seem to have hit a raw nerve here...

[size=huge]I sincerely apologize!!!!![/huge]

Actually, it's not the first time that "my tone in writing" has been critisized, apparently I have to be more careful - I'll try to, honestly!

I hope this is done with now, so back to business:

Merle Bettenhausen was born June 9, 1943 - I looked it up just before I came here, so it's fresh in memory. There are pictures (one is in "Fabulous Fifties") where you can clearly see that he's younger than Gary. There is absolutely no doubt, actually.

As for the non-starters, that's always a problem. If your criterium is that the person has to have appeared on the track, then you also have to add a lot of chief mechanics and car owners (Harry Stephens and Joe Scopa, to name but two) who definitely and frequently practiced their cars, usually in the early days before the assigned drivers arrived. But that's another story, altogether.

The ones I mentioned (to which you can also add Zenon R. "Bud" Bardowski in 1946) are some names where I can't be sure, but I'm "reasonably" positive about them actually appearing in practice and/or qualifying. Beeder, for example, is once listed as having qualified the car (I think it was the Duray, driven by McQuinn?), while Bardowski shows in a picture of the car, although stationary at the pits. Slade and Houck showed up in entry lists, and their replacements (I think) drove other cars first, so they should have practiced!? Actually, in some cases there is almost no way of knowing, so yes, I had to guess my way through. It becomes even more difficult for the earlier years, in the twenties there are quite some cases where it is difficult to know who qualified a particular car, and even earlier it is sometimes impossible to say who started (e.g. Amplex #44 in 1911, Firestone-Columbus in 1912).

Another thing: to my information John Boling was the first native American at Indy, three generations before Cory Witherill - I would also consider deleting the bit about the "role model" of Witherill, somebody might be offended, and I don't think it has a place there, anyway.

I have to admit the evidence for 1943 looks damning. So, I'll change it. (But if it ever does turn out by freak chance it is 1939, I'll come back & haunt you & say "I told you so" )

To be honest, the Indy qualifying/non-qualifying is an absolute mess. I think some on the list already shouldn't be there and there could be as many as 80 that should be. I've tried to compromise and added a few where there seems to be a bit more "weight" behind them. There's an argument to just remove the non-qualifiers all together, which would solve many mysteries in a stroke by deleting them but also remove some notables. So I'll leave who is in for now. Some names got removed anyhow already.

The criteria that I go by, although it's somewhat loose, is that they must have been entered & then practiced/attempted to qualify with the full intention of racing for the event. That's why Londono-Bridge doesn't appear on my F1 lists, rather controversially, I'll admit.

He's now stretched across the Thames or sold to an American or something.

Arizona desert perhaps?

Chip shop in the Coloradan Desert?

Les Leston = Alfred Lazarus Fingleston

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Leston

A recent edit by a wikipedian called 'Bretonbanquet' whose main area of expertise is Fleetwood Mac. He didn't mention where he discovered that nugget but when someone edits 67 wikipedia pages in a six hour burst, I guess we're just expected to trust them.

Allen

I'm guessing this might be our TNF member bretonbanquet. If so, maybe he could be prevailed upon to confirm his info.

Yeah, that's Les Leston's real name, I've known that for years. It's on his birth certificate, maybe I can scan on here when I scan the Berthon stuff at some stage when I've got a few hours spare.

Yes I can also confirm - it's included in the latest Grand Prix Data Book that came out last year.

I also heard from people who worked with Les and know him well that he is in poor health at the moment and in a nursing home in Eastbourne I believe.

It does actually, in the glossary section at the beginning, and just confirms what we all now seem to agree on:-

"Merle Bettenhausen - second son of Tony Bettenhausen. Born 1943".

Over at [url]www.trackforum.com , a new thread has just opened to mark the passing of Danny Oakes

No death details yet posted, but I suppose that the news isn't exactly surprising as he was 96.

Thanks Rateus - it's also not surprising as he was very ill too in the last few months of his life. Sad day for US motorsport all round really.

I'll see if I can find anything more.

From Car Racer's Newsletter Special...
>
> Danny Oakes, 3-time West Coast Midget Champion, and
> crew chief on a winning Indy car team, passed away
> January 13, 2007. Danny was 96 years old. One of
> the all time favorite midget drivers, Danny was
> known as a money driver, racing 6 and 7 times a
> week, traveling all over the country. Like his good
> friend, Rodger Ward, Danny kept his car positioned
> to win or place high at nearly every race he
> entered. Oakes was a great dancer, and went dancing
> long into his 90's. "That's how I kept in shape,
> and it gave me the stamina to win those 50 and 100
> lappers." Oakes was called "Dapper Danny" by his
> friends and racers for his impeccable wardrobe. As
> a master mechanic, Danny won the respect of the
> racing fraternity.

Searching on Google for a tiny bit on Scuderia St. Ambroeus and fell over Old racing cars . com . No it didnt hurt , but I just dont anderstand it , sorry :" Saint Maur , F , Has had a chequered career recently , with GT & Porsche... Recently acquired the Scuderia SA equipe & runs them in GT events... " Who ,what,where, when ??????

Where is that on ORC?

Allen

Bjorn

Are you looking at some search engine's autosummary of an ORC page? It helps if you actually visit the page. The reference to Scuderia St. Ambroeus is on Loris Kessel's entry.

Allen

In a 1966 issue of Competition Press & Autoweek there's a story about rookie tests that mentions Frankie Beeder (or Frank Bedder as they refer to him) was the only driver to pass one 1938, so it looks like we can confirm his participation.

Allen & Bjorn
I love puzzles and could not resist trying to find Bjorn's quote...

It is in the ORC/WATN 'Fabien Giroix' entry .. why this clip appears in a Scuderia St. Ambroeus Google search I can't understand, but it does.

To be fair to Bjorn, following the Google link just take you to the opening page of WATN
Rob

Thanks DS

In the interim period since Michael posted about Beeder, I've found the weight of evidence to be strongly in Beeder's favour, so he'll be added.

Sorry to all for no recent update - I am snowed under right now - but with work, and not the weather. I hope to have a new update due in March, I think now. One of my longer periods without an update, but C'est La Vie

Richie
Just had a quick look at the site
Would you mind listing Fraser under Fraser instead of pretentding he's Mackay-Fraser?
Either that or put John Michael-Hawthorn under the 'M's

David, sorry, I thought I already had!

Now, I know there's been dispute about this fellow's name before but finally (although I trust David, I still need to check & have something as evidence to back me up) I've found something that should help one mystery & start another.

A New York Passenger list from 1933: http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=Vie...&pid=2016588169

Surname: Fraser First Names: Herbert MacKay Place Born: Pernambuco, Brazil. Date of Birth: 23 Jun........ 1922!

Another passenger list from about 10 years later also gives his birthdate as... 1922.


So, as well as putting him in the F's, I shall be changing his birthdate, unless the 1927 date can be proved?

Gents,

Just finished working on a page for Wally Zale.

According to the Associated Press and Sgt. Anton Paulus of the Cook County Highway Police, scrambled with The Tribute Project's and National Midget Hall of Fame's pages on Wally Zale, I think the accident happened when Zale felt he could ignore the red flashing RR crossing lights because he could beat the train he saw coming from the south. Unfortunately he did not see the train coming from the north, which hit his car, dragging it for a block until the other train hit the car.
A passenger, Frank Perrone, another midget driver from Chicago, was also killed.

The accident happened on 25 April 1942, not in May.

Wally Zale is believed to hold the record for the most number of feature wins in a midget in one year (1940) - sixty-seven!

Rick Kelly
Oklahoma City

Truth or Lie?

Sutil - born in Gräfelfing or Starnberg
Gugelmin - born in Joinville or Curitiba
Jackie Stewart - born in Milton, West Dunbartonshire or Dumbuck, Dumbartonshire
Leslie Thorne - born Greenock, Inverclyde or Greenock, Renfrewshire
Narain Karthikeyan - born Coimbatore, Tamilnadu or Madras, Tamil Nadu

Both Stewart brothers are definitely born in Milton - I've seen the evidence.

I would welcome clear information about Sutil, though. His site says Grafelfing, but websites aren't always truthful. http://www.adriansutil.com/info,personal,1.html

Everything I have seen for Karthikeyan, including his website http://www.narainracing.com/profile_biography.html says Chennai (Mumbai)

http://www.gugelmin.com/english/driver.html - Mauricio Gugelmins's site says Joinville

Thorne I think was Renfrewshire, but I am sure Adam Ferrington will correct me if I am wrong.

Richard, I tend to disagree with you concerning the birthplace of JYS and his older brother. In The biography "A Restless Life" a passage in the first chapter claims that,

"Jackie was born on an oak table in the front room at Rockview, a modest dwelling in Dumbuck and the first house to the north-west of Dumbuck Garage". It also goes on to say that Jimmy was born in the same bungalow 8 years before. This is also backed up by the wee man himself at the beginning of a recent film produced by his son Mark.

The Stewart brothers may well have been born in the parish of Milton, but Dumbuck seems more accurate - you can see it on an OS map on the eastern suburbs of Dumbarton. Maybe parish names and various boundaries mean that something different is written on a birth certificate or other documents.
(In the UK parish names and boundaries change nearly as much as Silverstone's various layouts)

Also there seems some confusion concerning Karthikeyan; I'm quite sure he was born in Madras which has since changed its name to Chennai.

BTW Richard, great work on finding more birth date/place info about John Cordts and Herbert Mackay Fraser. Keep up the good work!

Sorry, David, Chennai is indeed Madras. I was getting confused with Bombay-Mumbai.

I think the problem with the Stewart brothers is that I have to go by what's on the certificate, which in this case, is somewhat misleading. It's a bit of a long spiel but perhaps Milton, Dumbuck, Dumbarton, Dumbartonshire, Scotland is what needs to be put down...

Richard,

You are correct - Leslie Thorne was born in Greenock, which at that time (1916) was, I believe, in Renfrewshire. Inverclyde is the name of the current day council area which covers Greenock.

Re. the Stewarts, I think you have all the info - if not, let me know.

Latest updates are now up - mostly WATN updating but for full list see below:-

WATN 06-07
Ayari, Alesi, G Anderson, Boesel, Bucknum J, Briscoe, J Davis, de Villota, Dernie, E Cheever, de Castro, Dumas, da Matta, Enge, C Fittipaldi, Glock, M Gene, Garcia, Gianmaria, herbert, Lehto, Luyjendyk jr, Kox, Karthikeyan, Krumm, Jourdain Jr, Monteiro, Mazzacane, McNish, Montoya, O Martini, Purnell, Pirro, Needell, Policand, Panis, Nannini, Pantano, Pruett, Rangoni, Rostan, Roth, B Rice, Sarrazin, Theys, Villeneuve (jr), Wiggins, Yamamoto

Other WATN
Burgess, J Brabham, Beaujon, Freeland, R Gonzalez, Hytten, Hadfield, McKee, Marmioli, Nardozzi, Quester, Romano, T Robinson, Stoddart, South, Sauber, Toleman, Tacchino

New/Corrected Information
Aspen - deathplace, corrected birthplace
M Bettenhausen, Coy - corrected birthdate
E Devore - birthplace & full birthdate
Cordts, Dallest, Kauhsen, Tacchino, Wyss - birthplace
Gelnaw - deathdetails removed
L Hamilton - corrected birthplace
Metzler, Zale - corrected deathdate
Fraser - moved to F and new birthdate
Pixley - corrected spelling of birthplace
Painter, Pederzani - deathdate
Orsi - full birthplace, corrected birthyear
Sarles - corrected deathplace
Salay - corrected birthstate & year
Scales - FULL details

Deaths
de Graffenried, Oakes, Regazzoni (very difficult to have to type up)

New entries
Bardowski, Duno, Mitrisin, Pagenaud, G Rahal, Sutil

Thanks
Rick Kelly, Daillo, Wayne Parker, Mario Hytten, Michael Ferner, Allen Brown, Sir Jack Brabham, Adam Ferrington, Peter Higham, Rateus, Mariner (Tony Scales), Mary Cordts, David McKinney, Linda McKee & Darlene Ryan, Alnica

(a few notable names in that list )

You probably should hold off on Duno and Mitrisin. The team still hasn't pulled the money together and made any kind of official announcement, and I remember reading somewhere that Mitrisin has resigned with his sprint car team. Looks like the team owner got ahead of himself with all sorts of big talk he can't yet back up.

New Marvin Panch Book and Panch web site.

Henry

Marvin Panch's Autobiography Released Daytona Speed Weeks 2007

Racing Memories From A NASCAR Legend
Marvin Panch...as told to his daughter

Marvin has just released two volumes of a three volume set of books recapping his racing career. These books are a compilation of family articles, stories and pictures that provides a look into the life of Marvin Panch that you will not find in any other book. Throughout my dad’s racing career, mom was diligent about keeping all kinds of insightful information that she would show me and my brother in order to understand what dad did to support us when we were young. Throughout the years, I have often reflected back through our family scrapbooks and each time, I feel more and more respect for my dad. He raced when there wasn’t a lot of fanfare, glory or riches. In fact, when asked, dad will often reply that he raced because it was what he knew how to do best. I sincerely hope that you, the reader, will get as much satisfaction and insight from his autobiography.

For more information about Marvin and to purchase his book, please visit www.MarvinPanch.com

According to the Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002, Steven Craig Knapp was born on 17 April 1964, not 1974.

Rick Kelly
Oklahoma City

Does anyone know the truth about Doug Heveron's date and place of birth?

According to Richie's page, and racing-reference.info, dob is 29 March 1964.

According to www.champcarstats.com, and many other sites, dob is 29 March 1961.

If 1964 is correct, then he was 19 when he started racing in Cart and USAC.

Did Cart/Usac have a minimum age limit?

Was he born in Rochester, NY, or Liverpool, NY, or elsewhere?

Rick Kelly
Oklahoma City

This isn't a certainty by any means Rick, but US public records indicate Heveron was born in March 1961. I am happy to change it as a result, although I'm not sure if there was an age limit enforced. Not certain about place of birth, I'm afraid.

latest updates are up, part 1 of two of a big update for the new season:

2007 WATN
B Ashmore, Aguas, Aganthelou, Artam, John Andretti, Bright, A Beltoise, Bernoldi, Bruni, Baumgartner, Barron, Bleekemolen, Biagi, Belloc, Brassfield, Berton, Bigelow, Besnard, Chiesa, Cochet, Couceiro, Chaves, Dallenbach Jr, de Simone, Didero, M Dominguez, Euser, Filhol, Firman, C Fittipaldi, Gregoire, Giroix, Davey Hamilton, Hitzinger, Herbert, D Halliday, Herb, Heveron, Inoue, Jabouille, Johansson, PJ Jones, Kane, Kessel, Karthikeyan, Laffite, Livio, Langhorne, J Leffler, Monfardini, Monterio, Morbidelli, Moreno, Merzario, Meneghello, C Montanari, Nielsen, Perez Sala, Paffett, Ranger, Ro & Ri Sperafico, Schwager, Saelens, Takagi, Tielemans, M Wilson


Other WATN
Auinger, Aiello, D Bell, Bernard, Berg, Borgudd, Burany, Calcagni, P Carter, Cottaz, Comas, Gavin, D Hunt, S Moss, Pieterse, D Richards, Tingle, Thackwell


Additions
Ascanelli, Beeder, Gommendy, Slade


New Info
Boggs, W Mitchell, Matson - basic birth details
W Chandler - new birthplace, bit more info
George Hill & Bill Lipscomb info - FULL info, and WATN completed as well.
Hitzinger - birthplace
Heveron - birthdate changed from 1964 to 1961.
Balsa, Knapp - birthyear corrected.
Melaun - full death details
JJ McCoy - first name found, plus place & year of birth
Rossi - first name amended, year & place of birth
Wells - full deathplace & date

Others
Spellings, minor updates etc.
Mitrisin removed.
Schiller has died.
All GP drivers updated by 1 GP.
Competed years in the Indy 500 amended for a number of drivers.

Thanks
Rewind, Henk, Kerry Thackwell, Rick Kelly, David Holland, United (Alexander)







For Rewind - very few dates you're not already of, Reinhard - but George Hill 11/10/1886 d. 20/3/1967. Bill Lipscomb b. 28/4/1901 d. 8/6/63. Melaun d. 26/5/1922, Wells d. 22/4/1925.

This link on the BRDC web-site announces the death of Robin Montgomerie-Charrington, apparently on 3 April
http://www.brdc.co.uk/news.cfm/title/ROBIN...N/flag/2/id/524

A great shame, but at near 92 we can't be too surprised & sad. RIP.

Heinz Schiller deth

Geneva or Crans-Montana (http://www.statsf1.com/default.asp?From=/d...iew=prev%26LG=1)

Funeral Details here