122 replies to this topic

[David McKinney]

Spelling looks pretty good to me
... unless they were referring to someone else

[kayemod]

Has anybody mentioned Archie Scott-Thomas yet?

Do you mean that nice young lady who got out of a bath in The English Patient ? If so, I mention (and think about) her all the time.

[RA Historian]

Or even Juan-Manuel Fandango...

Jose Julio Fandango.

As his interpreter, Sr Rosaruby translated, "He say he don't know whether he gonna win the race or not!"

(Interesting how sooner or later Ustinov's Grand Prix of Gibraltar always seems to find its way here!)

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 21 April 2010 - 15:57.

[Jim Thurman]

This is supposed to be pure and unadulterated fun, not a contest or a poll, but ever since I read the comment in passing in "The Miller Dynasty" by Mark Dees about Arvol Brunmier being "the most misspelled name in racing history" I have to think about that subject whenever I come across another mix-up in letters, especially since I never found that many occasions when AB's name was misspelled. Anyway, this will probably be most alluring to the researchers amongst us, or to those with blood pressure issues when they see "Mike Hawthorne" or "Bert Hawthorn" in print, but for sheer variety I think that John La Torraca will take a lot of beating. Actually, I'm not really sure THAT is the correct spelling for this unheralded driver and car owner of the pre-WW2 era from the Bay area in Northern California

I think La Torraca is the winner, and I believe that was the correct spelling.

Actually, Michael, I have seen Arvol Brunmier's name spelled a number of different ways. Dees might be right if one adds in the misspelling of his first name as well. I've seen Arvol, Orval, Orvil, Orville. For misspelling both first and last, he might be hard to top.

And, again, it points out why it's so difficult to rely on general newspaper accounts in the U.S. when it comes to racing There is a consistent lack of knowledge displayed by reporters, or worse yet, a pronounced lack of effort to get the information correct. I've tried to point this out to many folks working on other projects, with varying degrees of success.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by David McKinney
Spelling looks pretty good to me
... unless they were referring to someone else

David, you of all people should know which three or four drivers ever ran a Lola T70 at Warwick Farm. And there was only one Englishman.

[dretceterini]

I've seen Bucciali spelled with a K??!!

[David McKinney]

David, you of all people should know which three or four drivers ever ran a Lola T70 at Warwick Farm. And there was only one Englishman.

I realised you were referring to John Scott-Davies, but this thread is about spelling, and the spelling of that unknown person looked pretty good to me

[Michael Ferner]

A good one I found recently is a chap from Philadelphia by the name of (apparently!) Hawley Kight, at least that's the only version of the name I came about more than once! He was a regular of independent (non-AAA) races at Delco Speedway in Twin Oaks near Chester (PA) and other tracks of the vicinity. Various newspaper accounts gave his name as...

Herb Knight
Harry Kight
Joe Kight
Doug Kight
Don Kight
Hawly Kight
Haley Kight
Holly Kight
Harvey Knight

[ExFlagMan]

....and for circuits, Donnington Park every time.

Hence the quite frequent phone calls to Donington Park race control from overseas competitors along the lines of - "We have arrived at Donington village - can you tells us how to get to the circuit". First task for RC was to try and find out whether they where actually at Castle Donington itself, Donington in Lincolnshire or even Donnington in Shropshire. Usual method was to get them to try and find a local signpost to somewhere else and then take it from there.

[ensign14]

"I'm just outside a quaint Welsh village called Arafwch Nawr."

[cheapracer]

When Bruno Giacomelli drove the F1 Alfa-Romeo in the 1980 Australian Grand Prix at Calder, one of the Australian crew had his name signwritten on the side of the car as Jack O'Malley

For many years before many of his cars ran the name so it's very possible it was already on the car.

The name written often by the way was Bruno "Jack O'malley" not just Jack O'malley.

Stolen from another NF thread

Edited by cheapracer, 28 December 2010 - 16:02.

[David McKinney]

A good one I found recently is a chap from Philadelphia by the name of (apparently!) Hawley Kight, at least that's the only version of the name I came about more than once! He was a regular of independent (non-AAA) races at Delco Speedway in Twin Oaks near Chester (PA) and other tracks of the vicinity. Various newspaper accounts gave his name as...

Herb Knight
Harry Kight
Joe Kight
Doug Kight
Don Kight
Hawly Kight
Haley Kight
Holly Kight
Harvey Knight

Nah - ten different drivers

[BRG]

"I'm just outside a quaint Welsh village called Arafwch Nawr."

Ah yes, I think that I have been there. It is in north, south & central Wales isn't it?

Another common name is Gwasanaethau all of which lay along the M4 motorway.

[stevewf1]

For many years before many of his cars ran the name so it's very possible it was already on the car.

The name written often by the way was Bruno "Jack O'malley" not just Jack O'malley.

Stolen from another NF thread

Say, shouldn't the "M" be capitalized? No?

Sometime in the 70s, a local TV sports announcer said that Jacky I-Kay won the Grand Prix...

[gkennedy]

I don't have any contenders for the most misspelled name in racing history, but here in Australia there are/were some names frequently misspelled. Ian and Leo Geoghegan amongst them (and the confusion over how many racing Geoghegans there were, like who was Ian and who was Pete) - but it's the ones that should be far less difficult that were more frequently misspelled. 'Allan Moffat' seemed to cause problems with numerous combinations of double and single 'l's, 'f's and 't's, also Bib Stillwell with various single and double 'l's - and editors who had this urge to 'correct' Bib to Bob. Then there's the Davisons; Lex, Jon, and later Will and Alex. 'Davison', not 'Davidson', and while I'm at it, it's Glenn Seton, not Glen Seaton. There's also Mark Skaife, while usually spelt correctly, often mispronounced as 'Mark Skase'. Most people got 'Bond', 'Brock', 'Goss', 'Grice', 'Morris', 'Holden', 'Jones', etc. correct - and I don't think I ever saw 'Ray Bell' misspelled.

[William Dale Jr]

Having gone through more than my fair share of 1980s Australian Touring Car race results, I don't think anyone ever settled on whether it was Lawrie or Laurie Nelson. Simple enough name, yet...

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by William Dale Jr
Having gone through more than my fair share of 1980s Australian Touring Car race results, I don't think anyone ever settled on whether it was Lawrie or Laurie Nelson. Simple enough name, yet...

Racing Car News, at least under Max Stahl (not 'Stall,' surely?), had great consistency on getting names right.

[David McKinney]

Yet nearly all Australian magazines spelt NZer Tom Clark with a final 'e' he never possessed, and Tony Shelley must get more appearances everywhere, even today, than in its correct form

[Michael Ferner]

Nah - ten different drivers

Yeah, the big Kight family from Philadelphia, and their cousins Knight...



Seriously, it's not just an idle fun exercise for me to note the different spellings. I don't bother with "Pete de Paola", "Frank Lockheart" or "Lou Meyers", but with these lesser known drivers there's always the danger of mixing up two or more different persons under the same name. At the very least it affords me the luxury of reviewing the original spelling in case I find drivers with similar names, and it can get very confusing at times! Like George "Dutch" Culp and Ed "Dutch" Kulp, both from Pennsylvania, and both active during the immediate pre-WW2 years...


P.S. Add "Howley Kight" to the above list...

Edited by Michael Ferner, 29 December 2010 - 10:26.

[Allan Lupton]

There was a VSCC story about Ron Foottitt, signing on for a race, being asked "is it Footit, Foottit, Footitt or Foottitt?" to which his answer was " . . hang on, you've got me confused now!"

[taylov]

Not a mention of Sterling?
;)

Poor chap. For at least 10 years from the 1950 French GP, almost all French programmes would list him as "S.Moos"

Tony

[LotusElise]

There have been a few French racers with the the name "deh-pray" phonetically - including a Marie who raced at Le Mans in the 30s. Their names are routinely confused, resulting in Deprez, Depret, Desprez and others being used interchangeably. I don't think we will ever get to the bottom of whose spelling was whose.

[scheivlak]

A quick search for "Vettle" on this site gives us 169 threads already.....

A search for "MacLaren" even 425, but that includes a question about one Chris MacLaren