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La verità sul caso D. or The Herbert Demetz mystery


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#1 ReWind

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Posted 23 July 2011 - 16:50

Some of you may have heard of the sorry fate of Italian racing driver Herbert Demetz. Not yet 30 years old he perished in a crash with a snow-groomer in December 1965.

You can read about it in the easily over-looked “Lest We Forget” section of the “Motorsport Memorial”:

Herbert Demetz lost his life during the winter of 1965 in a farming accident, while testing a new snow-groomer at Ortisei, near his Selva di Val Gardena hotel. He was 29-year-old. The accident happened on 22 December 1965. Ironically it was his close friend Ernesto Prinoth who created the Prinoth P60 snow-groomer, the machine in which Demetz had his fatal accident. The company founded by Ernesto Prinoth was joined with the Leitnersnow Company in 2000, becoming the world greatest snow-groomer producer.

But did it really happen?

You can also find this

Another great passion of Herbert Demetz - aside from his love of the Maciaconi - was car racing. He begun racing in 1957 when friends of his tried to convince him that his talent ought to be extended even to the world of competition.
The first car that accompanied him along his many victories was a Steyr Puch 500. Custom designed to his needs this car got him many top prizes after placing him in pole position. In 1960 and 1961 he even acquired the title of Italian Champion of his category.
In 1962 Herbert decided to enter a new category -the "Formula Baby Junior". He and his friend Ernst Prinoth, (Prinoth was the inventor of the first snowploughs), built a prototype and made test runs with it. It turned out to be an exceptional car which landed them to winning the 1962 Championship of the Tre Venezie.
Although he officially abandoned the racing scene in 1965 he raced a few more times with the famous Lancia Appia Zagato car until 1967 when he finally decided to take up managing the Maciaconi full time with his wife Erna.

and that

In 1967 "Nonno Alfonso" passed the Maciaconi onto his son Herbert and his wife Erna. Unfortunately Herbert passed away much too soon, in 1999, and his wife Erna skillfully pursued the Hotel tradition of excellence.

After all the source for the latter ones is the homepage of his family’s hotel "Maciaconi" (here & there)!

Is there an explanation to this mystery?

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#2 ReWind

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Posted 21 August 2011 - 10:45

Meanwhile the mystery (which nobody else seems to care about) has been solved.

There were two racing drivers called Herbert Demetz, one who died in 1965 and another one who died in 1999.

The latter’s son told me that both came from the same village, Gröden (Gardena), and both worked as hotel managers. The first one ran the Grödnerhof in St. Ulrich, the second one the Maciaconi in Wolkenstein. So one was known as „Herbert di Grödnerhof“, the other one as „Herbert da Maciaconi“.

When the first one died the newspapers said „Young hotel heir and racing driver Herbert Demetz from Gröden killed in accident“. The locals knew who was meant but people from further away could not be sure. So in the following summer a regular guest of the „Maciaconi“ from Milan walked into the lobby, saw „Herbert da Maciaconi“ whom she assumed to be dead, yelled „A ghost, a ghost“ and fainted.

Hopefully I will learn more about the two namesakes.

Edited by ReWind, 30 October 2011 - 15:15.


#3 ensign14

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Posted 21 August 2011 - 10:52

I never knew Ernesto Prinoth invented the snowplough.

#4 David McKinney

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Posted 21 August 2011 - 11:04

We care, Reinhard, we care!

But can't contribute of we don't know anything :)

#5 Tim Murray

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Posted 21 August 2011 - 11:14

Hear hear. Thank you for solving this mystery for us.

#6 ReWind

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Posted 25 October 2011 - 17:41

It took some time but eventually I got dozens of pictures showing "Herbert da Maciaconi", i.e. the lesser known Herbert Demetz.
A small selection:
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All pictures © Archiv Moritz Demetz

Edited by ReWind, 30 October 2011 - 15:17.


#7 ReWind

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Posted 25 October 2011 - 17:42

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Posted Image
Posted Image
Posted Image
Posted Image
All pictures © Archiv Moritz Demetz

#8 ReWind

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Posted 25 October 2011 - 17:43

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Posted Image
Posted Image
Posted Image
Posted Image
All pictures © Archiv Moritz Demetz