9 replies to this topic

[ensign14]

...before lights took over.

 

Just watched the Brunswick films footage of the 1973 season and the US GP was flagged off with a green flag.  That's obviously normal for American racing, but obvioulsy everywhere else got under way under the national flag.

 

Was that a normal thing for the US GP?  Or an anomaly for that year?  Or maybe is there some flag etiquette that prevented the Stars & Stripes being used for something so comparatively frivolous as starting a race?

 

(Some great asides in the film incidentally - Beuttler's team telling him to stop practising as they'd already got 30 laps on their only set of tyres, someone at Firestone offering a disbelieving Hunt a new set for testing...and some sad ones as well...)

[D-Type]

Was this race flagged off by the famous starter in the lavendar-colored* suit, Ted (can't recall the surname)?

 

*US race so US spelling  

[Collombin]

Tex Hopkins is probably the guy you are thinking of.

[D28]

Was this race flagged off by the famous starter in the lavendar-colored* suit, Ted (can't recall the surname)?

 

*US race so US spelling  

That would be Tex (not Ted) Hopkins pf Watkins Glen fame. 1973 the race would have been at the Glen still. I saw him start a few USGPs but never noticed what flag he waved. I did check that the Canadian GP did use the Canadian flag to start, so it is not a N American custom.

[Rob G]

I just did a Google image search for Tex Hopkins, and one photo it found showed him waving a green flag in 1969.

[jj2728]

Tex Hopkins always waved the green flag at the start of the USGP.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Tex Hopkins always waved the green flag at the start of the USGP.

I believe her wore a lavender suit.....

[Tom Glowacki]

...before lights took over.

 

Just watched the Brunswick films footage of the 1973 season and the US GP was flagged off with a green flag.  That's obviously normal for American racing, but obvioulsy everywhere else got under way under the national flag.

 

Was that a normal thing for the US GP?  Or an anomaly for that year?  Or maybe is there some flag etiquette that prevented the Stars & Stripes being used for something so comparatively frivolous as starting a race?

 

(Some great asides in the film incidentally - Beuttler's team telling him to stop practising as they'd already got 30 laps on their only set of tyres, someone at Firestone offering a disbelieving Hunt a new set for testing...and some sad ones as well...)

For that matter, I don't think any U.S. races are started with the national flag.  Reading the Flag Code, 4 U.S.C. Sec. 1, et. al.,  there are several provisions that might be read so as to preclude, or at least make difficult, the use of the national flag to start a race:

 

·        The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing, unless it is the ensign responding to a salute from a ship of a foreign nation.

·        The flag should never be displayed with the union (the starred blue union in the Canton) down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

·        The flag should never be drawn back or bunched up in any way.

·        The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose

·        The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

·        The flag should never be stepped on.

·        When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. 

[Tim Murray]

Tex Hopkins has his own thread:

http://forums.autosp...s-glen-starter/

[ensign14]

·        The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing, unless it is the ensign