14 replies to this topic

[oldtransamdriver]

An interesting read, from the dirt track jalopy wars of southern CA, sprint cars, stock cars, Indy cars, Trans-Am, team owner, business tycoon, to bouncing thru

the BaJa with "Big Oly".

 

There is lots of input from other drivers, business associates, promoters, etc., and his family.

 

As he told me one day at a "Tribute to Trans-Am Reunion", you have to have the "will to win".

 

He certainly had lots of that.

 

Robert Barg

[Nemo1965]

An interesting read, from the dirt track jalopy wars of southern CA, sprint cars, stock cars, Indy cars, Trans-Am, team owner, business tycoon, to bouncing thru

the BaJa with "Big Oly".

 

There is lots of input from other drivers, business associates, promoters, etc., and his family.

 

As he told me one day at a "Tribute to Trans-Am Reunion", you have to have the "will to win".

 

He certainly had lots of that.

 

Robert Barg

 

Is the (thread)-title a reference to the much used story: 'Who do you think you are, Sterling Moss/Fangio/Jim Clark?'

[RA Historian]

Is the (thread)-title a reference to the much used story: 'Who do you think you are, Sterling Moss/Fangio/Jim Clark?'

There likely are dozens of drivers about whom this old saw has been said. BTW, it is Stirling, not :Sterling." (sic)

[D-Type]

There was even a Renault advert that featured a policeman saying to a Renault driver: "Who do you think you are - Stirling Moss?" and the camera then pans to the driver, who is....

[D-Type]

My favourite variation is when a French petrol station owner somehow mistook Alain Prost for Rene Arnoux and treated him to an anti-Prost tirade.  Prost tactfully paid cash rather than identify himself by using a credit card.

[oldtransamdriver]

The reference is to a speeding ticket issued to Mr. Jones.

 

Robert

[P.Dron]

The reference is to a speeding ticket issued to Mr. Jones.

 

Robert

 

Ah. Nobody had guessed that.

[BRG]

Am I right in recalling that the original "Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?" story was told by Moss about his being pulled up for speeding in the Mersey Tunnel?

 

I seem to recall a tale (perhaps apocryphal) that Senna was once stopped and asked "'Oo do yer fink you are then, Nigel Mansell?" which didn't go down too well with him.

[Tim Murray]

Stirling was done for changing lanes in the Mersey Tunnel, not speeding:

Sir Stirling and the Mersey Tunnel

There’s a post from LOTI in that thread about John Surtees being pulled over for speeding and asked if he thought he was Stirling, and also a mention of the Senna/Nigel Mansell incident.

[Nemo1965]

 

Passo Stelvio

 

A short story

 

My favourite story about WDYTYA I read in my youth (and believed back then. Ah, the innocence of youth). Imagine, if you will, The Passo Stelvio, the famous road through the mountains in Italy. It is midnight and very quiet. Only the headlights of one car cuts through the night. An Alfa Romeo convertible occupied by two gentleman, which snakes through the corners. One of the two gentleman is sleeping, his head resting against the shoulder of his seat.

 

The gentleman driving is driving very, very fast.  Still, suddenly, around a corner a truck appears, overtaking a horse-drawn cart. The whole road seems to be blocked. The choices all seem equally grim: a head-on collision with a man, a horse and a wooden cart and the stout front of a truck... or a plunge in the depth of the pass. 'Right and then left,' a voice says, very clearly. It is the man that was just before sleeping. He is suddenly wide awake, before the driver of his car has even touched the brakes. 'Yes,' the driver says, pulling the handbrake, making the rear of the car swerve right, missing the neighing horse and only because it is on its rears. Then he releases the handbrake, gives a sudden burst of throttle, spins the front to the left, around the cart, just away from the front of the truck that is frantically braking and turning to the other side.

 

The Alfa Romeo has missed both obstructions but is now, despite the full lock on the brakes, heading direct for the plunge if the low stone barrier won't stop them. It is clear for both gentlemen in the Alfa it won't. 'Out,' the man in the passenger-seat says, again very calmly. Both open their respective doors and jump out. Both roll in different directions. The Alfa, indeed, shoots through the medieval barrier as easy as a child's car by a child's hand through a wall of wooden play-blocks. For a moment it seems suspended in air, the rear lower than the front, as if it tries to defy its purpose - driving - and can fly, after all.

 

But it can't. After an impossible long half a second, the car flips over to the front and starts falling at a quickening rate. Out of sight it lands against the face of the mountain, screeching like an animal about to die a certain death. Which, of course, is the case. While this piercing, high sounds echoes on, one can hear the horse whinnying as an omen, then there several seconds of pure anticipating silence, and then a deep, very distant thud, as if somewhere an ancient giant has fallen after reaching the old age it had to reach.

 

The passengers of the now disappeared Alfa have ended up about twenty yards from each other. The driver is sitting on his bum, his arms stretching behind him, akin a bathing tourist on the beach wondering if he should get an ice-cream. The other is lying on his back, clearly awake, staring at the sky. He blows out air very, very slowly. The driver of the truck is running towards them, gesticulating, yelling. The words in his mouth tumble over each other, until they create a jam, and he can only say: 'You... you... you...'

 

The driver of the Alfa is getting up, dusting his clothes. He assesses the truck-driver very calmly. This calms the latter's voice though does not sooth his temper. 'You maniac!,' he screams, waving his fist at the much taller gentleman in front of him, 'who do you think you are; driving that manic speed; Fangio?' The driver says very calmly. 'No. I am Luigi Fagioli. That,' and he points at the other man, getting up gingerly, 'is Juan Manuel Fangio.'

 

The truck-driver stares unbelieving at the man approaching him, recognises him... and then faints.

Edited by Nemo1965, 04 January 2016 - 18:03.

[Tim Murray]

Obviously an embroidered and exaggerated version of the real story:
 

Here is a little more from Gary Laughlin as told to Willem Oosthoek:

I was in Milano, purchasing an Alfa coupe that was not imported into the US, at the dealership of Franco Cornaccio, an old friend of Fangio’s. Fangio asked if I wanted a ride to Modena, and since I was headed there anyhow, I said yes.

Halfway down the road to Milano, on a two lane highway, about Piacenza or Fidensa, we were moving at about 120 mph, there was a truck perpendicular to the road, stuck, across both lanes. Instead of hitting the brakes which would've decapitated us, Fango flicked the wheel, violently, left then right. The nose of our car hit the tail of the truck, and started us spinning. Fangio and the senora were ejected, and now the Lancia was on the road behind the truck. The truck driver screamed "Que piencas es, Fangio "? I replied "Yo no es, pero El Es."

The driver burst into tears. The car never turned over. That's about it and all I remember. I don't even remember the exact date.

[63Corvette]

Amazingly cool stories. I would not even attempt to compete with the Fangio story.

My only Parnelli Jones story is from 2014, when I was sitting on the false grid for Group 6 practice at the SVRA Indy invitational races. Just before the track opened, Parnelli drove up to my window on a golf cart and put out his hand. He said to me "You have a beautiful car. Be careful out there." I shook his hand and he drove off, leaving me trying to fucus on driving instead of what had just happened.

[lotuspoweredbyford]

Is the (thread)-title a reference to the much used story: 'Who do you think you are, Sterling Moss/Fangio/Jim Clark?'

 

I believe the reference is being made to the book about Parnelli Jones, which is titled, "As a matter of fact, I AM Parnelli Jones".

 

http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/0985773510

Edited by lotuspoweredbyford, 04 January 2016 - 22:41.

[group7]

I do have that Parnelli Jones book as well, good read. since this thread has deviated somewhat, does any one here remember a piece, in Supercar Classics, or  perhaps in "Car" by Mel Nichols, title may have been  "night driving, or drives"? there was a illustration at the top of the page of a cars light sweeping through a small english village. it described passing through these hamlets, in some detail, and arriving at the destination. it was so long ago my memory is a little vague on the details. I bought the Nichols book " and the revs keep rising" thinking it may have been one of the stories there, some are close, but not quite,the chapter "big wind, blowing hard" on driving the Bora from London to Glasgow is similar. the book is a great read in my opinion. I have gone  quickly (not well organized, I'm afraid)  through most of these publications, but have not found it . can any one here drag it up in their memory banks ?

 

Mike (group7) in Canada

Edited by group7, 05 January 2016 - 03:38.

[Nemo1965]

I do have that Parnelli Jones book as well, good read. since this thread has deviated somewhat, does any one here remember a piece, in Supercar Classics, or  perhaps in "Car" by Mel Nichols, title may have been  "night driving, or drives"? there was a illustration at the top of the page of a cars light sweeping through a small english village. it described passing through these hamlets, in some detail, and arriving at the destination. it was so long ago my memory is a little vague on the details. I bought the Nichols book " and the revs keep rising" thinking it may have been one of the stories there, some are close, but not quite,the chapter "big wind, blowing hard" on driving the Bora from London to Glasgow is similar. the book is a great read in my opinion. I have gone  quickly (not well organized, I'm afraid)  through most of these publications, but have not found it . can any one here drag it up in their memory banks ?

 

Mike (group7) in Canada

 

I apologise for that, my fault, but the thread-title and first post were somewhat... confusing...