14 replies to this topic

[Barry Lake]

The following letter was sent to Gordon White (US historian and author of books on Kurtis race cars), who posted it on the US site, Racing History.

I have 'lifted' it to post here, as I thought The Nostalgia Forum members might be able to help out with some additional background information.

Dear Mr. White,
I have been given your name by Mr Roger White, I had contacted him asking for help in trying to trace Dario Resta.
I live in Australia and have been researching family history and have found there is a possible link to Dario Resta and the Restas I have been looking for.
I have been in touch with the Brooklands Museum in England and they have helped me with some of the information re Dario's Motor Car Racing Career, I have also been able to obtain a copy of his death certificate, however I can find very little information about his private life. I know he was married to Mary Wishart, but am not sure where or when this happened, also I have found a child named Virginia accompanied both her parents on a passenger ship from Southampton England to New York in 1921.This states the families place of residence as being NY City, USA.
Can you tell me if there was an Obituary printed in one of the American papers after Dario's fatal accident at Brooklands in 1924?
Did any of the Motor Racing magazines print any personal details about his life in America? All I have been able to find is related to his achievements on the Motor Racing Track. I believe there was a close relative who did a story about Dario's life several years after his death, but so far I have not been able to find the name of this person.
If you can help in any way this would be most welcome. Please advise if a research fee is required for any of the above information.
Yours sincerely,
Muriel Resta

[Rob G]

The first thought that popped into my mind was, was Mary Wishart a relative of Spencer Wishart, the American driver of the same era?

[David McKinney]

Yes, Dario Resta married Spencer Wishart's sister

[Paul Rochdale]

This article contains quite a bit of information about Dario Radul Resta. He was married to Mary Wishart, the sister of Spencer Wishart who died in a racing accident in 1914. No mention of children however.

http://books.google....rEWgi8#PPA68,M1

[robert dick]

Dario Resta was born in Livorno, Italy, on 17 August 1884. His parents emigrated to London where young Dario served his apprenticeship in the Panhard shops.
Resta made his racing debut at Brooklands, in 1907, driving the Mercedes owned by F. R. Fry, a wealthy chocolate manufacturer of Bristol and prominent British turfman. In 1908 he drove an Austin six in the Grand Prix de l'ACF at Dieppe.
Between 1912 and 1914 Resta drove for Sunbeam and was the heaviest stockholder in the Dario Resta Co., a motor car agency at no. 27 Haymarket, London.
When war was declared he accepted a contract offered by Alphonse Kaufman's Peugeot Auto Import Co./New York. Soon after landing Resta married Spencer Wishart's sister Mary.

After the San Francisco races (Resta drove an ex-1914 Indianapolis 5,6-litre Peugeot to victory in the Grand Prize on 27 February 1915, and in the Vanderbilt on 6 March 1915), Resta was promoted as "racing's latest sensation, the man from over the sea". J. C. Burton wrote in Motor Age:

"Dario Resta is small in stature. There is nothing commanding about him. He does not typify the great strength as does Georges Boillot, the French champion, or did the late David Bruce-Brown. He is built more on the lines of Jules Goux or Ralph DePalma. He would have to stand on tip-toe to knock off the hat of a 6-foot antagonist and could train down to the lightweight limit after a week of road work. Yet there is nothing about him that could be mistaken for physical weakness. He is well proportioned. His shoulders are broad. He is a personification of the carefully trained athlete. He is a living lie to the fallacy that it takes a big man to tame a powerful motor car when it runs wild. He proved that he was master of his mount in the Grand Prize race when the Peugeot skidded on the slippery macadam and swung completely around in making the treacherous right-angle turns. He looks what he is, an Italian, for his skin is dark, his hair is wavy and his eyes are large and deep. Still, were you blind and unable to see him, you would wager that he was an Englishman. He has all the mannerisms of speech that identifies a Briton. The day that I talked with him, the weather in Chicago was ‘beastly.’ He told me that Carlson drove ‘jolly well.’ He said he would ‘rahther’ not divulge his future plans. Resta is a sportsman in every sense of the word. Next to driving racing cars, his favorite pastime is roller skating. Three years ago, he won the international championship at figure skating and holds several challenge bowls which he captured in competition on the floors of London rinks. The Italian plays golf to steady his nerves and boxes a little."

[Hans Etzrodt]

Additional background information can be found in

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AUTO RACING GREATS (1973 Ed.) by Robert Cutter and Bob Fendell. This is a 676 pp reference work of great importance. The book contains 550 driver biographies and 450 photographs. I saw it offered at http://www.abebooks.com/ for less than $20.00 in case someone is interested.
The biography about "Dario Resta...

"Dario Resta spoke and dressed like an Englishman (although he was born in Milan, Italy, in 1884) because he was raised in Britain from the age of 2. He was quiet, almost withdrawn, off the track, but he drove like a demon. He always planned ahead, and when his new bride demanded he quit racing, he did for a time. Of course, the new Mrs. Resta was the sister of Spencer Wishart, killed racing in 1916; that was one argument. She also possessed several million dollars; that was another.

"With it all, Resta may have been a racing immortal, maybe the racing immortal. We shall never know, although he won Indianapolis on his 2nd try in 1916. He won both the Grand Prize and the Vanderbilt Cup at San Francisco in 1915. These were only his 1st American appearances. He won 6 for 6 at Maywood Park in Chicago, and he won the 1916 AAA season crown with 4,100 points, staving off Johnny Aitkin.

"Resta drove a Peugeot for Alphonse G. Kaufman, a wealthy New Yorker who had heard about his reputation while in England. Dario had competed since 1907 at places like Brooklands; in a 120-h.p. Mercedes, he set a half-mile mark there of 95.7 m.p.h. His American career—the important part of it—spanned only 2 years, although he did return to Indianapolis as part of the Packard factory team in 1923 (he lasted 88 laps after starting in the front row).

"Resta’s 1916 victory in the Indianapolis 500 was not his most brilliant, partly because Ralph dePalma was not in the field, having held out for starting money and then had his late-entry refused, and partly because Dario’s opposition burned itself out in the early part of the race, letting him go so far ahead that he was able to make a precautionary stop to change tires. His 84 m.p.h. average was 4 m.p.h. slower than he himself had gone the year before, when he and DePalma staged their epic duel. Resta and his Peugeot were fresh from the double victory in the San Francisco road races in February. He was to go on to win the inaugural of his Chicago Auto Derbies and 100-mile invitationals in Chicago and Sheepshead Bay, N.Y. (The 500-mile speed in the 1915 Auto Derby of 97.8 m.p.h. was a record that stood for half a decade."

The next three paragraphs describe Resta’s battles from 1915 with Howdy Wilcox, Gil Andersen and Ralph DePalma and 1916 with Eddie Rickenbacker, Johnny Aitken and Ralph Mulford. The story ends...

"Dario apparently had persuaded his wife to let him race after World War I, but his appearances were few, far between, and particularly unsuccessful. He is quoted as saying, "Automobile racing is something one must do consistently or one loses the urge and ability to compete." In 1923 Dario and Ralph DePalma were mates on the Packard team at the Indianapolis 500. Resta might have taken some solace in the fact that his was the last Packard to go out of the race—with a blown gasket—at 225-mile mark. He died September 2, 1924, in a crash at Brooklands in a Sunbeam, following a tire blowout."

William Boddy wrote in The History of Brooklands Motor Course, 1957 Ed.
"Alas, in spite of reducing speed in response to depot signals so that he held 113 m.p.h., the off-side back tyre left the wheel and the Sunbeam went backwards through the fence bordering the Railway straight and caught fire, Resta being killed instantaneously, although Perkins, his riding mechanic, escaped and today runs a garage in Wolverhampton."

[Hans Etzrodt]

Anthony S. Heal in SUNBEAM RACING CARS , 1989 Ed. wrote about the end of Dario Resta’s record attempt...

"...Resta set off and his second lap was done at 115 mph. He then slowed to the scheduled speed. On his fourth lap, at the beginning of the Railway straight, the offset rear tyre left the rim and the car slewed. Resta held it straight but it then skidded sideways. He held the skid, but with the front wheels on full lock it turned right round, hitting the corrugated iron fence tail first, splitting the petrol tank which then caught fire. Resta was killed and Bill Perkins, his mechanic, was taken to hospital seriously injured. A broken duralumin security bolt was found on the track after the accident."

[Hans Etzrodt]

Ian Nickols and Kent Karslake in Motoring Entente, 1956 Ed., wrote about the last of Dario Resta’s record attempts...

"...With the faithful Perkins in the mechanic’s seat, he set off round the track, breaking all the relevant records during the first three laps. Then on the Railway straight the off-side rear tyre left its rim, wrapping itself round the back axle so that both rear wheels were locked. Resta was unable to hold the skid and the car got out of control, turned round, went through a corrugated-iron fence, killing the driver instantly, and finally catching fire. Perkins was badly burned, but recovered in due course and lives in honourable retirement with many exciting memories.

"Since taking up residence in America, Resta had added ice skating to his previous accomplishments on roller skates, and his loss to the skating world was felt almost as keenly as his absence from motor-racing."

[robert dick]

A few photos showing Resta at the wheel of his 4,5-litre Peugeot:

http://memory.loc.go...1600/21616v.jpg
http://memory.loc.go...6900/26949v.jpg
http://memory.loc.go...6900/26948v.jpg
http://memory.loc.go...0200/20244v.jpg
http://memory.loc.go...2900/22930v.jpg
http://memory.loc.go...1600/21618v.jpg
http://memory.loc.go...2900/22931v.jpg
http://memory.loc.go...2900/22925v.jpg

and racing against Kathy Stinson:
http://memory.loc.go...1600/21615v.jpg

[Hans Etzrodt]

Robert - thanks for the clear images.

[ReWind]

Apparently there are mysteries about date and place of his birth. If I understand this correctly allegedly it has been established that he was born on 19 Aug 1882 neither in Milan nor in Livorno but in Faenza (even the exact address is given!). The whole article reads as follows [source: see link from above]:

Quote

Dario Resta: era faentino il pilota «re della velocità»
Nato in via Fadina nel 1882, si affermò come autentico campione del volante.

Faenza. Per i giornali americani era The King of the speed, il «Re della velocità», ma non sapevano neppure dov’era nato. Quando morì lo definirono genericamente «di origini italiane, nato a Livorno nei pressi di Milano». Qualche testata aggiunse alla scarsa dimestichezza con la geografia anche uno svarione circa la data di nascita. Eppure nei primi decenni del secolo scorso era un idolo per folle sterminate di appassionati, un pioniere negli anni in cui, fra nuvole di polvere e vapori di benzina, alla guida di bolidi pesantissimi e pressoché senza freni, uomini coraggiosi scrivevano le prime pagine della grande storia dell’automobilismo.
Nella rete informatica lo ricordano decine e decine di pagine, persino in lingue sconosciute, ma la sua origine resta un mistero. Che siamo in grado di svelare, prove alla mano: Dario Raul Resta era faentino, nato il 19 agosto 1882 al numero 175 di via Fadina, figlio di Federico, un negoziante di 24 anni, e di Adelaide Niccodemi. Lo attestano senza ombra di dubbio i libroni dell’Anagrafe comunale.
Per la verità a Faenza restò poco più di due anni: nel 1991 i suoi fecero le valige e andarono in Inghilterra, dove Dario compì i primi studi e si appassionò di meccanica, tanto da diventare ancor giovane un autentico esperto. Da qui al posto di guida di un’automobile il passo dovette essere breve. Al volante di macchine potenti quanto pericolose, si affermò – per dirla ancora negli stessi termini usati dai cronisti sportivi dell’epoca – per audacia e sangue freddo, passando di vittoria in vittoria.
La prima della lunga serie fu nel 1907 a Brookland, sul circuito che in seguito egli stesso, ignaro del proprio destino, definirà «il più sicuro». L’anno dopo si affermò nel Gran Premio di Francia. Conquistato il record sul mezzo miglio lanciato alla fantastica velocità per quei tempi - di 95,7 miglia orarie (circa 154 km/h), fu ingaggiato da Alphonse Kaufman per correre sulla Peugeot nel 1915. In febbraio vinse il Gran premio degli Stati Uniti a San Francisco, poi la mitica Coppa Vanderbilt. Sulla pista di Indianapolis, nella massacrante 500 Miglia, finì alle spalle di un altro pilota italo-americano, Ralph De Palma, dopo un entusiasmante testa a testa protrattosi per centinaia di chilometri davanti a 75mila spettatori. Fu un guaio meccanico a decidere l’esito della gara.
Poi a Chicago, dove la Peugeot blu del pilota faentino sfrecciò per prima sotto il traguardo il 26 giugno a conclusione delle 500 Miglia inaugurali della «Chicago Speedway». In quell’occasione il diffusissimo Motor Age Magazine gli dedicò ben 18 pagine. Negli anni seguenti Dario Resta primeggiò nel Campionato piloti degli Stati Uniti, concesse il bis nella Vanderbilt Cup, vinse a Indianapolis, ancora a Chicago, a Minneapolis e a Omaha.
Poi la sua partecipazione alle maggiori competizioni subì un rallentamento, ma nel 1923 era di nuovo in lizza a Indianapolis. Senza fortuna: fu costretto al ritiro dopo aver percorso 225 miglia. In Europa finì al terzo posto nel Penya Rhin Gran Prix, poi vinse il Gran Premio di Spagna nella categoria «vetturette» (con cilindrata fino a 1.500 cmc, mentre per la categoria superiore la stessa poteva arrivare a 3.000 cmc. con un peso dell’automobile che non inferiore agli otto quintali). L’anno seguente, quel 1924 che gli sarà fatale, correva per la Sumbeam assieme a Henry Seegrave e K. Lee Guinness.
Il 3 settembre era a Brookland, in Inghilterra, con la sua macchina. Ad amici ed estimatori che lo avvicinarono confidò che il suo obiettivo era la conquista di alcuni record di velocità per concludere con il più prestigioso, quello sui 50 km. Sceso subito sul circuito, stabilì il nuovo limite mondiale sul mezzo miglio lanciato, poi si tuffò nella prova più impegnativa. Erano le 11 del mattino, la pista era sgombra e pochi spettatori assistevano al suo tentativo. Coperse il primo giro alla media di 190 km/h, poi si vide l’automobile slittare senza controllo per un centinaio di metri, deviare bruscamente a destra, oltrepassare il fossato di confine e terminare la sua corsa impazzita fracassandosi contro le recinzioni del circuito.
La Sumbeam prese fuoco sotto gli occhi inorriditi dei presenti. Quando i primi soccorritori giunsero sul posto, trovarono il corpo del pilota a una decina di metri dai rottami fumanti. La testa aveva colpito violentemente un palo ed era quasi staccata dal tronco. La morte era stata istantanea. Il secondo uomo, Perkins, se la cavò benché ustionato seriamente (l’anno dopo i regolamenti stabilirono che le vetture dovessero essere ancora a due posti, ma senza il meccanico a bordo).
Le prime indagini attribuirono la tragedia ad una foratura che aveva provocato lo sgonfiamento di un pneumatico, con la conseguente difficoltà del pilota nel controllare il mezzo lanciato a tutta velocità. La ruota fu trovata a centinaia di metri dal luogo dell’incidente.
«Dario Resta – scrisse l’Evening Standard – dopo aver battuto magnifici record ed essere sfuggito tante volte alla morte nelle sue temerarie velocità, ha infine pagato il tributo per la sua indescrivibile audacia. Nel piccolo gruppo di grandi piloti che sorse con l’avvento dell’automobile, egli fu uno dei pionieri». E lo Star aggiunse: «I suoi avversari riconoscevano unanimemente che nessuno poteva competere con lui, per il suo sangue freddo, la calma, la padronanza assoluta del volante anche nei momenti più critici».
Dario Resta aveva appena compiuto i 42 anni. Era nato a Faenza, figlio di faentini.

Comments?

[Paul Rochdale]

My comment is that I don't understand Italian. But still his funeral details remain a mystery.

[robert dick]

Quote

Originally posted by ReWind
Apparently there are mysteries about date and place of his birth...

Thanks for the article.

Since the date and place of birth (19 August 1882, no. 175 via Fadina, Faenza - father = Federico Resta - mother = Adelaide, née Niccodemi) quoted in the Italian article are obviously based on an official birth certificate, I think they can be considered as correct.

[HDonaldCapps]

Echoing Robert, thank you for the article. My "written" Italian about I have left these days and I was able to sort out most of the article fairly well -- along with help from my trusty, well-worn Italian/English dictionary, of course.

[Ray Bell]

Babel Fish is of limited assistance:

Quote

Dario Resta: king of the Been born speed "in via Fadina in 1882 was faentino the pilot", asserted itself like authentic champion of flying. Faenza. For newspapers Americans it was The King of the speed, the "King of the speed", but they did not know dov' was not been born.

When it died generically defined it "of Italian origins, been born to Livorno near Milan". Some head added to the insufficient familiarity with geography also one svarione approximately the birth date.

Nevertheless in the first decades of the past century it was a idolo for crowds exterminated of gets passionate to you, a pioneer in the years in which, between powder clouds and benzine vapors, to the guide of bolidi heaviest and almost without brakes, brave men wrote the first pages of the great history of motoring.

In the computer science net they remember it tens and tens of pages, in languages even disowned, but its origin remains a mystery. That we are in a position to revealing, tests to the hand: Dario Raul Remains was faentino, been born 19 August 1882 to number 175 of via Fadina, son of Federico, a trader of 24 years, and Adelaide Niccodemi.

They without a shadow of doubt attest the libroni of the communal Registry office. For the truth to Faenza it remained little more than two years: in the 1991 its made the valige and went in England, where Dario compì the first studies and was gotten passionate of mechanics, much to become still young an authentic expert.

From in place of guide of an automobile the step he had here to be short. To flying of he blots some powerful how much dangerous, asserted - in order to still say it in the same terms used from the reporters sportswomen of the age - for audacity and cold blood, passing of Victoria in Victoria.

Before the long series he was in 1907 to Brookland, on the circuit that later on same, unaware of it of just the destiny, will define "surest". The year after was asserted in the Great Prize of France. Conquered the record on the average mile launch to the fantastic speed for those times - of 95,7 miles hour (approximately 154 km/h), it was engaged from Alphonse Kaufman in order to run on the Peugeot in 1915.

In February it gained the Great prize of the United States to Saint Francisco, then the mythical Vanderbilt Goblet. On the track of Indianapolis, in massacring the 500 Miles, Italian-American ended to the shoulders of an other pilot, Ralph De Palm, after a entusiasmante head to head protrattosi for hundred of kilometers in front of 75mila watching. It was a mechanical trouble to decide the outcome of the contest.

Then to Chicago, where the blue Peugeot of the pilot faentino sfrecciò in order before under the goal the 26 june to conclusion of the 500 Miles inaugurates them of the "Chicago Speedway". In that occasion the most diffuse Motor Age Magazine dedicated 18 pages very to it.

In the following years Dario Resta primeggiò in the Championship pilots of the United States, granted the bis in the Vanderbilt Cup, won to Indianapolis, still to Chicago, Minneapolis and Omaha. Then its participation to the greater competitions endured a slowing down, but in 1923 it competed of new to Indianapolis. Without fortune: it was forced to the withdrawal after to have covered 225 miles.

In Europe place in the Penya Rhin Great Prix ended to the third party, then gained the Great Prize of Spain in the category "vetturette" (with piston displacement until 1.500 cmc, while for the advanced category the same one could arrive to 3.000 cmc. with a weight of the automobile that not inferior to the eight quintals).

The following year, those 1924 that it will be fatal, ran together for the Sumbeam to Henry Seegrave and K. Lee Guinness. The 3 september was to Brookland, in England, with its machine.

To estimative friends and who approached it confidò that its objective was the conquest of some records of speed in order to conclude with most prestigious, that one on the 50 km. Come down endured on the circuit, it established the new world-wide limit on the average launch mile, then was dived in the impegnativa test. They were the 11 of the mattino, the track was clears and little spectators assisted to its attempt.

He covered the first turn to the average of 190 km/h, then looked at the automobile to slip without control for a hundred of meters, to have abruptly to right, to exceed the border ditch and to finish its driven crazy race breaking itself against the recinzioni of the circuit.

Fire under the inorriditi eyes of the present ones the taken Sumbeam. When the first rescuers reached on the place, they found the body of the pilot to one ten of smoking meters from the route to me. The head had hit violentemente a pole and nearly was detached from the log.

The dead women had been instantaneous. According to man, Perkins, if the cavò although seriously ustionato (the year after the regulations they established that the cars still had to be to two places, but without the mechanic to edge).

The first surveyings attributed the tragedy to a perforation that had provoked the sgonfiamento of a tire, with the consequent difficulty of the pilot in controlling the means launch to all speed. The wheel was found to hundred of meters from the place of the incident.

"Dario Resta - the Evening wrote Standard - after to have battered magnificent records and escaped being many times to the dead women in its reckless speeds, have finally paid pay for its indescrivibile audacity. In the small group of great pilots that rose with the advent of the automobile, it was one of the pioneers ".

And the Star added: "its adversaries recognized unanimously that nobody could compete with he, for its cold blood, the calm, the absolute mastery of flying also in the moments more criti to us". Dario Resta had as soon as completed the 42 years. It was been born to Faenza, son of faentini.