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Riding mechanics in GP before 1925


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#51 speedman13

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Posted 11 October 2009 - 08:41

Thanks for that Robert and your pm on Cissac.

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#52 Nanni Dietrich

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Posted 23 April 2010 - 12:22

The fate of Ernesto Fanelli is also pretty obscure.

He was a close friend and the usual riding-mechanic to Paul Zuccarelli, with which he won the French Grand Prix in 1912.
Robert Dick named him as "the shadow of Paul Zuccarelli", in the book "Mercedes and auto racing in the Belle epoque".

When Zuccarelli had his fatal accident, while testing his Peugeot at Marcilly-la-Campagne on 19 June 1913, Ernesto Fanelli was seriously injured.

It is still not clear whether he eventually recovered or not.

The Newspaper La Vanguardia issue of 20 June 1913 indicated him as "moribundo".

Robert Dick's book on page 257 reported that in Zuccarelli's accident, Ernesto Fanelli "suffered a broken arm and severe flesh injuries".

But the Italian yearbook "Almanacco dello Sport - Anno I (1914)" published by R. Bemporad in Florence, 1914, state that Fanelli died a few hours after the accident.

Can anyone help?
:confused:



#53 robert dick

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Posted 24 April 2010 - 08:11

From "La Presse"/Paris, 20 and 24 June 1913:

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Posted Image


#54 Nanni Dietrich

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Posted 26 April 2010 - 12:44

Yes Robert, your posting confirms that all the first newspaper reports indicated that riding-mechanic Fanelli was seriously injured, in very critical condition.

The only source that states he also died as a consequence of the accident, is the Italian yearbook, which was published almost one year later. When the news of Zuccarelli's crash were complete.

So, I think that Ernesto Fanelli died, presumably in the following days. Any article available? Don't know how interesting was for the press, the news of an injured riding-mechanic's death.

#55 robert dick

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Posted 27 April 2010 - 10:51

In the days or weeks after the accident, neither the daily newspapers nor the weekly and monthly magazines mentioned Fanelli's death.
The death certificate would clarify the events.


#56 Nanni Dietrich

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Posted 28 April 2010 - 07:52

A street in the town of Padua, Italy, was called "Via Ernesto Fanelli".
Possibly Zuccarelli's riding mechanic was from Padua?


#57 Nanni Dietrich

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Posted 28 April 2010 - 09:01

A street in the town of Padua, Italy, was called "Via Ernesto Fanelli".
Possibly Zuccarelli's riding mechanic was from Padua?


Mistake. The street of Padua was dedicated to Ernesto Fanelli, a musician (1860-1919).

Keep on searching!


#58 dax

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Posted 28 April 2010 - 10:46

The only source that states he also died as a consequence of the accident, is the Italian yearbook, which was published almost one year later. When the news of Zuccarelli's crash were complete.

The spanish newspaper "ABC" dated june 20 report this too:

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But... another spanish newspaper, "La Correspondencia de España" dated june 21, write that Fanelli's death is not confirmed and he continue in critical condition:

Posted Image

I haven't found nothing more on spanish press.


#59 littledutch

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Posted 04 July 2010 - 23:58

Odd tidbits I have scribbled on pages in my notebooks:

1912 Eddie Hearne + Louis Bennett LeCocq during the season

Galesburg October 1914 Ralph Mulford + Louis Bennett LeCocq

1919 Uniontown Louis Bennett LeCocq + Robert Bandini (6th) -- Bandini killed at Indy that year

I have lists of the mechanicians registered with the AAA taken from the Contest Board Bulletins as well. Plus the book by Blazier & Rollings, Forgotten Heroes of the Speedways: The Riding Mechanics -- but unfortunately it only covers the Indy 500...



Just to set the record straight: The correct year for 'Eddie Hearne + Louis Bennett LeCocq during the season' should be 1917 instead of 1912. LeCocq did not enter racing until 1914. In 1917 they campaigned in Hearne's Duesenberg - which was refitted with a Roamer radiator and renamed a Roamer-Duesenberg part way through the season.


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#60 Nanni Dietrich

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Posted 16 November 2010 - 15:04

Riding mechanic Ernesto Fanelli did recover from injuries suffered in Paul Zuccarelli's accident!
The news of his death which the first newspaper reports indicated all over the world was not confirmed.

Now, according to Italian newspaper La Stampa of Turin, issue of 09 July 1913 (20 days after the accident):
"Ernesto Fanelli, che ha rischiato di rimanere ucciso col suo amico Zuccarelli, ha potuto recarsi a Parigi, dopo una dimora assai lunga all'ospedale di Nonancourt"
(transl. "Ernesto Fanelli who threatened to be killed with his friend Zuccarelli, was able to travel to Paris, after a very long stay at Nonancourt hospital").
Fanelli did not die in the accident.

Onother very similar mystery solved by newspaper "La Stampa": Felice Germano, the riding-mechanic of Biagio Nazzaro did not die in the accident during the 1922 French Grand Prix at Strasbourg. In an article of the issue of 23 July 1922, Germano's mother who participated in Biagio Nazzaro's funeral was reported to say "My son was more lucky than Biagio Nazzaro and saved his life".



#61 theracer120

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Posted 17 November 2010 - 01:53

Probably the most complete source for riding mechanics is the ChampCarStats.com site: it has complete or very near complete lists of riding mechanics from the Indianapolis 500, as well as several other races from the era.

Only lists the AAA/ACA races though, unfortunately.


#62 James Page

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Posted 12 June 2012 - 17:14

Does anyone know the christian name of 'Schaube', who rode with Cissac on a Panhard in the 1908 GP de l'ACF please?

Edited by James Page, 12 June 2012 - 17:17.


#63 dax

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Posted 12 June 2012 - 19:44

Does anyone know the christian name of 'Schaube', who rode with Cissac on a Panhard in the 1908 GP de l'ACF please?

Jules ? (Source : autodiva.fr forum)

#64 James Page

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Posted 12 June 2012 - 20:51

Jules ? (Source : autodiva.fr forum)


Thanks, Dax. Even now, though, I can find very little about him - or even confirm he was named Jules. Everywhere just seems to list him as Schaube.

#65 David McKinney

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Posted 12 June 2012 - 21:34

Likely an employee of Panhard - these were, after all, the days when the term "riding mechanic" meant just that

#66 dax

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Posted 12 June 2012 - 21:42

I've found the article about his funeral on "La Presse" (n° 5877 - 1908, July 11)

Posted Image


#67 James Page

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Posted 13 June 2012 - 09:54

Wow - good work, Dax! Much appreciated.

#68 theracer120

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Posted 20 August 2012 - 06:28

I also discovered that Schaub was thirty-two, two years older then Cissac.

#69 arttidesco

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Posted 17 April 2013 - 15:09

Tim Murray kindly pointed me in the direction of this thread when he gave me the names of the Peugeot riding mechanics at the 1914 Indy 500 earlier today.

With the help of this thread and other internet sources I have also attached a couple of christian names so my 1914 Indy 500 Peugeot list now reads

#6 Jules Goux / Emil Begin
#14 Arthur Duray / Henry Mattheys

and finally

#7 Georges Boillot / either M. Brevot as stated by http://www.champcars.../rm/BrevotM.htm or Tim suspects possible regular Boillot partner Prévost

I wonder if any one has any further info on Boillot's riding mechanic in the 1914 Indy 500 including his christian name ?

Finally I stumbled across the story of Arthur Duray taking the mechanics seat next to Albert Guyot driving a Duesenburg during a pit stop in the 1921 French Grand Prix on page 173 of Griffith Borgeson's The Golden Age of the American Racing Car, I wonder if any one has the full name of Guyot's original riding mechanic in that race, who was rendered hors d'combat after receiving a blow to the skull from a errant rock ?

Relevant answers maybe credited and used in a forthcoming blog on the #14 Peugeot L3 driven by Duray.

Thanking you in anticipation of your responses.

#70 theracer120

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Posted 29 January 2014 - 08:48

Question for all here at TNF:
Does Felice Nazzaro's riding mechanic in this photo from the 1910 American Grand Prize (Antonio Fagnano)...

 

http://www.google.co...start=0&ndsp=33

 

look the same as his mechanic in this photo from the 1907 French Grand Prix?

 

http://www.flickr.co...rde/4564591412/

 

Personally, I'm certain of it, but I'm interested in hearing some other people's opinions on the subject.

 

 

As a side note, I found a website which stated that Marteau (the riding mechanic for Ferenc Szisz in the 1906 race)'s first name was Marcel. He also rode alongside Ferenc in the 1907 race.


Edited by theracer120, 29 January 2014 - 08:50.


#71 Tim Murray

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Posted 29 January 2014 - 09:40

Here's a good photo of Fagnano, as a driver at the 1914 French GP:

 

http://commons.wikim...nd_Prix_(4).jpg

 

I've looked at a larger version of the 1907 French GP photo (in TASO Mathieson's Grand Prix Racing 1906-1914).  Comparing details such as the (big) gap between the nose and upper lip. the shape of the ears and chin etc, I have no doubt that it's the same person.



#72 Michael Ferner

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Posted 29 January 2014 - 10:07

Agreed. Unless there was a (twin) brother...