232 replies to this topic

[Graham Clayton]

Here is a thread that should get a few responses.
There have been I think many examples of drivers
who have competed under an assumed name.
I can think of two reasons why
a) so friends and family don't know that they are
racing
b) to get a drive when their contract forbids
racing for other teams

I am sure the list will come up with lots of names.

Can I suggest the poster gives the real name,
pseudonym, and if possible, why the pseudonym
was used?

[jarama]

Let's start:

A.N.Other, Jackie Stewart in his beginnings, reason a)

[FLB]

Jean-Pierre Rives, aka Jean-Pierre Jabouille

If I remember correctly, he used it because he is related to racing journalist Johnny Rives.


Jacques Bernard, aka Jacky Ickx, because his father was a motor journalist who signed his articles as "X" (pronounced Ickx in French).

Nelson Soutomayor, aka Nelson Piquet, because his father was a Minister in the Brazilian governement.

Ayrton da Silva, aka Ayrton, aka Ayrton Senna da Silva, aka Ayrton Senna, because his original name (da Silva) was too common...

[fines]

Axel Linther = Well, who knows? It's quiz time!;)

[FLB]

And of course there's the whole Bernd Nacke = Günther Bechem thing, which screwed the history books for a while...

[Felix Muelas]

FLB

But we did solve that one, didn´t we?

Felix

[FLB]

Yep!

And then there's Janos Wimpffen's wonderful "Time and Two Seats" where he supposedly tracked down drivers who ran the Targa Florio under multiple names...

Can anyone that has a copy of the book confirm, please?

[Leif Snellman]

Erik Lindquist = Curt Lincoln reason a

Then there is a third reason: Ease of use. Lets call that reason c) in the future.

B Bira = Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanuband
JJ Lehto = Jyrki Järvilehto
Jean Alesi = Giovanni Alesi
Johnny Dumfries = John Colum Crichton-Stewart
Alfonzo de Portago = Don Alfonso Cabeza de Vacade y Leighton
Niki Lauda = Andreas-Nikolaus Lauda

And then we have Pierre Levegh who doesn't fit into any of the three categories.

Now what was the reason for "Gimax"?
[p][Edited by Leif Snellman on 02-13-2001]

[David McKinney]

Many entries in UK races in the 50s and 60s were listed as 'A N Other' when no specific driver had been finalised at publication time (programme or previewing magazine). I have always presumed J Y Stewart was just another of those. The story that he positively adopted the ploy to fool his family is relatively new. Does anyone know if it's true? Or if someone who didn't undersrtand the tradition reported it once and everyone then copied it?

FLB
Did Jacques-Bernard Ickx really race as Jacques Bernard?
Ayrton Senna dropped the last part of his name after his first couple of UK seasons because it was too long for the poor British commentators and journalists. If he thought 'da Silva' too common he would surely have dispensed with it earlier. The same Brits later shortened Juka Jarvilehto's name (OK, I may not have the original name exactly right, but you know who I mean).

Fines
Porsche driver Axel Linther later raced under his own name and was leading the world championship when he was killed at Monza in 1961

[Leif Snellman]

Originally posted by David McKinney

Ayrton Senna dropped the last part of his name after his first couple of UK seasons because it was too long for the poor British commentators and journalists. If he thought 'da Silva' too common he would surely have dispensed with it earlier.

Actually Ayrton first dropped "Senna" from his name and raced the 1983 Formuala 3 season as´"Ayrton da Silva". It was only when he moved to F1 that he thought "da Silva" was too common and changed to "Senna".

Now I think Tony Kaye once told me about a driver who called himself "Luke Warmwater from Hot Springs, USA"
Who was he? I have to check that out.

[David McKinney]

I stand corrected...

Here a few of the older ones to start the ball rolling (nom de course first)....
Akmal, Willy ............Boffa
Ames, Steve...............Ouvaroff
Anford.......................Fauquet
Ano-Nyme................Dreyfus
Aprile........................Palmieri
Bira............................Prince Birabongse
Blary.........................Blaton
Beurlys.....................Blaton
Bueno, Juan.............Buenovici
Campidoglio.............Leopardi
Casualidad................Harriague
Cenisio.....................de Moraes
Le Champion...........Masurier
Claude.......................des Tages
Davies, Tim..............Folland
Deo............................Chiribiri
Duray, Leon.............Stewart
Eddoura....................Grammour
Eldé...........................Dernier
Emart.......................Tornqvist
Ever, Wal.................Beveglieri
Eymart....................Tornqvist
Feret........................Dreyfus
Foc........................ ..Matussière
Frank, Robert........Koenig
Geki..........................Russo
Gloria.......................Mariani
Heldé........................Dreyfus
Hervé.......................Wurstemberger
Hipómeres..............Lo Valvo
Hyta..........................Lobkowicz
Hyta II.....................Pohl
Ignato, Frate..........Mercanti
Ippocrate...............Ferrario
Iris..........................Carano
Kammamuri..........Simeoni
Larry......................Rodriguez Larreta
Levegh, Alfred.....Velghe
Levegh, Pierre.....Bouillon
Linther, Axel........von Trips
Loustel....................Dumay
Luca........................Luglio
Lucky..................... Pilette
Marcy.....................Massara
Mario......................Massacuratti
Mary.......................Brussin
Nanni.....................Galli
Nino........................Campanella, Cirio
Noris.......................Moioli
Orley, Alexander..Todd
Pacifico..................Boffa
Pagnibon, Pierre..Boncompagni
Patoruzú.................Saenz Valiente
Pegaso.....................Bettoja
Pertin..................... Noblet
Philippe, Georges..Rothschild
Pierry.....................Huguet
Raph, Georges.......Bethenod de las Casas
Remordu ................Ancez
Rivadavia...............Fangio
Robur......................Ferrara
Sabipa.................... .Charavel
Samud......................Dumas
Sparken, Mike.......Poberejsky
Tiger........................Perdoni
de la Touloubre......Gentil
Varent, Philippe...de Gunsberg
Ventidue.................Wild
Williams, W............Grover-Williams

[FLB]

Originally posted by David McKinney
FLB
Did Jacques-Bernard Ickx really race as Jacques Bernard?
Ayrton Senna dropped the last part of his name after his first couple of UK seasons because it was too long for the poor British commentators and journalists. If he thought 'da Silva' too common he would surely have dispensed with it earlier. The same Brits later shortened Juka Jarvilehto's name (OK, I may not have the original name exactly right, but you know who I mean).

Jacques Bernard is Jacky Ickx's full name. Ickx is the pseudonym, it's not his real name.

As for Ayrton Senna, didn't he race under "Ayrton" (no Senna, no da Silva) when he first came to Europe? I seem to remember something about that in Nigel Roebuck's "Grand-Prix Greats".

Jyrki Järvilehto changed his name because people had problems pronouncing it, much the same way as Keijo Rosberg (another c)).

Jean Alesi changed his name as a child because he was teased (interview in Autosport, March 1994).

As for full names, could any body have fit Jonkheer Carel Pieter Anthonie Jan Hubertus Godin de Beaufort on a driving suit?

[Leif Snellman]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Leif Snellman
[QUOTE

Now I think Tony Kaye once told me about a driver who called himself "Luke Warmwater from Hot Springs, USA" :lol:
Who was he? I have to check that out.
[/QUOTE]
I found it!
Luke Warmwater from Hot Springs, Arkansas = Midget driver Jimmy Sills

[FLB]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by David McKinney
[B]

Here a few of the older ones to start the ball rolling (nom de course first)....
Beurlys.....................Jacques Blaton
Duray, Leon.............George Stewart
Eldé...........................Léon Dernier
Geki.......................... Giacomo Russo
Levegh, Pierre.....Pierre Bouillon
Linther, Axel........Wolfgang von Trips (???)
Nanni.....................Giovanni Galli
Raph, Georges.......Raphaël Bethenod de las Casas
Sabipa.................... .Jean Charavel
[B][p][Edited by FLB on 02-13-2001]

[FLB]

Although I don't have a copy of "Time and Two Seats", a friend gave me these two from the 1983 Fuji 1000Km:

no.130 Mazda RX-7

Kamiya Iwanalaya & Oneri Wenyapaimi

It probably made quite a driving team, Iwanalaya/Wenyapami...

[Darren Galpin]

And "John Winter" - Louis Krages
Gimax - Carlo Franchi
Gimax Jr - Carlo Franchi Jr

Johnny Dumfries - Leif, although that is his full name as you and I would have, he is also the Earl of Dumfries, so perhaps it isn't quite the same. As for the reason, well, Dumfries is much easier to fit on the side of a car than his full name!

[david_martin]

Rikky von Opel raced as Antonio Bronco to conceal his identity when he started in FF.

I seem to recall that Nelson Piquet also started his career under a psuedonym for similar reasons.

[Gil Bouffard]

From and old weathered yellow paged magazine, the following. It doesn't tell you why he used da Silva, but it does show what the press was calling him at the time. I seem to remember that Senna was his mother's name and da Silva was the family name. Sorta like the orient, where the family name is first and the given name second. Which we English speakers screw up by using the family nmae as the first name.

BTW this show how much cheek young Mr. da Silva had.

"Da Silva lining": Jeremy Shaw, 1982 AUTOSPORT Formula Ford Yearbook.

One year ago, in the corresponding survey of the 1980 Formula Ford 1600 season, we reported upon the dominance of a couple of Brazilian drivers, Roberto Moreno and Raul Boesel. Since then, both men have shone in last season's Marlboro British Formula 3 Championship and seem well on their way to establishing careers for themselves in Formula 1. Boesel has already secured a drive with the works March team, while Moreno has landed a testing contract with John Player Team Lotus.

They are the latest in a long line of former FF1600 drivers who have graduated to the big time and add further weight, if such be needed, to the formula's claim as the world's most fruitful proving-ground category.

This surely is the reason why each new season sees a new crop of, young overseas drivers arriving in this country, hoping to make a name for themselves. Last season was no exception.

One such hopeful was 21-year-old Brazilian Ayrton Senna da Silva, who arrived with a successful background in karting to his name and, like so many of his fellow-countrymen before him, joined the works Van Diemen team. Armed with one of Ralph Firman's latest RP82 models with Minister power, da Silva swept to a pair of championship titles and was undoubtedly the 'find' of 1981.

Finishing fifth in his maiden Formula Ford race, at Brands Hatch, da Silva returned to the same circuit two weeks later ... and won. It was the start of a remarkable sequence of results that saw him notch up a total of 12 wins, five seconds and a fourth place (after a spin while leading) in his next 18 races! Rarely has anyone dominated the Formula Ford scene as completely as did da Silva last year. He ended up with both the RAC British and Townsend Thoresen crowns and was rumored to be talking to Maurer about a move up into their Formula 2 team for 1982.

Before the end of the season, however, da Silva had announced that he wasn't interested in searching high and low for the necessary budget to further his career, and that, if no one was prepared to give him a drive on merit alone, then he wasn't going to continue. He was going to retire, simple as that.

Ayrton didn't even bother returning to England for the Marlboro World Cup Formula Ford Festival. He merely informed Firman that he wouldn't be back, and has since remained at home in Brazil working for his father's engineering company.

[Rainer Nyberg]

Swedish prince Bertil Bernadotte raced Bugatti´s under the pseudonym Mr (Monsieur) Adrian.

Maybe Leif knows more?


Rainer

[ry6]

What a fascinating thread.

I remember names like "Pal Joe" and "Beurlys" from those headier days.

Pierre Levegh - I seem to remember his real name was Pierre Boubullion (forgive my spelling)

Mme. Helle-Nice was also a psuedonym.

Was there a Rothschild who race as "Phillipe" or something similar?

[Leif Snellman]

Originally posted by Rainer Nyberg
Swedish prince Bertil Bernadotte raced Bugatti´s under the pseudonym Mr (Monsieur) Adrian.

Maybe Leif knows more?

No, Leif doesn't know more even if he would like to. Prince Bertil was chairman at the Royal Swedish Automobile Club for 47 years. Raced a Bugatti while studying in France. The only time he has shown up in my books is in Rivers Fletcher's "Mostly motor Racing" (page 191). I have considered asking Rainer for more details!

[fines]

Originally posted by david_martin
I seem to recall that Nelson Piquet also started his career under a psuedonym for similar reasons.

'Piquet' IS the pseudonym, or rather isn't since his full name is Nelson Piquet-Soutomaior, similar to Ayrton Senna da Silva. IIRC it is the Portuguese way to incorporate the mother's birthname into the last name of the child, as opposed to the Spanish solution which would make it Soutomaior-Piquet and da Silva Senna, respectively. Think Félix can be more accurate about that, can't he?

[Graham Clayton]

Jack Nougher was an Australian driver who drove under 2 pseudonyms as well as his real name.

When the Phillip Island sedan endurance race started in 1960, he competed in that year and in 1962 under the name
Jack Nougher.

When the race moved to Mount Panorama Bathurst in 1963,
Nougher competed under 2 pseudonyms.
He was "Jack Eiffeltower" in 1966, 67, & 68, and
"Jack Magic" in 1970.

He did this to get around the strict rules regarding
sponsorship and advertising. He was a car dealer, and
the pseudonyms were designed to give his business some
extra publicity.

Maybe Ray Bell or Barry Lake could give some
more details?

[Hans Etzrodt]

Originally posted by David McKinney
...Here a few of the older ones to start the ball rolling (nom de course first)....
Akmal, Willy ............Boffa
Ames, Steve...............Ouvaroff
Anford.......................Fauquet
Ano-Nyme................Dreyfus
Aprile........................Palmieri
Bira............................Prince Birabongse................................................

David,
Let me thank you very much, also in the name of others, for sharing your expert knowledge and contributing this very long enlightening list of yours. I will store it in my hard drive.

[David McKinney]

My pleasure, Hans (and others)
Whilst preparing the list for posting I was reminded that the discovery of the true identity of “Wal Ever” was one of the biggest disappointments of my life. You see, I had it all worked out. At the same time as he was racing sportscars in Italy, a very wealthy young American was in Europe having a look at racing. If he spelt his surname backwards he would have got “Wolt Never” which was pretty close to “Walt Never”, and “Wal Ever” was simply a more positive version. Damn!

[fines]

Nice story, David, what a shame reality does not always fit our detective minds! I, too, had once made up a theory about something I can't even remember right now, but I can still FEEL my disappointment when I found out about the simple truth. What a waste of talent...

[Stefan Ornerdal]

Some more "Nom de Guerre":

Franc = Jacques Dewes
Cyprien = Christian Mons
PAM = Sergio Morando
Agéres = Jean-Paul Agére
Nouvestille - Louis Cosson
Billy = Billy Sprowls
Charles Hausmann = Charles Zwolzmann
Stingbrace = Stefano Sebastiani
Daniell - Daniel Porthault
Rekip = René Kippeurt

All of them Le Mans 24H-drivers at one time or another.

[FlagMan]

Stingbrace apparently standing for 'Stefano IN Great Britain Race' as he does most of his racing in GB.

[Vasco]

The tendency of our (few) Portuguese drivers going abroad is, like the brazilian, to simplify their names too (we can easily have up to 5/6 names and surnames!).

Thus you have:

Pedro Lamy Viçoso ........ Pedro Lamy
Pedro Matos Chaves ....... Pedro Chaves
José Miguel Leite Faria .. José Miguel
It's funny that José Miguel has a younger brother Pedro Leite Faria (one of our very first drivers to go abroad
in the 80's) and very few people make the connection between them as José Miguel's surname is never mentionned in the press.

There are also other some real pseudonims here:

Mario Araújo Cabral ...... "Nicha" Cabral

and 3 others I don't their real names:

"Pêquêpê"
"Mêquêpê"
"Ni" Amorim
(maybe Luís Sampaio can help me to find these)

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Graham Clayton
Jack Nougher was an Australian driver who drove under 2 pseudonyms as well as his real name.
...
He was "Jack Eiffeltower" in 1966, 67, & 68, and
"Jack Magic" in 1970.
...
Maybe Ray Bell could give some
more details?

Is my memory playing tricks with me? I thought both names were on the Valiant V8 at Bathurst, Effeltower and Nougher?

If not, who was the co-driver? My books are elsewhere...


Edit: O'Keefe was the other driver.

[Lu�s Sampaio]

Well, well, well
The real names for the portuguese drivers mentioned by Vasco are:

Pêquêpê= Pedro Queiroz Pereira
and his oldest brother Mêquêpê, the name is Miguel (or Manuel) Queiroz Pereira (i'm not sure about his first name) and Aníbal Amorim for Ni Amorim.

Queiroz Pereira brothers was two famous portuguese rallye drivers on the portuguese championship by the middle of the seventies and earlier eighties.

[Sid Rutty]

Jackie Stewart's son Paul enrolled in the Brands Hatch Racing School as " Robin Congdon" to conceal his identity from the media.

[Barry Lake]

Marie-Claude Beaumont's surname is actually Charmasson.

When she began rallying in the early 1960s she was with the Lancia team and her father (a rally driver himself who placed highly in the Monte Carlo Rally in the early 1950s) was a well-known Citroen dealer.

So Marie-Claude adopted the pseudonym "Beaumont" to avoid any posible embarassment for her father.

She has kept it ever since, including when she was PR for Renault F1 in the 1970s-1980s and now in her current career as an F1 photographer.

[ry6]

By co-incidence the latest issue of Historic Motor Racing has a story on pseudonyms.
I don't think it would be fair to reveal too much in this space about the story but a very interesting item is that Neville Shute, the Austalian author, used to race under a nom-de-plume.

I also liked the names "Tortoise", "Ivanhoe", "Johnny Walker", "Caterpillar", "Donald Duke", Mickey Mouse.


1) The author of the story is however unable to identify the gentleman driver "Scrap Thistlehwayte" who raced in the 1926 British Grand Prix.

2) It is said that Fiat supremo Giovanni Agnelli raced the Mille Miglia under an assumed name, but the author has also not been able to oncover that one eaither.

Any takers?

[Gil Bouffard]

Re: Nelson Piquet-Soutomaior. Roberto Moreno fiddled with the placing of his mother's name and I think he has finally decided to include it out.(Thanks Sam Goldwyn)

Bash's (his real nickname, "Baixinho," pronounced "Bush," as in hush, means something like "Shorty,") mother's family name is Pupo.

Not necessarily pseudonyms. Champ car racers Jim Rathman and his brother Dick Rathman were actually Dick Rathman and Jim Rathman.

The younger of the Rathman brothers started racing first and in order for him to qualify for his racing license, he "borrowed," older brother Jim's birth certificate. When brother Jim decided to take up racing, he used younger brother Dick's birth certificate.

Got it?

Gil Bouffard

[David McKinney]

I haven’t yet seen the article, but can reveal that Neville Shute was a nom de plume for Neville Norway. He raced under his real name, primarily to gain first-hand knowledge for his novel On the Beach.
The 1920s driver becomes less of a problem if his name is written T H “Scrap” Thistlethwaite.

[Roger Clark]

And Thistlethwaite didn't actualy race in the 1926 British GP as both Thomas cars were non-starters.

[Paul Hartshorne]

I was just looking through a Donington Park race programme from July 2nd 1977 when I came across an entry in the Varley Batteries Monoposto Championship Race for a Lotus 35 F2 driven by someone listed simply as The Streaker and I just had to add him (or her) to this thread!

The first thing that came into my mind when I saw the name was a guy belted into his car completed naked apart from his helmet, err.. crashhelmet that is!;)

Cheers,
Paul

[Graham Clayton]

Originally posted by Paul Hartshorne
The first thing that came into my mind when I saw the name was a guy belted into his car completed naked apart from his helmet, err.. crashhelmet that is!;)
Cheers,
Paul

Paul,
That image of the driver racing in the buff reminds
me of an incident at the famous Sydney Showground speedway in the late 70's. An Australia versus England
solo Test match was being held at the time.
During a break between races, a speedway bike came
onto the track, with the rider wearing only boots and
a helmet! I think the helmet was worn to protect the
rider's identity, not to protect him from injury.

The mystery streaker did a complete lap of the track
and then disappeared back into the pits. I have seen
a photo of the bike taken from behind as it disappeared
back into the pits. There are officials and other
competitors who were finding it difficult to keep a
straight face!

As far as I am aware, the identity of the streaker
was never revealed.

[FlagMan]

A bit off topic but the last entry reminded me of something that happened at a VSCC meeting at Donington Park a few years ago.

Race control contacted each marshals post with the message - Have you by any chance found a pair of trousers on the track?....

It turned out that the driver of a 1930's two seater had changed into his overalls and put his normal clothes under the tonneau cover of the car before going out to practice - during the session the air flow had sucked the garment - complete with his wallet and the keys to his tow car etc - out of the car.

Luckily for him everything was found intact.

[Ray Bell]

Now where was it?

Recently someone told me of a car with an open driveshaft that tore the driver's trousers off him...

[Rob29]

Originally posted by Paul Hartshorne
I was just looking through a Donington Park race programme from July 2nd 1977 when I came across an entry in the Varley Batteries Monoposto Championship Race for a Lotus 35 F2 driven by someone listed simply as The Streaker and I just had to add him (or her) to this thread!

The first thing that came into my mind when I saw the name was a guy belted into his car completed naked apart from his helmet, err.. crashhelmet that is!;)

Cheers,
Paul

This was a guy,sorry can't remember his name,who did "streak" around the paddock at Thruxton,for charity. He did not drive like that as I think rules by then required a fire proof suit!

[Francis]

The driver who streaked through the paddock at Thruxton (in 1972) was Carl Jeanes.

[Ray Bell]

Fireproof gear came in about 1966, so I guess he didn't race...

[Richard Jenkins]

Going back to topic there are many that raced under names that were not their given names like 'Lucienbonnet' etc. but the one pseudonym that is really interesting to me is Robert O'Brien who raced in 1952 Belgian GP. Robert O'Brien or 'Bob' O'Brien was a false alias as he was a CIA agent working in Europe & for reasons of security he drove under the above name. Or at least that's the story....

[BRG]

Just to add another element to the mix, what about drivers who changed their names legally to suit their racing careers.

There is a saloon car racer in UK who changed his name by deed poll to John Top Gear after his sponsor Top Gear magazine. This season, he is sponsored by do-it yourself stores B & Q and has apparently changed his name again to John B and Q. I don't know what his original name was though (and does it matter?)

[Ray Bell]

Due to the regulations preventing any advertising on the plastic strip across the top of windscreens in Australia, this area being reserved for the driver's name, Peter Janson allegedly changed his name by deed poll to NGK Janson.

Which made the Japanese spark plug maker happy.... and Robyn Hamilton changed her name to Charlie to suit the sponsor of her Formula Ford... a range of Revlon, I think.

[BRG]

I had to resurrect this thread when I saw in "Motorsport News" a story about a British club racer called John Cooper, who races under the magnificent pseudonym "SKID CARRERA". Now there is a name to toy with...

[sat]

It was an Austrian getleman driver (Interserie, some time F2, WSC)
he raced as "Umberto Calvo", "Pierre Chauvet", "Frederico Careca"
in all cases surname make the same sinn...

[Paul Hartshorne]

If I remember correctly, he also used the English name James Bald.

He decided on the surname (which I believe means the same as Calvo, Chauvet and Careca) because of his premature hair loss.

Cheers, Paul