9 replies to this topic

[Dragster]

Jackie Stewart's parents were not happy that he started his motorsport career because of older brother Jimmy (Jimmy had one start in F1, I think in 1952 - British Grand Prix?), so Jackie used name "A. N. Other" (like "another").
Another thing: Italian ex-F1 driver Stefano Modena was born in Modena :-)

[Barry Lake]

An interesting coincidence, your starting this thread.

Just a couple of weeks ago I was speaking to an old speedway person here in Sydney and he told me that a midget speedcar driver used to race with one organisation under his own name, and with a rival organisation as "A N Other". This was in the early 1950s, or perhaps even the 1940s.

I have not yet been able to confirm this by seeing the name in print in a programme or newspaper report, but I am working on it.

The first time I remember seeing the name "A N Other" was in the entry list for a Warwick Farm International meeting. I was told years later that it was used when the drivers name was not known at the time of the entry being lodged, but I seem to remember that the driver on the day was Jackie Stewart.

Again, I have not yet managed to go back and research this.

But it made me wonder, when was the term first used, and by whom?

I have, in the years since that Warwick Farm meeting, seen reference to Jackie Stewart having used the name to conceal his identity early in his career, but it seems possible that he was not the first.

[David McKinney]

No, Stewart would not have been the first A N Other.
I don't know about Australian speedway programmes, but the English magazines routinely used the term in race previews where no specific driver had been nominated. For example, lisiting entries for an F2 race they might say: Cooper: J Brabham, B McLaren, I Burgess, H Taylor, A N Other. Then when someone was found to drive the last car, his name would become public.
It would not have been difficult for Stewart to ensure that his name did not go in any such peview, and perhaps keep it out of race programmes by the same method.
But he certainly didn't get away with it for long. He was called Jackie Stewart in the mags right from the Marcos days.

[Barry Boor]

One or two people are getting confused here.

I think some of the references may well be connected with Archibald Other, who was a very talented driver in the middle to late fifties, and who looked at one time as though he might make it all the way to F1.

Sadly, so many race organisers refused his entries on the grounds that they already had a driver on the entry with that name, that poor Archibald became disillusioned with racing and retired to keep llamas in Sussex.

[Vitesse2]

[David McKinney]

Wasn't Archie a connection of the O'Ther family, several of whom appear in results of Phoneix Park races?

[dmj]

Does anyone remember A. Not Her!, a male chauvinist driver from Thirties?

[LittleChris]

Not to mention the famous commentator at Phoenix Park following a particularly nasty shunt at a notorious corner, ANO - tHERE

[Roger Clark]

Mr Other's career is, of course, closely linked with that of the now almost forgotten Toobe Nominated whose team manager, a certain Ham Lette, could never finally decide whether he should drive: "Toobe or not Toobe, that is the question".

[FLB]

I've been wondering about someting for a while...

Why can't I find this "TBA" marque anywhere in the history books? They certainly seem to have manufactured a lot of chassis and engines over the years!