20 replies to this topic

[Joe Fan]

Just curious to see if anyone knows when the first podium celebration began with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place drivers. Also, what year did this practice become standard?

[Marcor]

The last place to have adopted this ritual (podium for 1-2-3) is Monaco as for a long time only the winner had the honour of the Prince and Princess... Patrick Depailler is alone in the podium in 1978. In 1984 Prost and Senna were for the first time together in a podium (of F1 GP race).

Leafing through '25 anni di Formula 1' i discovered a picture of the 1964 German GP podium with Surtees, Hill and Bandini. And back in time Gonzales surrounded by Fangio and Villoresi after the 1951 British GP.

[FEV]

I think that podiums in sport come from an olympic tradition where as you know the first three are awarded medals and are celebrated with their respective national anthems on a podium. Maybe the first car race to have a podium was at a place and/or the same year as some Olympic Games ?

[FEV]

My Olympic books tell me that the first three-level podiums were introduced in the 1932 Summer Olympics of Los Angeles. Funny because american racing didn't really catch the podium bug, no ? I believe it is only very recently that series like CART have a podium to celebrate the first three of the race. NASCAR and many more american series stick to the "winner's circle" tradition. Ironically maybe the champagne celebration in auto racing is older the podium himself since, IIRC, Tazio Nuvolari at the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup was the first to receive a bottle of champagne after his (brillant) victory. But he just drunk it, unlike a pair of american guys in Le Mans 30 years later .

[Marcor]

And what about the kiss of the Miss ?

[italia]

Originally posted by Marcor
And what about the kiss of the Miss ?

I have never seen a driver being kissed on the podium by 'the miss'. It's a tradition in cycling, though.

[oldtimer]

Originally posted by italia


I have never seen a driver being kissed on the podium by 'the miss'. It's a tradition in cycling, though.

A highlight for me of Graham Hill's Indy win washis kiss of the miss.

[FEV]

Yes several Misses had a tough time at Indy. Between 1947 and 1959 following some agreement (which I forgot the details) beetwen IMS and some Hollywood studios it was an actress who received the winner's kiss(es) ! Among them were Linda Darnell (1949 - Bill Holland), Barbara Stanwyck (1950 Johnnie Parsons), Cyd Charisse (1957 - Sam Hanks) and Shirley mcLaine (1958 Jimmy Bryan).

[Martyj]

One of the actresses from the TV series "Dallas" was on hand to give the winner of the 84 Dallas Grand Prix a kiss. I've seen the picture of her planting one on Keke Rosberg.

[unrepentant lurker]

I've seen a clip of Fangio practically dragged from the cockpit by a "miss".

[Marcor]

Do we open a new thread about the kiss of the miss ?

[Roger Clark]

I suspect that regular and standardised podium celebrations started when Bernie realised the value of having the winning drivers standing in front of a board bearing the name of the chief sponsors, and when he had the bright idea of having a champagne company sponsor the celebrations.

[Don Capps]

Roger!

Certainly not a whiff of cynicism from you!

Say it ain't So!!!

[Joe Fan]

Roger, is that you? Don and I must be rubbing off on you.;)

[Chris Bloom]

I have a picture of Scheckter alone on the Monaco podium in 1979. Elio De Angelis seemed to think his fifth place in the 1982 Monaco event was worthy of celebration as he joined the first three on the podium?

Chris

[Carlos Jalife]

In the Mexican GPs 1962-70 they used to have an actress and later Miss Mexico (the one who went to Miss Universe) kissing the winner. Jim Clark was all over one in 1963, I think Lorena Velázquez, a famous actrees her whose sister Tere velázquez was the GP queen another year.

[Hunt the Shunt Fan]

Originally posted by Martyj
One of the actresses from the TV series "Dallas" was on hand to give the winner of the 84 Dallas Grand Prix a kiss. I've seen the picture of her planting one on Keke Rosberg.

Miss Ellie?

[mikedeering]

Originally posted by Hunt the Shunt Fan





Miss Ellie?

In all seriousness I believe it was Sue Ellen.

Didn't Henry Ford II start the champagne tradition at Le Mans in the 60s?

I think I also saw a picture of Dick Seaman in the thirties on a podium with the 2nd and 3rd place drivers. He had a wreath the size of Bavaria around his neck, and was shaking hands with a prominent Nazi (An honour I'm sure.)

At Brands Hatch, the top 3 always used to go around on the back of a truck, waving to the fans. In the 80s they converted a Ford Sierra and used that. I recall seeing a clip with James Hunt being interviewed on it with Jody Schecker after his "win" in 1976. Someone asked him what it meant for him to win, and he replied "9 points, $20,000 and a lot happiness." He then promptly begged half a fag off some girl standing next to him!!!

In cycling they really go in for the Kiss The Miss Stuff - which always struck me as odd. The poor girls would have to hug and kiss this sweaty cyclist who had just spent 6 hours riding up and down the Alps! One time, this real character called Mario Cipollini somehow changed out of his cycling gear into an Armani suit and appeared on the podium looking like a right cad! If I ever got to appear on an F1 podium I would be tempted to pull a similar stunt.

[Wolf]

BTW, about the laurel wreaths... Was the German GP the only place where it actually was not laurel? And I don't remember recent instances where oak leaves were used, so when was th last time they were used?

[Roger Clark]

Originally posted by mikedeering


In cycling they really go in for the Kiss The Miss Stuff - which always struck me as odd. The poor girls would have to hug and kiss this sweaty cyclist who had just spent 6 hours riding up and down the Alps! One time, this real character called Mario Cipollini somehow changed out of his cycling gear into an Armani suit and appeared on the podium looking like a right cad! If I ever got to appear on an F1 podium I would be tempted to pull a similar stunt.

Unless your Aramni suit is covered in sponsors' logos, you've no chance.

[scheivlak]

While searching for the 1983 Long Beach result I saw this one: http://www.forix.com...83/02_po_dy.jpg

This must 've been pretty close to a cycling style 'kiss the miss' celebration - or are these ladies the local organiser and the Sports Minister?

Pity that Nelson didn't make the podium...