24 replies to this topic

[David M. Kane]

I enjoy the Piquet stories a great deal. Hans Stuck supposedly is a funny guy too. He also apparently likes to yodel after he has had a few cocktails. He also appeared naked on a balcony at an F2 race in Enna when he was driving with March during a religious parade. I would love to hear
about his driving and his antics.

[Lutz G]

Not a single reply on that topic so far? I'm surprised.

During sport car days Stuck and his pal Dieter Quester were driving for BMW (Neerpasch?) at Kyalami. At that time Stuck was engaged with a sort of Samantha Fox like beauty called Mucki. He noticed that Quester loved Mucki's lovely eyes too. During practice Stuck choose a very tricky high speed corner to watch his friend Dieter. He and his girlfriend waved at Quester for a view laps when he came by. At the third lap, just when he appeared, Stuck standing behind Mucki suddenly pulled her very tight T-shirt up - and Quester, got distracted missing his line, went off and had a very very huge shunt. Stuck rolling on the floor laughing...
If my memory serves me well the BMW was a total write off.

Lutz

[howl]

Slightly off topic, but when, where and why did Dieter Quester drive wearing a Gorilla-suit?

Jesper O.H.

[Milan Fistonic]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
I enjoy the Piquet stories a great deal. Hans Stuck supposedly is a funny guy too. He also apparently likes to yodel after he has had a few cocktails. He also appeared naked on a balcony at an F2 race in Enna when he was driving with March during a religious parade. I would love to hear
about his driving and his antics.

Robin Herd had to bail stuck out so he could start the race.

There is also another story from Enna. The main street is very steep and they sell a lot of watermelons by the side of the road. Stuck decided he wanted the one at the bottom of a pyramid of melons causing fifty or sixty melons to go crashing down the hill. He was arrested for that caper as well.

[JacnGille]

I posted this in the "priceless moments" thread but I'll repost it here.

In 1975(?) there was a combined NASCAR/IMSA race. Needless to say the "good ol boys" weren't thrilled about sharing the track with the "furriners". They would leave the stockers parked on pit road blocking access for the sports cars. The BMW pit was one which was blocked. Hans Stuck took matters into his own hands by taking a floor jack to the diff of the offending "tin top" and pulling it off to the side.

[Lotus23]

I've never met Hans Jr, but certainly enjoy reading the stories about him. His famous father was one of my instructors in 1961 at the 'ring; I suppose he was well into his sixties by then. I had some awareness of who he was, of course, but not to the degree I do now. (Callowness of youth.)

As an aside, Wolfgang von Trips was scheduled to be the Chief Instructor at that school; unfortunately, he was killed shortly beforehand. Piero Taruffi graciously took his place.

[2F-001]

Originally posted by howl
Slightly off topic, but when, where and why did Dieter Quester drive wearing a Gorilla-suit?

Jesper O.H.

The story I heard was that he wore a rubber gorilla mask (and no crash helmet) during a practice session at Donington, and was thus fined or lost his grid slot or was otherwise reprimanded. I may be confusing the details, but I think this was at an ETCC race that I'd been at, but only heard the story afterwards.
As to 'why'... just for the hell of it, I guess...

[Jeroen Brink]

Nothing about his skills when it comes to racing in the wet?

[David M. Kane]

Lotus 23, boy that must have been some driving school! What a staff!

I only saw drive once in the wet and that was in the Brabham Alfa at Watkins Glen. He crashed out with 8 laps to go while in the lead. Bernie
apparently was REALLY pissed and that was pretty much the end of his big-time opportunities in F1. I will say this too, he had a BIG lead, perhaps he should have backed off a bit and/or when he DID back off his
concentration slipped just that LITTLE bit.

[xjohnnyjaguarx]

i read about a story on his website that he once drove 3 a 4 laps fullspeed after the race was redflagged he didnt see it and kept racing on in atrocious conditions while his team was waving
like crazy from the pitlane until he figured out what was goin on and stopped
well dont know more details

[cheesy poofs]

I once read a story about Stuck buying a house in Florida and of the houses around his was a huge mansion. Stuck wondered who lived in this fancy house and one day happened to see its owner walk out and surprise, suprise... it was his old boss Gunther Schmidt

[Ray Bell]

I think it would be nice if he came to Bathurst this year for the 24-hour...

We might get a chance to see him in action first hand. Rather like the old days, John Medley can tell some good stories of hi-jinx in the old town at night.

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
Lotus 23, boy that must have been some driving school! What a staff!

I only saw drive once in the wet and that was in the Brabham Alfa at Watkins Glen. He crashed out with 8 laps to go while in the lead. Bernie
apparently was REALLY pissed and that was pretty much the end of his big-time opportunities in F1. I will say this too, he had a BIG lead, perhaps he should have backed off a bit and/or when he DID back off his
concentration slipped just that LITTLE bit.

Please don't forget that "Regenmeister" Striezel lost his clutch after lap 3. From now on gear change was critical. But he managed to stay in the lead until lap 15 when he lost a gear in turn 7 - and he went of...

Bernie was pissed - but only til someone told him about Stuck's clutch problems. Nevertheless Stuck had to look for another drive for 1978 - perhaps Bernie would have kept him with a win in his pocket? Don't think so - just look at the performance of his team mate Watson. Without technical problems he would have won the French and British GP.

Lutz

[David M. Kane]

Bernie probably thought then that he had tossed away a victory at Watkins
Glen. Hans spun off while in the lead about 3/4 quarters or more through
the race. I don't that went over too well with "money bags" either. BTW
do you think the current worldwide economy has effect Bernie E much? In the USA they had an interview with Ted Turner and he lost $7-8B US on the AOL
disaster. Now that he can't go to Bahrain and gamble his losses back, what
kind of hit do we think he has absorbed with the Digital TV and his shares
sale?

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
Bernie probably thought then that he had tossed away a victory at Watkins
Glen. Hans spun off while in the lead about 3/4 quarters or more through
the race.

As mentioned before he spun off during lap 15 out of 59, David. I don't know which race you have seen - are we talking about Watkins Glen 1977?

@cheesy poofs

I once read a story about Stuck buying a house in Florida and of the houses around his was a huge mansion. Stuck wondered who lived in this fancy house and one day happened to see its owner walk out and surprise, suprise... it was his old boss Gunther Schmidt

He must have been very delighted ;) Strietzel is a very likeable guy but one year with Guenther Schmid in the ATS team was too much even for sunny boy Hans "I was a wreck!" 1979 during the Austrian gp weekend Hans to Mario Rall (Motorsport Aktuell) : "I pay you 10000 Mark if you lock Schmid up somewhere after the race"

Lutz

[minardifan2]

I actually had the pleasure of meeting Hans Stuck at Mosport in 2000 at the ALMS Grand Prix. He was driving one of the factory BMW M3's.

He spent all of his time in the audi tent in his BMW overalls, and we asked him what he was doing in the main competition's area all the time. He put down his cigarette, came over to us and said that all of the Audi guys were more fun. McNish was there too, and actually, he was smoking as well!

Then my uncle came over and and shook his hand and then Hans hugged him and was like "Good to see you" even tho he had no clue who he was. It was kind of funny. (as an aside...My uncle had been a track marshal at the 73-75 cdn gp's at mosport, btw, back when stuck was in F1. He actually assisted him after one of his wrecks back then!)

[Lutz G]

Quote from MSA (swiss motorsport aktuell) October 1979.

Frank Williams planned to have two cars for '79. As No 2 driver Stuck was his choice. But Patrick Head was in the beginning against Strietzel. "He is far too tall to fit in the Williams." They tried at Watkins Glen if Stuck would fit in the car - and it worked. So Head said ok. Frank gave him the contract ready to sign. But Hans wanted to think about it and in the end he signed for ATS.

Didn't know that before - this seems to be the biggest mistake in Hans career.

Does anybody know *why* Stuck choose ATS in the end? I only know that Schmid paid Hans twice as much as Williams offered (quote from MSA 45 1979). So the only reason was money?

Lutz

[Tim Murray]

Originally posted by Lutz G
Does anybody know *why* Stuck choose ATS in the end? I only know that Schmid paid Hans twice as much as Williams offered (quote from MSA 45 1979). So the only reason was money?

Although the FW06 had shown promise in 1978, Williams was still generally perceived as the tail-end team run by Frank on a shoestring budget through most of the '70s. It came as quite a surprise when Frank and Patrick turneed things around the way that they did. ATS at the time would have appeared to be better funded and staffed, and Hans would be the No 1 driver in a German team. No doubt the money helped, but I suspect that Hans chose the team he thought would bring him more success.

[fines]

Originally posted by Lutz G
Does anybody know *why* Stuck choose ATS in the end? I only know that Schmid paid Hans twice as much as Williams offered (quote from MSA 45 1979). So the only reason was money?

Hans Stuck was always a very smart guy...


__________________
Michael Ferner

Habana cigars, Mellaha circuit. As a German, I feel pretty swell, Mr. Bumsfeld.

[David M. Kane]

Lets remember that ATS was a very big deal at the time in Germany. They came onto the scene with a lot of hoopla if I remember correctly. Being German there was lot in it for Hans down the road pyschologically. He was playing to the German audience and the German market in my opinion.

Besides, I don't feel his experiences with Max, Robin and Bernie had to help any. He might have felt more comfortable in a German environment.

[Holger Merten]

I meet Hans the first time in the Audi Public relation dept., always smiling, and later I engaged him for some racing engagements (with the 1992 Audi DTM team) on some DKW F 12 in cooperation with private owners of the car at the Eifel Klassik.

It was brilliant to share some days with him. Hans likes to make jokes all the time and it's not so easy to beat him. But if you do, you have to prepared for his next joke, cause this one hits you harder, than you can imagine.

[mp4]

In about 1991, Hans was driving for Brumos Porsche in America. His car was the 911 turbo and his team mate was none other than Hurley Haywood.
I saw him drive at Watkins Glen on a few occasions and on this particular day, he started 5th or 6th and was in the lead at the end of the first lap.
Needless to say, he won the race by quite a large margin.
During the victory interview, over the P.A., he said he was late for his plane and would have to get to Elmira within an hour. He thanked everyone and did his trademark yodel for the fans. The guy who was interviewing him was at a loss for words...
Priceless!!!

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by Tim Murray

Although the FW06 had shown promise in 1978, Williams was still generally perceived as the tail-end team run by Frank on a shoestring budget through most of the '70s. It came as quite a surprise when Frank and Patrick turneed things around the way that they did. ATS at the time would have appeared to be better funded and staffed, and Hans would be the No 1 driver in a German team. No doubt the money helped, but I suspect that Hans chose the team he thought would bring him more success.

I found this Quote from Stuck about his choice (MSA, November 1979) :

"I don't want to be No2 at Williams. And nobody could confirm that I'll get good tyres"

Those were the days with quali tyres and "Holzreifen" (up to two seconds slower).

BTW: About the Stuck/Mucki/Quester T-shirt "incident" I mentioned in this Thread. It did not happen in Kyalami cause somebody dropped me a line who should know ;)

Lutz

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by Tim Murray

Although the FW06 had shown promise in 1978, Williams was still generally perceived as the tail-end team run by Frank on a shoestring budget through most of the '70s. It came as quite a surprise when Frank and Patrick turneed things around the way that they did. ATS at the time would have appeared to be better funded and staffed, and Hans would be the No 1 driver in a German team. No doubt the money helped, but I suspect that Hans chose the team he thought would bring him more success.

ATS had no big bucks in '78 too (Sponsor: Air Press) - Williams on the other hand had Saudia and Albilad. I remember pretty well that their budget for '79 was very promising - the "saudis" got lot's of money to spent - this was no secret at all after the promising season of '78.

BTW: I found this quote from Alan Jones in "Motorsport aktuell" (August, 1979)

"Last year I had with the FW 06 the best conventional car"

Lutz

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by Lutz G
Not a single reply on that topic so far? I'm surprised.

During sport car days Stuck and his pal Dieter Quester were driving for BMW (Neerpasch?) at Kyalami. At that time Stuck was engaged with a sort of Samantha Fox like beauty called Mucki. He noticed that Quester loved Mucki's lovely eyes too. During practice Stuck choose a very tricky high speed corner to watch his friend Dieter. He and his girlfriend waved at Quester for a view laps when he came by. At the third lap, just when he appeared, Stuck standing behind Mucki suddenly pulled her very tight T-shirt up - and Quester, got distracted missing his line, went off and had a very very huge shunt. Stuck rolling on the floor laughing...
If my memory serves me well the BMW was a total write off.

Lutz

Now I know where it happened (not in in Kyalami) cause I got this reply from Strietzel about the Stuck/Mucki T-shirt incident:

"It happened in Riverside, California. It was lots of fun and very
expensive (the car was a wreck) because D.Quester and I had to pay for
everything (hotel etc) after the big shunt. "

Lutz