21 replies to this topic

[Mike Argetsinger]

I am presently in the research stage for a book I am writing - a biography of Walt Hansgen.

Walt was one of the great figures in American road racing in the 50's and 60's. His career started in 1951 and ended with his tragic death at Le Mans in testing in April 1966 in the Holman&Moody Mk2 Ford GT40. His career spanned, what I believe to be, the most interesting era in American racing and it is a story I hope to tell while doing justice to Walt as a man and a driver. The Hansgen family is being extremely helpful and I have been fortunate to reach many people who played an influential role in his life.

Any ideas, suggestions, leads, insights, statistics, anecdotes or just plain encouragement will be gratefully received. Although I have published any number of articles and profiles over the years - and have edited six books - this will be my first book. It is a very exciting and challenging task.

My thanks in advance to the TNF family for your interest.

[WGD706]

Mike
I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job that his family will be proud to endorse.
I guess you've already seen the following at 8W?
http://8w.forix.com/mex62.html
And "The Hansgen Special in Detail" By Michael Frank
http://www.jcna.com/...1/jcna0017.html
Warren

[Mike Argetsinger]

Thanks very much for the kind response Warren. I had found those references you provided - but that is precisely the type of thing that is very useful. Thanks again for your thoughtfulness.

[Lotus23]

Mike, I had the great pleasure of working with Walt Hansgen on Briggs Cunningham's team of E-Type Jaguars at LeMans in the early sixties. As you probably know, his tragic accident there in April 66 led to his being taken to the U.S. military hospital at LaChapelle, where he was placed on life support.

A good friend of mine was the physician who, when all hope was gone, had the unenviable task of discontinuing that life support. A great racing fan himself, he later said that it was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do.

[Wolf]

Good luck with the book, Mike. I'm sure You'll handle it great.

[Dave Ware]

This is good news, Mike. Go for it. I'm sure it will be a lot of work but will be worth it. If you get discouraged, post here and we'll lend you moral support.

BTW, what books have you edited?

Dave

[David M. Kane]

Lotus 23, I can't imagine what it is like to be a Doctor in those circumstances. What a burden, I remember when my father's first patient
died, he was devastated.

Michael, can you tell us a little about the USGP where Walt and Roger Penske drove Coopers in the early '60s?

[Milan Fistonic]

Walt Hansgen made an impression on Gregor Grant when he saw him driving in the 1957 Sebring 12 Hour race.

He wrote in his race report:

...I could not fail to be impressed by the first-rate driving of the New Jersey man Walt Hansgen, who must be considered to be in the top flight of American-born drivers. His co-driver Russ Boss was no loiterer either, and their fifth place overall was an admirable performance altogether. If and when Jaguar return to racing, I have no doubt that the name of Hansgen will be entered in Lofty England's little book.

[Mike Argetsinger]

Thank you Milan for that Gregor Grant quote. Precisely the type of thing I am looking for to add contemporary reporting and appraisal to the fabric of the story. Thanks too to everyone else who has responded to this thread - and in some cases by PM - with information and encouragement. I hope my TNF friends will continue to keep me in mind as they come across Walt Hansgen data or lore - large or small!

Originally posted by David M. Kane

Michael, can you tell us a little about the USGP where Walt and Roger Penske drove Coopers in the early '60s?

Dave - the only championship GP where Walt and Roger appeared together was the first USGP at Watkins Glen in 1961. Penske made his only other championship GP start at Watkins Glen in 1962 and Walt his only other start in '64 (finishing 5th in a works entered Lotus). They both raced in the 1962 Mexican Grand Prix which that year was a non-championship. At that time there was a rule (more or less enforced) that an organizer had to run a non-championship F-1 race before they were awarded a championship GP. That is why the '62 Mexican GP didn't count for points.

At Watkins Glen in 1961 there were no less than seven Americans on the starting grid - all the more remarkable because neither Phil Hill nor Richie Ginther were in the race! Hansgen and Penske both acquitted themselves well. Hansgen qualified 14th of 19 starters - the only faster Americans were Dan Gurney and Masten Gregory who were both veteran GP drivers. Hansgen qualified with a 1:20.4 and Penske at 1:20.6. Americans behind them on the grid were Hap Sharp, Jim Hall and Lloyd Ruby.

Penske drove an impressively steady race to finish 8th. Hansgen had the bad luck to crash on the 16th lap (of 100) when Olivier Gendebien spun in front of him. Walt went off the road to avoid hitting him and crashed. I wonder if the car would have finished though - Doug Nye has a photo of Walt during the race sitting way forward in the car to avoid an engine fire raging behind him!

Interesting tie from that race between Penske and Hansgen is that the Briggs Cunningham owned Cooper (T53 F1-16-61) that Walt crashed, was sold after the race by Cunningham to Roger Penske and that chassis went on to fame as the controversial Zerex Special in which Penske dominated American sports car racing for a period.

Speaking of Americans in that race - Masten Gregory had one of his "coulda been- shoulda been" races. From 11 th on the grid Masten - in a UDT Laystall Lotus - charged in to to the top five early on. Unfortunately he didn't quite make it to quarter distance - a gear selector breaking after 23 laps. But on the 33rd lap teammate Gendebien pitted and turned his Lotus over to Masten. Gendebien had a tough weekend. He had crashed on Friday - getting the car upside down - and during the race had the incident that put Hansgen off the road. They were jointly credited with an 11th place finish - the last car classified on 92 laps. Masten, who had never been to Watkins Glen before that weekend, was blindingly fast in a less than top car. On the other hand, when wasn't Masten blindingly fast?!!

Lots of great stories from that weekend but perhaps I'm rambling at this point. I hope I've answered your question Dave.

[Walter Zoomie]

Walt Hangsen in the #53 Liquid Suspension Special at Indy, 1964, passing the doomed Dave MacDonald.

[fines]

Oh, and that appears to be Eddie in the background - there was one very lucky Walt around that day...

[Mike Argetsinger]

I'm bringing this thread back to the top because we have so many new participants on TNF since I first posted it. I continue to seek - and welcome - material on Walt from all sources.

Progress on the book has been slow but steady, however the results are more tangible now as I have moved from the purely research/collection phase to the writing phase (although the research continues and I anticipate it will right up to the publications date)!

Any insights, anecdotes or other thoughts and suggestions will be gratefully received, whether you post them here or choose to contact me privately. My e-mail address is michael.argetsinger@rcn.com

Thanks in advance.

[wibblywobbly]

Hi Mike, I don't have much to offer you, other than Good Luck!

I do have a video clip of Walt having a "moment" coming out of Tetre Rouge, during the 24 hours of LeMans in 1961. He nosed his #6 Maserati Tipo 63(Cunningham owned) into the sand bank on the exit of the turn, crumpling the nose and ending his and Bruce McLaren's race. The narrator said he suffered a broken arm, but you'd never know it, seeing him walk away so casually!

Enjoy your work, Mike!

[Magee]

Mike, good luck with your book project. I've been through that process, and I certainly feel relieved when it goes to press.
Just recently I received a book from Nick England of VIR with historic notes and photos. On p.31 there's a photo of Walt in a Cooper-Maserati in April 62 slowly navigating through a heavy rain storm at VIR. Here's part of the caption -- "Hansgen, who was forced to pit at one point due to water in his spark plugs, would duel with Roger Penske and Bob Holbert for most of the race and eventually take third in an extremely close finish."
There may be other photos of Walt that I've missed. Nick may have more background info of Walt's races there.
Do you know how to contact Nick, or do you need his email address?
Cheers.

[Magee]

Mike, here's an addendum:
VIR book
P. 28 photo of Walt, Dick Thompson, and Briggs Cunningham

[wibblywobbly]

Originally posted by wibblywobbly
Hi Mike, I don't have much to offer you, other than Good Luck!

I do have a video clip of Walt having a "moment" coming out of Tetre Rouge, during the 24 hours of LeMans in 1961. He nosed his #6 Maserati Tipo 63(Cunningham owned) into the sand bank on the exit of the turn, crumpling the nose and ending his and Bruce McLaren's race. The narrator said he suffered a broken arm, but you'd never know it, seeing him walk away so casually!

Enjoy your work, Mike!

Here are a couple of pics:

Click the pics for a much larger image.

"The Bridgehampton 500 was open to all comers, and Walt Hansgen won it in his Cooper-Buick. Bob Holbert is behind Hansgen, and long-time Cunningham mechanic Alfred Momo is at the far right."

"Walt Hansgen, with his Lola T70 accepts the winners plaudits. Running most of the race on seven cylinders, he held off a hard-charging Hap Sharp for a narrow victory."

Scanned from "Pro Sports Car Racing in America 1958 - 1974"

And the previously mentioned video, is here: http://www.crasheram...topic.php?t=107

Please do not direct link to the video. Membership is quick and painless. Hope ya'll like it.

[HangtownHealey]

Mike,
Thanks for writing about Walt. My records show him driving a Healey 100S three times in 1955. If you come across any pictures or indications of the car owners, I would appreciate hearing about it.
I have some guess's of Gene Bortin and Vince Sardi.
Thanks,
Ken

[AAA-Eagle]

Today is the day to remember another great driver... The 7th of April, 1966 became the last day of Walt Hansgen. He crashed during practice for the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans. Walt was 46 when he died. The accident occured on Saturday, April 2 and he died on Thursday, April 7 at an American military hospital in Orleans. His wife Bea and two children, Rusty and Beverley arrived in time to be with him before he died. He never regained conciousness after the crash.

[rosemeyer]

Mike I got your post card I will buy the book I saw a lot of tv and tapes of Walt and with you doing it it will be great. My son and I are going to the historics at Elkhart Lake in september 2005 am staying at Stafford 52 in Plymouth hope to see you.










TNF Badge 93

[Sandeep Banerjee]

You might also want to have a look at Mark Donohue's 'The Unfair Advantage'. Walt Hansgen played a big part in Donohue's career, by Donohue's own admission and he's written a fair bit about it in his book.

[Ray Bell]

I've no doubt that Mike has done that Sandeep...

The manuscript was actually finished off in February, but the publisher is having some problem scheduling in production. It was supposed to be released in October, but I believe it's going to be a bit longer.

Mike doesn't check the forum often these days... the more's the pity.

[Paul Medici]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


The manuscript was actually finished off in February, but the publisher is having some problem scheduling in production. It was supposed to be released in October, but I believe it's going to be a bit longer.

According to David Bull Publishing, Mike's book about Walt will be released in March, 2006.

Title: WALT HANSGEN - His Life and the History of Post-War American Road Racing
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