595 replies to this topic

[ReWind]

@sat: Thanks for taking the trouble to check the links.

Originally posted by me four days ago
According to this source in 2007 a driver called Willie Swift died.

That name doesn't ring a bell as far as I'm concerned. Anyone else who knows who he was?

Nobody there who can say anything about Willie Swift?

[Red Socks]

Hermann Bennier Austrian Rally Champion in an Alfa Romeo in 1968 died last Monday 3rd November.Hermann was a member of the FIA Historic Commission and the Historic Motorsport Commission where he was chairman of the Rallies Sub committee for many years. He was deeply involved with Austrian motorsport and regularly an FIA Steward in Historic Rallying.
The funeral is in Vienna on Wenesday 12th November.

[Jim Thurman]

Lee Robison, a Super Modified and Sprint Car racer who raced out of Spring Valley, CA (near San Diego), passed away November 6. Services were today in San Diego. Robison was born in 1934 and I have him winning 10 CRA Sprint Car features and at least 5 SDRA features (2 at Cajon, at least 3 at South Bay Speedway).

In 1967, Robison had 5 CRA wins driving the Ken Brown Chevy (Reno, Irwindale, Manzanita, Irwindale and Cajon) and finished 5th in points. In 1974, Robison had 2 CRA wins - both at Ascot - driving for Gary Sokola and finished 8th in points and had 3 wins in 1975, again all at Ascot, and finished 6th in points.

Lee Robison was a very good driver. Dick Fries was virtually unstoppable in the SDRA, particularly when they ran at South Bay, but the one driver who consistently gave Fries his toughest competition was Lee Robison. Robison was the driver who broke Fries' winning streaks at SBS.

[fines]

Sad news! I came about Lee's name several times during my research, certainly a very good driver. I can add that two of his three wins in 1975 came driving for Sokola again, and one for Joe Goade, all with Chevy engines. Robison also took a shot at USAC Sprints when they came "to town" late in 1967 for a couple of Saturday night shows at Ascot, finishing 4th in one of those.

Jim, I suppose the Billy Robison that ran IMCA and later WoO out of Topeka (KS) wasn't any relation, was he?

[275 GTB-4]

VALE DEREK JOLLY - APRIL 2002

http://www.budde.com...APRIL_2002.aspx

Last month we said farewell to my friend, Derek Jolly, our multimedia man in Adelaide. Derek died at the age of 74, after a fierce battle with injuries that he sustained from a horrific car accident, 15 months ago – when an out-of-control car crashed into his stationery car at 90kph. To add to Decca’s troubles, he was battling cancer at the same time.

Derek was a very remarkable person with wide interests – from car racing to wine to the arts, and from science and technology to business.

His mother came from the Penfold family, so his life-long interest in wine was fairly predictable. In the fifties, he worked with the famous Max Schubert, maker of The Grange. When he visited, he always brought a very special bottle of red with him, which we then drank with much ceremony here in Bucketty. On one of my visits to Adelaide, after a nice dinner and visiting some bars and pubs, we ended up in his wine cellar where we finished off the evening with some lovely Hungarian Muscat from 1925!

Between 1948 and 1962 he was one of Australia’s most prominent car racer. He built two cars himself, which are now all museum pieces (Decca I, II and III). He was the national champion and was closely linked to the Lotus team, for which he raced. He assisted in the development of cars and toured the European race circuits with the Lotus team, including racers like Sterling Moss and Graham Hill.

In northern Germany and the Netherlands, he recorded live music played on 17th century organs. In the early 1960s heimported the Moog Mark III, one of the first synthesizers in Australia, which was instaffed in the rear of his recording studio and was also used by students of the conservatorium in Adelaide. He built a cultural centre in Melbourne Street, Adelaide (Decca’s Place) and developed a large part of this street to what you see today –apartments, shops and restaurants. For the last ten years he, with his partner Helen, was a key person in the organisation of the annual Barossa Music Festival, for which they both received medals acknowledging their contribution.

As a part of all his activities Decca took literally thousand of photographs, some of which are now featured internationally.

Derek loved nature, especially the Flinders Ranges, which he began visiting in the late 1940s and he kept a photographic record of his trips to this area. He also took some great pictures of our grey gums here in Bucketty, after the 1994 fires.

He loved technology. When Decca visited us in Bucketty a car that looked like a Christmas tree would arrive – with antennas all over the place. He was the first to get into PCs, faxes, mobile satellite and online services – this is how our association began.

Soon after I arrived in Australia in 1983, Derek contacted me and asked if I would like to introduce the latest online technology (videotex) in Adelaide. I did one of my first videotex presentations in Australia in his Portobello Centre and we have been friends ever since.

Decca was a victim of the very high interest rates of these years and lost all his property and other assets in the stockmarket crash of 1987.

In 1996 he moved to Marananga in the Barossa, where he opened a Multimedia Gallery. Combining his vast collection of slides and photographs with the many sounds that he had recorded – as well as with excerpts from his rare sound collection of, for example, WWI footage that he had somehow acquired from the BBC.

The Gallery was a showcase of his interest and talents. The opening exhibition was a collection of his recent landscape photographs each accompanied by a specialy created musical interlude. Many of the Lotus owners were enthralled by Derek’s projection onto a lrge screen of his slide collection on the early days of Lotus accompanied by his stories on working with Colin Chapmand and the rest of the Lotus team in the 1950s.

At the time I wrote of the tremendous value that such collections would have in the development of new broadband content. On another occasion I featured one of his photographs in our newsletter – a picture of an old timber telephone box in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the Flinders Ranges, connected via fence wire to the homestead several kilometres away.

I will greatly miss my friend Decca – a free spirit, an out-of-the-box thinker, an optimist who never complained about his financial losses, the accident, or his illness. He has truly earned his place in Australian history and his many legacies will remain with us forever.

Paul Budde

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by fines
Sad news! I came about Lee's name several times during my research, certainly a very good driver. I can add that two of his three wins in 1975 came driving for Sokola again, and one for Joe Goade, all with Chevy engines. Robison also took a shot at USAC Sprints when they came "to town" late in 1967 for a couple of Saturday night shows at Ascot, finishing 4th in one of those.

Jim, I suppose the Billy Robison that ran IMCA and later WoO out of Topeka (KS) wasn't any relation, was he?

Yes it is sad news. I was just going through old race accounts where he featured prominently when I read of his passing. It also occurs to me that Lee Robison competed in every Sprint Car race I attended in Southern California edit: perhaps save one.

As one can see by his wins, he was one of those drivers seemingly equally able on both dirt and pavement, and yes, he was quite good.

I'll have to dig through my old Cajon Speedway programs, but I recall a small profile of him in one.

As far as I know, no relation to Billy Robison. I would not think it too likely.

[Jim Thurman]

Two long time racing families lost members this past week...

Ricky Weld, the last of the racing Weld brothers of Sprint Car fame, passed away December 4th at 53. Older brother Greg passed away just this past August.

Richard Hooper, member of the Hooper clan - a long time Stock Car racing family in Southern California, passed away December 6th.

[HistoricMustang]

Originally posted by Jim Thurman
Two long time racing families lost members this past week...

Ricky Weld, the last of the racing Weld brothers of Sprint Car fame, passed away December 4th at 53. Older brother Greg passed away just this past August.

Richard Hooper, member of the Hooper clan - a long time Stock Car racing family in Southern California, passed away December 6th.

Thanks Jim!

I keep wondering about what George Jones sang: "Who's gonna fill their shoes?"

http://uk.youtube.co...h?v=-B8Qj0CnQi4

Henry

[Vitesse2]

Xavier Perrot has passed away:

http://www.blick.ch/...-erloest-107171

[Hieronymus]

Just got back from a couple of days in the jungle and just learned of Xavier Perrot's death. Somewhat surprised that only Vitesse2 picked up on this news...

[Nanni Dietrich]

Xavier Perrot

http://www.motorspor...WF&db2=ms&n=753

[ReWind]

With kind assistance from TwinWindow I updated my list in the initial post of this thread.

As always:
If anyone can fill in the obvious gaps or replace the question marks with hard facts:
please tell me!

[Jim Thurman]

And sadly, the Southern California stock car community lost an iconic member early in the year and another near the end of the year...

Ron Hornaday (Sr.), passed away Sunday (December 21). He was 77. I will re-edit this post to provide a more fitting obituary soon. Many will only list him as "Ron Hornaday Jr.'s father", but he was much more than that.

[ReWind]

News from France say that Igor Troubetskoy, the first man to race a Ferrari in a Grand Prix event, died on 20 December 2008 at the age of 96.
(Source)

[Felix]

Sam Tingle:

I don't see this mentioned in this thread, so am bringing it: Sam Tingle died on 19 December in Cape Town. It is probably best to post the entire obituary as sent to me by his biographer Greg Mills. Apologies if it has been mentioned and also for the delay in advising , but I had limited email access during the festive season.

Greg's obituary:

I am very sorry to inform you that the Zimbabwean Formula One driver Sam Tingle passed away peacefully in Cape Town this morning, aged 87.

Sam was one of the last of the Formula One privateers. He started his motorsport career immediately after the war in hillclimbs in South Africa, moving to Southern Rhodesia in 1950 and progressing through various MGs to ERA RB12B in 1956 to the ex-Johnny Claes/Dick Gibson Connaught the following year. Rhodesian champion in 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963 and 1964, he drove in seven South African Grands Prix, with a best place finish of eighth in his LDS-Alfa in 1961 and in again the ex-Denny Hulme Brabham BT24/2-Repco in 1969 in World Championship events, and fifth in his LDS-Climax in the 1966 non-championship race. With team-mate John Love, he made up Team Gunston from the end of 1967, their burgundy and gold livery at a stroke forever changing the face of international motorsport.

Sam retired from active competition following a bad accident at Killarney in Cape Town in January 1970 when his Brabham’s throttle stuck open, but remained involved, being instrumental in the construction of the Donnybrook track in Harare in the mid-1970s. He continued to participate in classic rallies in his two WO Bentleys into the 21st century, and participated in the rebuilt Brabham at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2001.

We collaborated on his biography in 2006. It was a pleasure to work with him in the production of ‘Love First, Tingle Second’ just as I suspect it was a similar experience to race alongside him all those years ago. Despite the 40-odd year age gap, a mischievous twinkle at the ready, Sam connected easily across generations, a mine of information and anecdotes about an earlier, refreshingly less complicated age.

Murray Walker wrote of five-time World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio that “Out of the car he was calm and courteous, a unique blend of charm, humility and tough acumen.” These words more than adequately describe Sam Tingle’s approach to life. He was the true gentleman and always the sportsman, and will be sorely missed.

Our sincere condolences go out to his wife of 54 years Mary, children Ann, Jeanne, David and John, and eight grandchildren.

Greg Mills

[ReWind]

Originally posted by Felix
Sam Tingle:
I don't see this mentioned in this thread, so am bringing it: Sam Tingle died on 19 December in Cape Town.

There is a special thread about his passing on TNF.
But, nevertheless, of course you are welcome to post the obituary in this place.

[MonzaOne]

During the off season I enjoy looking back and enjoying past seasons, especially those from the 70's and 80,s and 90's.

Two names are always prominent because they were the Hamilton and Vettel of the day but never had the opportunity to demonstrate their so very evident potential.

They were the late Tony Brise and Stafan Bellof.

Bellof driving for Tyrrell had a car able to qualify usually amongst the last 6 on the grid, but definitely by mid-race would be in the top 6, and even be pushing for a podium.

The race which come to mind most is Stefan's 6th f1 race. In the rain at Monte Carlo in 1984, there were two drivers going quicker than anyone else and trading fast laps with each other. The two were Senna - lying 2nd, and Bellof - lying 3rd. And it was Stefan Bellof that was catching Senna!!!

I saw Bellof race during his brief 22 grand prix career and he was both exciting to watch and quick. How wonderful it would have been to see him matched against Senna in the seasons that followed because he was definitely headed for the top teams as well.

He life ended at Eau Rouge during the Spa 1000 kms, in Porsche 956 in 1985.

Tony Brise was a revelation. I remember so clearly how excited everyone was when he drove f3 in 1975. He only participated in 10 grands prix, his skill so very obvious. Brought into GP racing by Frank Wiliams he finished 7th in his only race for Williams at the wonderful Montjuich Park street circuit in 1975. In only his 3rd grand prix at Andertorp in 1975 he finished 6th in the Hill GH1.

Like Bellof, he flattered the cars that he drove. The car would qualify around 17th but Brise would always be able to haul it up into the sharp end.

His life ended together with Damon Hill's father and others of the Hill team such as Andy Smallman in a plane crash returning - as I recall - from a test session at Paul Ricard.

One can only imagine how Tony would have done against the greats of the 1975 - 1990 era or so.

Both Bellof and Brise were world champion material and it would have been only a matter of when.

[Bernd Rosemeyer]

Originally posted by MonzaOne
How wonderful it would have been to see him matched against Senna in the seasons that followed because he was definitely headed for the top teams as well.

Didn't he hold a Ferrari contract for 86?

[mursuka80]

This belongs in Nostalgia Forum I was in a total shock,when i saw that Tom Pryce fatal crash on youtube Im just glad that past tragedies have made this sport safer,so these drivers didnt die in vain.

[picblanc]

Mention of the Hill team & Andy Smallman, photos from 1975 RofC at Brands Hatch.

Photo Copyrighted to Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

Photo Copyrighted to Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

[ensign14]

I am still not convinced that Bellof was the Second Coming, I'm afraid. If you look at his record at Tyrrell against Brundle, Martin matched him at the very least...it could be argued Brundle was never the same driver after his shunt at Dallas, but if you look at Bellof's best official placing (4th at Detroit 1985) he was behind Brundle when MB had the misfortune of trying to lap the clueless Alliot (I know that's tautologous, but there you go).

[sterling49]

Lovely shots of the Hill team Graham, in the "Old Paddock" that had great atmosphere and a 45degree slope

[alansart]

Mike Wilds in the red jacket with rings on the sleeves.

[sterling49]

Originally posted by alansart
Mike Wilds in the red jacket with rings on the sleeves.

The Dempster driver? (IIRC )

[ReWind]

Originally posted by ReWind in post # 2
This thread is intended as a place – at best the place – for TNF’ers to inform fellow TNF’ers about current passings of motor racing people.

I don't think the most recent postings meet that intention.

[ReWind]

It's a shame that the passing of Josef Hoppen on 16 November 2008 went by completely unnoticed.

He was Porsche's, Volkswagen's and Audi's man in America for decades and should deserve a thread of his own.

The following is taken from the website of Joe Hoppen Motorsport, Inc.:

Josef Hoppen, who founded JHM in 1990, was for years the head of Volkswagen of America's Motorsport and high performance activities. There he successfully oversaw the winning North American competition efforts of Porsche, VW and Audi.

Before accepting the position at VWoA, Hoppen worked as a Service Manager, Race Car builder and driver at the Porsche VW Dealership in Daytona Beach, winning several events, championships and factory awards. Hoppen came to America in 1957 after leaving the Porsche Factory Racing Department.

Educated in Germany, Hoppen joined Volkswagen of America in 1962 as an engineer, overseeing technical matters, quality control and warranty matters while also providing technical dealer support. Hoppen soon found himself being asked to oversee Volkswagen of America's interests on the motorsport/performance front. This lead to his long and most successful association within the industry that saw him establish Porsche, Audi and VW as leaders in the motorsport and performance arena from 1967 through 1990.

VWoA established the all new Porsche Audi Dealer organization in 1968 which brought new challenges to Hoppen's Motorsport Group. The first visible Porsche Audi Racing effort started with Jo Siffert's 1969 SCCA Can-Am program. This eventually formed the basis of the all out Porsche Audi 917 turbo Can-Am Championships. The team was guided and organized by Roger Penske and his successful Penske Organization. The drivers were Mark Donohue and George Follmer.

Under Hoppen, this Porsche Audi motorsport involvement expanded to the IMSA and SCCA with Porsche Carrera, 924-944 turbo, 934 turbo, 935 turbo and finally 952 turbo programs with nearly 200 victories and countless Championships in Trans-Am, National & Regional races, Camel GT, GTO, GTU, GTX and Prototype events. Hoppen also started the Indy project for Porsche. In addition to making all models champions, Hoppen also made the Audi/VW powered 914 and 924 National Champions.

On the VW side, Hoppen started making VW powered Dune Buggies Baja 500, Mint 400 and Baja 1000, winning products and National Champions. VW power and technology went into USAC Midgets, Formula Vee and Super Vee, introducing both V classes to many other countries and the introduction of several World Championship events. In the process, Bill Scott became the only American driver ever winning at the difficult Nurburgring in Germany. Finally, Hoppen made the GTI and Scirocco National Champions and introduced America's first one make Championships with the Scirocco Cup, Golf Cup and Bilstein Rabbit Cup.

During the early part of the 1980's Hoppen was asked to further build a performance image for Audi products. This led to a rally program with John Buffum and the Audi Sport Quattro turbo winning 56 events between 1981 and 1988, claiming U.S. National Championships between 1982 and 1987 and winning 5 North American Championships during the same period. Other victories came in the Alcan 5000, One Lap of America, Pro-Solo and National road racing events.

In addition to those Rally triumphs came victories at the difficult and well established Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Hoppen continued with Audi to develop specially prepared Quattro's for this event, winning six years from 1982 onwards with such drivers as John Buffum, Michèle Mouton, Walter Röhrl and Bobby Unser. In the process, the turbocharged Quattro's set records that were to last for most of the next ten years.

Additionally, Hoppen masterminded the Quattro's AWD turbocharged entrance into the Trans-Am and GTO tours. He guided the engineers through the maze of U.S. regulations to produce cars that were able to achieve a strong advantage over their rivals in both championships. While concentrating on these headlining opportunities, Hoppen also oversaw Audi's involvement in SCCA Showroom Stock racing, where the 200 turbo Quattro proved itself a success with victories at such venues as Sebring and Road Atlanta.

The specially prepared Audi 200 Quattro turbo with Bobby Unser driving also established in 1986 the World Speed Record for All Wheel Drive cars at Talladega Speedway at 200+ mph.

As Volkswagen of America's head, Hoppen was key in helping to shape Audi's entry into road racing competition arena, working with Audi engineers directly to create the kind of vehicles to make the brand a champion of this side of the Atlantic.

In the time since, Hoppen has continued to use those relationships to form a partnership with Audi's high performance engineers, as well as Volkswagen counterparts and the leading Audi/VW tuners in Europe to create, develop and import the finest and most appropriate after market performance packages available for Audi and Volkswagen drivers.

Hoppen's knowledge and tuning experience led him to the MTM organization, Europe's best and most experienced Audi/VW performance company, to become America's importer of MTM engineered and developed products.

If Hoppen's experience as a motorsport/performance tester helps give Joe Hoppen Motorsport an edge than so too does it that his son Michael, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the company. The younger Hoppen began his career at Vašek Polak Porsche & Audi in Southern California, one of the best-known performance oriented dealerships in the country. There, he was involved with Polak's racing efforts, as well as with the dealership's performance street customers.

From there, he went in the early 1980's to establish and run Abt Motorsport in Southern California, the first dedicated Audi tuning operation here in the United States. Mike Hoppen achieved a new level of success both for the company and himself by providing Audi enthusiasts the quality service, parts and technical knowledge to transform their vehicles into performance classics.

The younger Hoppen's association with Audi performance was likewise a personal one as well, having prepared and raced successfully a Quattro (Ur-Quattro) in SCCA competition, this after competing in the Rabbit Bilstein Cup where he showed considerable talent, potential and victories. During the later part of the 1980's and early part of the 1990's he applied his skills helping to make the Beddor family's Quattro Group operation one of the leading centers for Audi high performance, easily winning the Virginia City Hill Climb, beating Corvettes, Ferraris and Vipers.

Beddor's 4 Audi Sport Quattro's were turned into 480+ hp machines; beating the top leading performance cars at Quattro Club and Porsche Club track events. They were key elements, as was Hoppen, in establishing the Quattro Club USA.

Mike Hoppen, in addition to developing, preparing and racing the Audi Ur-Quattro, the first Audi Road Racing effort, continued Audi association by developing and building two Audi 200 Quattro turbos for SCCA and IMSA Showroom Stock Racing. The cars were very competitive and recorded the first road course victory ever in the U.S. for an Audi Quattro at the 6 hours of Road Atlanta with Hurley Haywood as the lead driver. (The Audi also won the 6 hours of Sebring.) In addition to Haywood, drivers included Robby Unser, Gene Felton, John Buffum, Doc Bundy and Jeff Andretti.

Mike Hoppen is the key development person at JHM. He works with numerous engineers and Audi technicians in Ingolstadt, Germany as well as Audi contacts in the U.S.

[Richard Jenkins]

Talking of deaths going unnoticed, I was amazed to hear of the death of 18 year old Ramiro Scuncio when doing some checking re. Eliseo's Salazar's WATN entry.

He died in a car crash last year & I'm amazed it's been missed by so many news outlets

http://www.cooperati...0529214513.html

[ReWind]

Summary 2008

Angola (1 passing)
Emílio Marta (75 years old)
 
Argentina (9)
Raúl Chabert (47) Raúl Cottet (74) Ricardo Grandío jr. (73) Rolf Juchet (83) Domingo López Oribe (77) Carlos Luaces (66) Óscar Marcolongo (87) Ramiro Scuncio (18) Antonio Zarantonello (82)
 
Australia (8)
Jack Bono (??) Ashley Cooper (27) Ian Fergusson (71) Bill Ford (c.87) Neville Harper (c.65) Rob Loesch (??) Neil Marsden (c.80) Ray Skipper (c.71)
 
Austria (9)
Hermann Bennier (66) Herbert Breiteneder (54) Johannes Demel (61) Hans-Peter Fürst (76) Hubert Neukom (72) Christa Saibel (54) Harald Sperrer (40) Dieter Stappert (66) Walter Totschnig (68)
 
Belgium (14)
Laurent Bechoux (32) Eddy Becker (31) André van Bever (85) Annelore Debuyck (23) Frédéric Demonty (31) Yves Feilner (56) Paul Frère (91) Hans Goudezeune (23) Pascal Jennes (32) Anthony Kornwolf (30) Émile Lejeune (62) Serge Messine (57) Marc Pascual (57) Gilberte Thirion (80)
 
Brazil (3)
Aurélio Félix (49) Jorge Lettry (78) Haroldo Vaz Lobo (81)
 
Bulgaria (1)
Valeri Kasabov (56)
 
Canada (9)
Max Boxstrom (63) Dave Halliwell (78) John Keeler (c.87) Doug Larson (c.62) Frank Levesque (48) Sidney Paine (c.73) Bill Snowdon (c.54) Karl Stangl (c.74) Moe Vaillant (74)
 
Chile (1)
Boris Garafulic (c.80)
 
China (1)
Xu Lang (31)
 
Czechia (5)
Miroslav Fajkus (43) Miroslav Levora (24) Luboš Opolský (29) Vlastislav Ševčík (26) Pavla Třebínová (26)
 
Denmark (1)
Jens Hansen (44)
 
Estonia (8)
Enno Jürima (69) Riho Luik (41) Valdar Nuuma (70) Enn Õis (53) Heino Sepp (72) Mart Taniel (75) Endel Untera (74) Kaarel-Ain Viirok (72)
 
France (30)
Olivier Anglade (29) Jean-Marie Balestre (86) Roger Barbara (59) Jean Bernardet (86) Jacques Bonnecarrère (80) Marguette Bouvier (100) Henri Cabaniols (61) Bernard Cahier (81) Jean-Claude Caillaud (71) Agnès Carameaux (50) Jean-Paul Cusimano (55) Jacky Dechaumel (75) Roland Dolibeau (64) Georges Gonnard (95) Yves Hervalet (59) Georges Houel (94) Régis Inchelin (57) Pascal Lefêvre (41) Jean-Claude Macchetto (59) Hubert Maintenant (30) Yvan Maison (59) Jean-Charles Martinetti (51) Jacques Petitjean (75) Robert Schollemann (96) Irène Testot-Ferry (91) Pierre Thimonier (65) Christophe Tigoulet (27) Henri Triaire (57) Philippe Viennet (37) Cyril Viot (19)
 
Germany (26)
Günter Besier (73) Rudi Böhm (82) Rüdiger Faltz (66) Rolf Götz (65) Kathleen Harnisch (25) Ben Heiderich (73) Ernst Hiller (79) Josef Hoppen (75) Jürgen Hug (67) Uwe Jäger (41) Michael Krankenberg (60) Gerd Krauthausen (64) Peter Kroeber (57) Wilhelm Lyding (79) Andreas Mäder (c.51) Beate Nodes (44) Sven Panowitz (52) Karl-Heinz Remmel (??) Helmut Scherer (47) Franz Schwan (81) Heinz Seegers (82) Didi Stolze (63) Dieter Ulmer (48) Heinz Walter (78) Wolfgang Wilcke (c.78) Tibor Wild (85)
 
Great Britain & Northern Ireland (47)
Tony Ambrose (74) Rob Arthur (58) Peter Ashcroft (79) Rod Badham (65) Don Beresford (77) Rodney Bloor (74) Peter Bolton (88) Archie Bryde (89) Richard Burton (69) John Burbidge (73) Hugh Clifford (86) Peter Croft (57) Tony Dean (75) Bill Dobson (87) Richard Drewett (72) Neil Eason Gibson (74) Malcolm Eaves (76) Keith Frecker (62) Arthur Gill (82) Doug Harris (86) James Hunt (75) Peter Jopp (80) Ken Leece (c.78) David Leslie (54) Peter Lewis (90) Richard Lloyd (63) George Mackie (92) Pat Moss-Carlsson (73) Ian Muir (c.70) Reg Phillips (92) Carl Poscha (42) Len Pritchard (88) Tony Rolt (89) William Samengo-Turner (83) Bob Shaw (c.60) Alan Smith (c.84) Alec Spooner (??) Jimmy Stewart (76) Peter Stubberfield (98) Bryan Talbot (92) Ian Walker (82) Richard Ward (65) Peter Wardle (61) Barry Westmoreland (67) Bernard White (83) Jim Whitehouse (87) Trevor Wilkinson (85)
 
Greece (2)
Stavros Kikizas (c.53) Níkos Vlachos (34)
 
Hungary (1)
József Gál (41)
 
Ireland (1)
Liam McGrath (??)
 
Italy (26)
Gigi Achilli (??) Tonino Ascari (66) Pier-Emilio Barlassina (60) Benigno Bartoletti (72) Paolo Bonacchi (37) Salvatore Calascibetta (73) Valerio Colotti (82) Armando Conti (c.55) Mario Facca (83) Domenico Favaglioni (??) Alberto Franceschetti (c.61) Claudio Giovanini (c.37) Rodolfo Mailander (c.85) Gianfranco la Mazza (c.66) Pierpaolo Pala (30) Cesare Passoli (54) Omar Pedrazzoli (26) Fabio Piccone (44) Marco Piva (c.40) Michele Puccio (49) Adolfo Rava (76) Giovanni de Riu (84) Marcello Sabbatini (81) „Gatto Silvestro“ (43) Danilo Tesini (83) Dino Toso (39)

Lebanon (1)
Adel Metni (46)
 
Luxemburg (1)
Jean Bous (72)
 
Macedonia (1)
Slavcho Gjorgiev (c.46)
 
Mauritius (1)
Marc Koenig (c.55)
 
Mexico (1)
Rubén Ballesteros Jr. (c.17)
 
Netherlands (6)
Piet Dam (61) Marianne Flinterman (87) Theo Koks jr. (63) Tinus Korevaar (68) Hans Oskamp (69) Chantal van der Sluis (38)
 
New Zealand (3)
Noel Goodwin (c.62) Johnny Riley (84) Bill Thomasen (81)
 
Poland (1)
Andrzej Terej (46)
 
Portugal (1)
António Potier Godinho (78)
 
Romania (2)
Laurenţiu Borbely (81) Laurenţiu Moldovan (75)
 
Russia (8)
Yuri Andreev (77) Anatoliy Dmitriyevskiy (81) Stanislav Gess de Kaľve (68) Andrey Kostyushenko (35) Alexander Lakeyev (49) Emmanuil Lifshits (73) Boris Obukhov (31) Igor Troubetskoy (96)
 
San Marino (1)
Dino Crescentini (60)
 
Senegal (1)
Jean Lablanche (70)

Serbia (1)
Goran Mutić (??)
 
South Africa (3)
George Cronjé (38) Paul Pfeiffer (41) Francis Tucker (84)
 
Spain (12)
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Edited by ReWind, 20 December 2024 - 13:26.

[fines]

Originally posted by ReWind
George Shilala (30 Sep 2008 at age 95),

Not entirely unexpected, but still so sad... Truely an "Unsung Hero"!

[hardy]

Hi Rewind,

Just clutching at straws here, would you have any infornation regarding the wherabouts of elizabeth jones, liz jones was a very good mini cooper racing driver during the 1960's

[ReWind]

Sorry, hardy, I can't help you on that.

[HistoryFan]

Teddy Mayer on 30th January 2009 at the age of 73.

[Joe Nix]

CARL RICHARD ELDER 'Pete' Carl Richard Elder 'Pete', 88, died peacefully on Sunday morning, February 1, 2009. He was born in Fowler, Ohio on June 11, 1920. He and his wife of 53 years, Elizabeth, moved their family to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands in the late 1950's. He established Elder Automotive and successfully operated the business until he retired. They moved to West Palm Beach, FL in 1982 and their children and families soon followed. His sons established Elder Automotive of West Palm Beach in 1984. During WWII he served his country in the US Marine Corps as a Sargent. He was part of the occupying forces of Japan which brought the ending of WWII. During his early 20's and 30's he was an avid competitor in racing Sprint and Midget cars. His enthusiasm and love of racing culminated in the designing of an open wheel Formula 500 Race Car.His enthusiasm and love of racing culminated in the designing of an open wheel Formula 500 Race Car.

For his full obit, Palm Beach Post Feb 3, 2009

http://tinyurl.com/ajf3vm

Son Jim Elder runs Dolphin Motor Sports

http://www.dolphin-m...s.com/index.htm

[B Squared]

This from the Santa Maria (CA) Times obituaries from 01-01-09. My Mom's hometown. Alot of racers in this area. Excerpts from the full obit..

J.T. "Spud" Simkins 1920-2008 Longtime race circuit promoter, J.T. "Spud" Simkins passed away on Saturday, December 27, 2008. He was 88) years old.

Spud was born in Wyoming to parents, Edward Hershel and Myrtle Iva (Davidson) Simkins on February 1, 1920. At the age of nine, Spud contracted Polio. It did not deter his ambitions. He volunteered, but was not accepted into the military. But during World War II, he found his place of service as a cook in the Merchant Marines. After the war, he returned to Santa Maria where he found work at Mrs. Burnette's Cafe as a cook.

Spud was a legendary local figure with deep ties to the Bakersfield and Santa Maria Speedways. He became one of the top roadster, midget, and jalopy drivers in California during the 1940's where he won numerous track championships. The 1950's brought him back to Bakersfield at the Bakersfield Speedway as a promoter. In 1964, he began a new facet of his racing career as the builder and promoter of the Santa Maria Speedway. He returned to the then, defunct, Bakersfield Speedway in 1979, resurrecting it into a 1/4 mile clay track. In the late 1980's, he made the move to Amarillo, Texas as track owner/ promoter and also a promoter in Pahrump, Nevada.

Burial will take place at the main masoleum at (Bakersfield) Greenlawn Cemetary.

RIP Spud - Brian

Edit: I mistakenly placed this in the "Speed's ultimate price: the toll" thread. My apologies for this gaffe. I tried to delete the original post, to no avail. Sorry for the repetition.

[rx-guru]

German Norbert Przybilla died on January 15 2009 in the United States.

http://www.legacy.co...sonID=123551594

http://memorialwebsi...a/homepage.aspx

[ReWind]

From visibly improved AUTOSPORT [March 12, 2009, p. 89]:

Longtime Historic racer Reg Skeels died last month, aged 77. Active in single-seaters and sportscars until he lost an arm in a farming accident, Skeels supported son Alf’s racing and presented the Formula Junior Historic Racing Association with a Team Trophy in 2008.

No exact date given. Found no mention of his passing elsewhere on the World Wide Web.

EDIT: I found an obituary. So he died on 28 February 2009.

[ReWind]

Just days ago Stub Fadden died at the age of 75.

[Nanni Dietrich]

Antonio Bellentani passed away in February 2009. He had been the chief mechanic at the Scuderia Ferrari for years in the 1970s and early 1980s. Jody Scheckter who won the World Championship in 1979 with Bellentani, participated in his funeral.

[Rich&Em]

Sorry to be a dullard here - when you talk of 'acheivement' the listed notes would humble most who aren't in the Pro class of motorsport - and I didn't know if the 'gaps' represented lack of info, or lack of 'significant' event/ info judged by pro standards ...... a test: I was thinking for Doug Harris, and his impressive list of entries in rallies as a privateer during '64-'75, whether the note "Privateer - Class winner 1970 World Cup Rally London-Mexico" or similar would fit, or would seem trivial - pelase comment.

Keep up the good work;
Cheers
Rich

[rx-guru]

British Rallycross driver Terry Briggs (* 05.12.1945) passed away on 14.04.2009. He had an operation on one brain tumour already, but also another unremovable one.

Godspeed, Terry!

[HistoryFan]

Williams confirmed the death of one of his engineers: Jim Douglas. He was working for 28 years at Williams.

[Nanni Dietrich]

On 15 April 2009, Franco Ambrosio and his wife died from severe injuries suffered when intruders broke into their house in Posillipo, near Naples, Italy.

The story of this tragedy is pretty similar to Jackie Pretorius' death, which occurred in South Africa in March of 2009.

Franco Ambrosio was a well known entrepreneur from Naples, who was involved in motorsport as main sponsor of Team Shadow in 1977.

As the "A" of Arrows, Ambrosio was one of the founders of the team in 1978, with Rees, Oliver, Wass, Southgate.

[fines]

Even if Ambrosio's role in F1 was always regarded as somewhat "dubious", this is simply terrible!

[HistoryFan]

When I'm right, he went to jail, before Arrows made its first GP start. What happened to him after that?

[rx-guru]

http://www.indianapo...adis_Dies_At_92

[Nanni Dietrich]

Giovanni Centenari, builder of the Centenari M1 - Alfa Romeo in which Arturo Merzario won a round of the 1997 FIA Sportscar Championship at Brno, passed away in April 2009 at the age of 60.

[Milan Fistonic]

Patricia Hunter, sister of Bruce McLaren, died on April 24.

Pat had done sterling work archiving material that had been donated to the Bruce McLaren Trust.

[Ray Bell]

That is a sad loss, Milan...

Was she younger or older than Bruce?

[Milan Fistonic]

That is a sad loss, Milan...

Was she younger or older than Bruce?

Pat was seven years older than Bruce.

[Giraffe]

Patricia Hunter, sister of Bruce McLaren, died on April 24.

Pat had done sterling work archiving material that had been donated to the Bruce McLaren Trust.

I seem to recall that she featured recently on another TNF thread which I have just been searching for with no success. She was pictured infront of a display case at the McLaren Trust holding a set of Bruce's overalls. Can anyone make the connection?