63 replies to this topic

[Mischa Bijenhof]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, I couldn't find it on the search facility. Perhaps it's just another 'fluff'-issue'. But when I read that Giancarlo Fisichella has launced his own perfume brand, I started wondering about drivers from the past who had some sort of personal business during their career. I know that Ben Pon produces wine, which he probably started after his career as a driver. Nowadays, it's nothing special for a driver to have his own clothing brand, or even be involved in skin care products. Do we know other examples of race drivers giving their name for some commercial product?

[Huw Jadvantich]

Paddy Hopkirk, Les Leston, Jack Brabham (The Brabham Viva!) Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi

[Arjan de Roos]

I recall adverts of Niki Lauda men fragrance products in the dutch racing mags of 1979-1980. I dont recall these really being sold.
Didnt he also start a airline company during his career?

[Stephen W]

Roger Clark was involved with Cossack Hair Spray for Men.

Senna had a whole selection of personalised goodies from Tee-shirts to baseball caps.

[WHITE]

Originally posted by Arjan de Roos
I recall adverts of Niki Lauda men fragrance products in the dutch racing mags of 1979-1980. I dont recall these really being sold.
Didnt he also start a airline company during his career?

" Lauda air " , but it seems that it didn't really take off

[bradbury west]

Originally posted by Stephen W


Senna had a whole selection of personalised goodies from Tee-shirts to baseball caps.

plus IIRC mountain bikes, watches and motorbikes, which all still carry quite a premium among collectors.

RL

[Tomas Karlsson]

Jo Bonnier had a lot of business intrests during his career. I don't know if his racing gave his art gallery any sales boost, but he tried to sell American ice-studs under his own name: "Bon-Grip".

[David Beard]

Originally posted by Stephen W
Roger Clark was involved with Cossack Hair Spray for Men.

Just a sponsorship deal, surely?

[Gary Davies]

Hands up everyone who believed that purchasing a pair of the great man's driving gloves would make their 848cc Mini go faster.

Pic respectfully lifted from Motor Racing Year 1964-5, Knightsbridge Publications.

[Pedro 917]

In the early seventies, Jacky Ickx promoted his sunglasses (I believe he was wearing them on the 1972 Nürburgring podium) just like Fittipaldi. Jackie Stewart promoted jackets and caps. I once had a white shirt with Stommelen's helmet embroidered on it. There must be many more...

[Pedro 917]

Chris Amon also promoted driving gloves, I guess we discussed that in the famous Amon thread.

[Ruairidh]

Originally posted by WHITE



" Lauda air " , but it seems that it didn't really take off

http://www.laudaair....ex.php?id=4&L=1

[KJJ]

Niki Lauda? Isn't he the bloke who hires out Smart cars

[René de Boer]

Growing grapes for wine production seems to be quite a popular passtime for racing drivers. Jarno Trulli does so, and Jean Alesi.

And Dutch circuit designer Hans Hugenholtz made up a story about growing grapes in the infield of Zandvoort. There was even a wine label by the name of "Hugenholtz Bocht" (bocht in Dutch has a double meaning: 1. corner, 2. a very badly tasting (alcoholic) beverage), but it was a joke for April fools' day. The story, along with a special offer for readers, was published in the long-defunct Dutch motoring monthly, Auto Selekt, somewhere in the mid-1980s, IIRC.

[Don Speekingleesh]

Lauda now has a budget airline called FlyNiki.

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by Pedro 917

Chris Amon also promoted driving gloves...

His line, or range, was known as 'Golden Kiwi'. I have a couple of stickers the same as the ones he wore on the sides of his helmet circa 1971/2.

[MCS]

Originally posted by Pedro 917
In the early seventies, Jacky Ickx promoted his sunglasses (I believe he was wearing them on the 1972 Nürburgring podium)...

I'm sure I had a Jacky Ickx wristwatch. It came in a miniature Bellstar helmet.

[Frank S]

During a racing career? I guess Carroll Shelby's chili fixin's and his underarm deodorant Pit Stop are outside the pale?

[Mal9444]

Are we talking sponsorship, permitting an unrelated manufacturer to brand a product with their name (e.g Jim Clark driving gloves), starting a business not related to motor racing but to take advantage of their celebrity - or going racing off the back of their business. If the latter - there must be hundreds of garage owners and motor dealers, going right back to the start of motor racing after WW2, and probably before: Hawthorn, the aforementioned Paddy Hopkirk (my first girlfriend bought her first Mini from Paddy Hopkirk Garages - I bought my first Toyota from his mechanic's eponymous Neville Johnson Garages - because BMC would not let Paddy sell them, so Paddy set Neville up in a separate business with himself as the majority shareholder and (sort of) silent partner. Ninian Sanderson was a Fiat dealer in Glasgow, I recall. Right up to the present day: isn't Frank Syntner (?spelling) one of the biggest BMW dealers in the country?

[EDWARD FITZGERALD]

no one has touched on Mr Moss, he has been into so many things , books in the fifties and today Jenks pace note roller replica . I have a red crash helmet ( plastic , for kids) which was endorsed by SMoss .

[D-Type]

Does anybody remember the Jack Brabham kangaroo skin driving gloves? Maurice Trintignant's "Le Petoulet" wine?

And totally non motor sport related, there's Jody Scheckter's security business.

[Alan Cox]

Regga had his own line of clothing (sold in the UK by somewhere called the Bomba Boutique in Brighton)- I actually still have a pair of his jeans (very 70s), kept mainly because of the fabulous helmet logo on the back pocket.

There is also Paulo Barilla's pasta, and Hubertus Bahlsen's biscuits - somehow don't think those companies were built off the back of their racing successes!

[Antoine Pilette]

My grand-father Andre had a Ford dealership and workshop in the 50s:

You can read on this postcard he was using the trick he was a 1954 Belgian champion to boost the business but my grand-mother was infact making most of the sales (something about the potential buyer's wife to whom she could make the real sale to.)
Bit later on, there was a big picture of the yellow D50 in the front window of the dealership.
He also had a driving-school around that time, with a 4CV, and he used to teach the local nuns to drive.
Finally, there was the racing school at Zolder a decade later indeed!

[Patrick Fletcher]

In the kitchen pantry today I see Paul Newman pasta sauce and a packet of Michael Schumacher Collection Tagliatelle. Also have a few bottles of Mario's Cab Sav. tucked away.

[EDWARD FITZGERALD]

Barilla pasta I remember reading somewhere was the family business .

[Vicuna]

Originally posted by Alan Cox
Regga had his own line of clothing (sold in the UK by somewhere called the Bomba Boutique in Brighton)- I actually still have a pair of his jeans (very 70s), kept mainly because of the fabulous helmet logo on the back pocket.

There is also Paulo Barilla's pasta, and Hubertus Bahlsen's biscuits - somehow don't think those companies were built off the back of their racing successes!

Plus Regga watches

[Pikachu Racing]

Does Arie Luyendyk still have the art gallery in Scotsdale area?

[Alan Cox]

The Regazzoni logo

[Sharman]

There is also a sod by the name of Gatsonides........!

[Tim Murray]

ISTR that during their racing careers Teo and Corrado Fabi were also actively involved in the running of the family talc mine.

[KJJ]

Graham Hill and Speedwell Performance Conversions

[bradbury west]

IIRC Sir Stirling added his endorsement to a re-spraying business/process in the 60s, and also had an involvement with a coupe bodied Cortina GT. I recall pictures with SM 7 , or 7 SM plates on such a vehicle.

RL

[Arjan de Roos]

Originally posted by Sharman
There is also a sod by the name of Gatsonides........!

Well a darn good rally driver as well as technician. I know the Gatso speed camera's, I love them as much as you do. But still a nice piece of technique. Check out http://www.gatso.nl/

[RS2000]

Originally posted by David Beard


Just a sponsorship deal, surely?

Yes. Business was Clarks of Narborough, Porsche dealership, until, I think, it went under in a recession.

[petefenelon]

Stefan Johansson had/has a line of rather nice watches.

[Pedro 917]

Originally posted by Pikachu Racing
Does Arie Luyendyk still have the art gallery in Scotsdale area?

In the early nineties, Arie's father told me that it wasn't really Arie's Art Gallery. They named the Gallery after him and he received a commission on the sales. It doesn't exist anymore.

[Pedro 917]

Niki Lauda's sunglasses:

[Haddock]

Originally posted by Arjan de Roos


Well a darn good rally driver as well as technician. I know the Gatso speed camera's, I love them as much as you do. But still a nice piece of technique. Check out http://www.gatso.nl/

I believe, ironically, that Gatsonides lost his driving licence thanks to his own invention.

If we're including family businesses, there's Sandro Nannini's family coffee/bakery business and the Bergers' transport business. I understand Nelson Piquet owns some freight tracking business - they sponsor his son in GP2

[Twin Window]

Even after he'd got into F1, Derek Warwick was still working at the family business Warwick trailers.

Steve Thompson ran the Walsall car dealership bearing his name (originally his father's business) plus a car parts import/export comany while he was in F5000 and slaoons, if not long before too.

[MCS]

I saw a Vauxhall van today on the M25 with a number plate name showing "Jack Brabham Garages" with a central London (0207) number.

Didn't realise there were any garages still operating under the Brabham name.

[A E Anderson]

1947-48 Indianapolis 500 winner Mauri Rose simply took a couple of weeks vacation from his engineering job at Chevrolet, to go to Indy, qualify, then run the race. His teammate and 1949 Indy winner, Bill Holland, ran a roller skating rink when not off to the races.

Art

[Dennis Hockenbury]

Of course, a certain JM Fangio had a rather nice business selling Mercedes cars and trucks in Argentina.

[Gary Davies]

Last time I was in New Milton, Hants, I observed a long red articulated truck with 'Hayton Coulthard' writ large turning from Station Road into Gore Road. Those who know the particular intersection will agree that this is an accomplishment of some merit!

[Pikachu Racing]

I know there's a paint store in Houston called AJ Foyt Paints. Not sure he owns it; likely used his name as selling purposes.

[d.emerson]

Eric Comas rents historic rally cars (Alpine).

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Vanwall
Last time I was in New Milton, Hants, I observed a long red articulated truck with 'Hayton Coulthard' writ large turning from Station Road into Gore Road. Those who know the particular intersection will agree that this is an accomplishment of some merit!

That's DC's father's firm - David was fairly lavishly backed by them in Formula Ford.

Gunnar Nilsson's family also had a transport business, IIRC.

Off-topic, but.... I haven't been to New Milton since a very strange party in the late 80s. I'd partaken of plenty of Scruttock's Owd Dirigible and a few "jazz woodbines" and, as was my wont at the time, fallen asleep under a table in the small hours.

I was woken at 6am on Sunday by a splendidly pneumatic blonde with the most spectacularly Mamie van Doren-ish knockers (look, nostalgia doesn't only have to be about racing....); I knew her from several hundred miles away and a completely different circle of people and had been lusting after her seeking to make her acquaintance more intimately for some time, but had no idea she'd be at the party.... anyway, she prodded me awake and for a moment I thought "eyup, your luck's in here"... and she...


....asked me if I knew of a Catholic Church in the vicinity!

[ensign14]

You should have asked her if she had something to confess...and, if not, that you could have assisted in that regard.

[Frank S]

Someone say "Mamie Van Doren"?

More

She is truly a piece of work.

See Girls Town (1959) and High School Confidential, also called The Young Hellions (1958) for a racing connection. I think she was involved with a prominent driver, but have forgotten which.

--
Frank S

[Peter Morley]

Originally posted by Frank S


See Girls Town (1959) and High School Confidential, also called The Young Hellions (1958) for a racing connection. I think she was involved with a prominent driver, but have forgotten which.

--
Frank S

Nothing like Pamela Anderson, who has apparently been seen stepping out with Eddie Irvine recently!!!

[Leo]

Some drivers set up management companies, like MB2 (Brundle/Blundell), making money of the 'next generation'.

I don't know if product endorsements count as business, but I suspect every driver has at least some merchandise available, t-shirts, caps and stuff. Some drivers lend their name to related businesses like raceteams (Fisichella, Raikkonen). Michael Schumacher is king of endorsements, he has over 300 products bearing his name. Most controverial of course the "AEG Vampyr Michael Schumacher Edition". Does Schumi really suck??