Next came Tripoli and his [Varzi’s] third victory in the event although, as in 1933, it was a contrived win . . . the race was largely a battle between the two Auto Union drivers, with Stuck gaining the upper hand towards the end. But then the new Team manager, Dr Karl Feuereissen, began giving him ‘slow down’ signals, at the same time telling Varzi to speed up. The result was that Varzi put in a last lap at a staggering 227 km/h (141 mph) and passed a very surprised Stuck almost on the finish line. Stuck was not only surprised, he was very angry and complained bitterly to Feuereissen, who then admitted his part in the proceedings. He was, he said, acting on orders from very high up – the Fascist governments of Germany and Italy were now very close and it had been decided that, where possible, Italian drivers should win Italian races. Libya was part of the Italian Empire, and so . . . Stuck was stunned and, when he heard how he had won the race, Varzi was furious.
His fury increased that night at the victory dinner given by the Governor of Libya and founder of the race, Marshal Italo Balbo, who proposed a toast to the winner, ‘the real winner’, and raised his glass to Hans Stuck! Varzi stormed from the room. Later, back at his hotel, he brooded about the day’s events long into the night and it was at this point, apparently, that Ilse offered him morphia for the first time.
Nixon goes on to describe Varzi’s decline, and Auto Union’s reaction to it. The whole account sounds worryingly similar to that given by Alfred Neubauer in his memoirs, and, as we know, Neubauer was not one to let the facts get in the way of a good story.
I am aware of two things which challenge the above account. Firstly, the Sheldon ‘Black Book’ says that Varzi passed Stuck on lap 36 out of 40 (so not ‘almost on the finish line’) and finished the race 4.4 sec ahead. Of course it could still be that Varzi took Stuck by surprise, but Stuck then speeded up to match Varzi’s pace over the last four laps. Sheldon, however, expresses doubt that, in an efficiently-run team like AU, Stuck would have been unaware of any team orders.
Secondly, Aldo Zana, in this earlier thread, states that Ilse Pietsch did not attend the Tripoli race. If this is so, then the account of how Varzi first took morphia must be wrong.
So, is there any independent information available to answer these questions:
Did Auto Union apply team orders?
If so, were Varzi and Stuck unaware of them (before they were applied)?
Did Italo Balbo really toast Stuck as the ‘real’ race winner?
Was it really as a result of these events that Varzi turned to morphia?
(Apologies if this has ben covered previously, but I could find nothing doing a BB search.)
I've struggled through a couple of the other books in German on Auto Union, but it does take me a very long time.
