40 replies to this topic

[f1steveuk]

Had one of my "pub" discussions today, and was asked "what are the most common names to have raced in F1?" Well as all teams continued or were brought and sold, there was only one of each, (e.g Brabham is Brabham) but there were two seperate ATS teams, so that's the most common team name ???

Driver wise, four Taylors (none related?) which must be the most?? A few sets of three, Stewart, Rodriguez, Hill, etc, all of which have a mixture of fathers and sons, or brothers, and one other non related (e.g Graham and Damon, and Phil Hill) I don't think any two "race" drivers have shared a name, the closest being Jacques Villeneuve uncle and nephew, but of course senior didn't race.

Does that seem right??

[WHITE]

Fittipaldi : Emerson, Wilson and Christian



Mach and Eifelland March at the beginning of the 70s. Could they be considered two separate teams ?

[D-Type]

Originally posted by f1steveuk
Had one of my "pub" discussions today, and was asked "what are the most common names to have raced in F1?" Well as all teams continued or were brought and sold, there was only one of each, (e.g Brabham is Brabham) but there were two seperate ATS teams, so that's the most common team name ???

Driver wise, four Taylors (none related?) which must be the most?? A few sets of three, Stewart, Rodriguez, Hill, etc, all of which have a mixture of fathers and sons, or brothers, and one other non related (e.g Graham and Damon, and Phil Hill) I don't think any two "race" drivers have shared a name, the closest being Jacques Villeneuve uncle and nephew, but of course senior didn't race.
Does that seem right??

He did race.
1980 and 81 North American Formula Atlantic champion. 1983 Can-Am champion. 36 CART races with one win (Elkhart lake 1985) - but he failed to qualify in the three Formula 1 championship races he entered.

[D-Type]

How about the various incarnations of Frank Williams' teams? I think there were three.

As to drivers: there's brothers Jackie and Jimmy and the unrelated Ian Stewart. And I think johnny Dumfries (earl of Dumfries has the surname Stewart as well.

[f1steveuk]

Originally posted by D-Type
How about the various incarnations of Frank Williams' teams? I think there were three.

As to drivers: there's brothers Jackie and Jimmy and the unrelated Ian Stewart. And I think johnny Dumfries (earl of Dumfries has the surname Stewart as well.

As regards the Villeneuves, it was F1, and raced, not attempted to qualify.

Frank's teams weren't always called Williams were they? Iso Marlboro, Politoys etc

I had listed the Stewarts, but didn't know Johnny Dumfries might be a Stewart, could put them tie with the Taylors!!!

[Tim Murray]

But he's a Crichton-Stuart, not a Stewart. Surely the spelling variation (not to mention the double-barrel) rules out any tie-in with the other Stewarts?

[f1steveuk]

Originally posted by Tim Murray
But he's a Crichton-Stuart, not a Stewart. Surely the spelling variation (not to mention the double-barrel) rules out any tie-in with the other Stewarts?

Well spotted!!!! I don't think we're going to get past four Taylors

[Wielki Wódz]

Originally posted by f1steveuk

Frank's teams weren't always called Williams were they? Iso Marlboro, Politoys etc

It was one team from 1967 to 1976, called Frank Williams Racing Cars. Certain W.Wolf bought it, then Sir Frank established another one.

[MCS]

Originally posted by WHITE
March and Eifelland March at the beginning of the 70s. Could they be considered two separate teams ?

Definitely, I would say.

[f1steveuk]

Originally posted by MCS


Definitely, I would say.

Seperate teams, but a March is a March regardless of how you dress it up!

[D-Type]

Another one that probably doesn't count. Looking up Jo Bonnier in Steve Small's book I find that in 1957-58 his Maserati was entered by Jo Bonnier, in 1967-68 his Cooper-Maserati and other cars were entered by Joakim Bonnier Racing and then from 1969 onwards his cars were entered by Ecurie Bonnier. One team or three? Tricky isn't it.

I haven't investigated, but if you looka t the private teams of the fifties and sixties you'll probably find a few more repetitions: Peter Walker and RRC Walker for example.

How about Alan Brown, Warwick Brown and Archie Scott Brown?

[giacomo]

Austrian Gerhard Berger and Belgian (?) Georges Berger.

[MCS]

Originally posted by f1steveuk
Seperate teams, but a March is a March regardless of how you dress it up!

I understand what you're saying Steve, but when was it entered as a "March?"

[MCS]

Originally posted by giacomo
Austrian Gerhard Berger and Belgian (?) Georges Berger.

Do you mean Hans-Georg Burger, or the Belgian who died at the Nurburgring in the sixties???

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by MCS

Do you mean Hans-Georg Burger...

...who died in Zandvoort, following an F2 shunt in 1980.

[MCS]

Yes, that's him Stuart. Terrible tragedy in an awful year for the formula.

[Marc Ceulemans]

Georges "Jojo" Berger, Belgian, died during the Marathon de la Route at the Nurburgring in 1967.

[Spaceframe]

Originally posted by f1steveuk
Had one of my "pub" discussions today, and was asked "what are the most common names to have raced in F1?" Well as all teams continued or were brought and sold, there was only one of each, (e.g Brabham is Brabham) but there were two seperate ATS teams, so that's the most common team name ???

Driver wise, four Taylors (none related?) which must be the most?? A few sets of three, Stewart, Rodriguez, Hill, etc, all of which have a mixture of fathers and sons, or brothers, and one other non related (e.g Graham and Damon, and Phil Hill) I don't think any two "race" drivers have shared a name, the closest being Jacques Villeneuve uncle and nephew, but of course senior didn't race.

Does that seem right??

It could've been five Taylors: Dennis, Henry, John, Mike and Trevor - but Dennis failed to qualify for the 1959 British GP, in which all the other Taylors except John was entered.

As far as I know none of the Taylors were related - quite unusual, as no other name has appeared more than twice without some sort of family ties.

Brabham, Fittipaldi and Hill deserves special mentioning - besides being the name of three drivers, it was also the name of an F1 team.

[Spaceframe]

Originally posted by D-Type
Another one that probably doesn't count. Looking up Jo Bonnier in Steve Small's book I find that in 1957-58 his Maserati was entered by Jo Bonnier, in 1967-68 his Cooper - Maserati and other cars were entered by Joakim Bonnier Racing and then from 1969 onwards his cars werewere entered by Ecurie bonnier. One team or three? Tricky isn't it.

Not that tricky - unless you count Yardley Team McLaren, Marlboro Team McLaren and West Team McLaren as three different teams ;)

[Nanni Dietrich]

Originally posted by Spaceframe

It could've been five Taylors: Dennis, Henry, John, Mike and Trevor - but Dennis failed to qualify for the 1959 British GP, in which all the other Taylors except John was entered.

...

And perhaps Taylor is one of the most common name in motorsport, considering after Dennis, Henry, John, Mike and Trevor, also Wayne Taylor, Brian Shawe-Taylor, Ian Taylor, Anita Taylor-Matthews, Sid Taylor, Mark Taylor (2003 Infiniti pro-series Champ), Gregg Taylor, Mike Taylor, Murray Taylor, James Taylor, Buddy Taylor and his son Jon Taylor (USA), another John Taylor (British rally and rallycross), Clarrie Taylor (South Africa), Brent Taylor (New Zealand), Colin Taylor (New Zealand), rally co-drivers Pauline Taylor, Orson Taylor (Kenya), Simon Taylor...

[David McKinney]

...plus two Simon Taylors in New Zealand and another in the UK, all with motorsport connections

I believe Taylor is (or was) the most common name in England

[LotusElise]

If we are including other race series now, then all the "dynasties" in NASCAR must throw out some very common names.

[Graham Clayton]

And perhaps Taylor is one of the most common name in motorsport.....rally co-drivers Pauline Taylor, Orson Taylor (Kenya), Simon Taylor...

Nanni,
There is also Coral Taylor, who is Neal Bates' co-driver in the Australian Rally Championship.
Another Taylor is 1930's Australian solo speedway rider Ray Taylor.

[LotusElise]

Nanni,
There is also Coral Taylor, who is Neal Bates' co-driver in the Australian Rally Championship.
Another Taylor is 1930's Australian solo speedway rider Ray Taylor.

There is also now a Molly Taylor, who I believe is Coral's daughter.

If we're talking about motorsport as a whole, there seems to be a lot of Mullers and Mullers-with-umlauts (this keyboard doesn't do ASCII) around.

[Rob]

If we are including other race series now, then all the "dynasties" in NASCAR must throw out some very common names.

I'd imagine that the Unsers are probably the biggest clan.

Al, Al Jr., Al III, Bobby, Jerry, Johnny, Louis and Robby.

[Formula Once]

Slightly off topic maybe, but I somehow realised that between 1951 and 1997 18 of the F1 World Championships were won by a guy who's first name started with a J: Juan, Jack, Jim, John, Jackie, Jochen, James, Jody and Jacques. Maybe Jenson will make it 19 this year. So now I wonder how many titles a Johnnie Peterson would have won... Come to think of it, if you'd throw in Jo, Joakim, Jean, Jean-Piere, Jacky, Jan, etc, J may be the most common first letter of a F1 drivers' first name, although the letter does not even exist in Italian!

Edited by Formula Once, 21 July 2009 - 12:19.

[Paul Taylor]

I thought Smith was the most common English surname. No Smith has ever raced in Formula 1 though.

FORIX lists only one page of Taylors and two pages of Smiths.

[scheivlak]

Come to think of it, if you'd throw in Jo, Joakim, Jean, Jean-Piere, Jacky, Jan, etc, J may be the most common first letter of a F1 drivers' first name, although the letter does not even exist in Italian!

Still, there's Jarno.....

[kayemod]

No Smith has ever raced in Formula 1 though.

Non così in fretta signore (not so fast sir).

If you're talking drivers, maybe, but the Italian equivalent of Smith is......Ferrari !!!.

[Paul Taylor]

Well in that case, Bernd Schneider is as a Taylor as well

[Formula Once]

Still, there's Jarno.....

Yeah, funny that, I know, named after Finish bike legend Jarno Saarinen I believe, who died at Monza.

[Rob G]

I thought Smith was the most common English surname. No Smith has ever raced in Formula 1 though.

It is. Interestingly, no driver named Smith appeared at Indy for around the first 80 years or so.

[RCH]

One point which seems to have been missed, if you want to World Champion it's a good idea to be called Hill.

[David Shaw]

Keeping up with the Joneses is surprisingly easy. Unless I'm mistaken, which I often am, the Jones name has the perfect driver/championship ratio.

[RStock]

Then there's the only family name that has been around for three generations in Grand Prix racing , Theodore - Andre - Teddy Pilette .

[Team Result]

Keeping up with the Joneses is surprisingly easy. Unless I'm mistaken, which I often am, the Jones name has the perfect driver/championship ratio.

This thread reminds me of a Stoney cartoon in Australian Auto Action in early '80's. I paraphrase:
Girlfriend (peering over BF's shoulder as he's checking the news pages of AA)
"Alan Jones? John Smith? Why don't they use their real names? Probably afraid their wives will find out!"

Note for non-Antipodeans: Smithy was a very successful driver in Australian F2 & Pacific (Atlantic) categories.

[Andretti Fan]

Then there's the only family name that has been around for three generations in Grand Prix racing , Theodore - Andre - Teddy Pilette .

In Nascar it's Lee-Richard-Kyle-Adam Petty

[Rob]

In Nascar it's Lee-Richard-Kyle-Adam Petty

The Earnhardts have

Ralph-Dale-Kerry-Jeffrey

[Peter Leversedge]

Lots of Kinsers in sprint car racing

[john winfield]

Slightly off topic maybe, but I somehow realised that between 1951 and 1997 18 of the F1 World Championships were won by a guy who's first name started with a J: Juan, Jack, Jim, John, Jackie, Jochen, James, Jody and Jacques. Maybe Jenson will make it 19 this year. So now I wonder how many titles a Johnnie Peterson would have won... Come to think of it, if you'd throw in Jo, Joakim, Jean, Jean-Piere, Jacky, Jan, etc, J may be the most common first letter of a F1 drivers' first name, although the letter does not even exist in Italian!

As a boy, at British Grand Prix in the early 1970s, I noticed in the programmes the curious sequence of BGP winners from previous years. On every occasion, since von Trips won at Aintree in 1961, the Grand Prix had been won by a driver whose first name began with 'J'. Being a Jacky Ickx / Ferrari enthusiast, I took this as a good sign. The 1970 race began so well, but Jacky's early retirement left it to Jochen and Jack (with an encouraging performance from Jackie O). 1971 was a bit of a Ferrari disaster, although Jacky made a terrific start, until falling behind winner Jackie and unlucky Jo. 1972 was clearly going to be the year - Jacky led in the July sunshine, spraying oil over Jackie as he went, but then that young Brazilian had to go and spoil everything. Emerson? Jemerson. At least he drove a JPS, as they were once quaintly called, but things would never be the same again. Until James arrived.

Jilted John

[wenoopy]

This thread reminds me of a Stoney cartoon in Australian Auto Action in early '80's. I paraphrase:
Girlfriend (peering over BF's shoulder as he's checking the news pages of AA)
"Alan Jones? John Smith? Why don't they use their real names? Probably afraid their wives will find out!"

Note for non-Antipodeans: Smithy was a very successful driver in Australian F2 & Pacific (Atlantic) categories.

Eastern Antipodeans from the Shaky Isles(there was a big 'quake in Fiordland last week) might want to remind you of another Antipodean "Smith" who probably made a bigger impact than John Smith --- Ken Smith.

Ken won the NZ Grand Prix and Wigram Trophy twice each, won 5 NZ Gold Star Championships, won several GP's in Singapore/Malaysia and several Pacific(Atlantic) Formula NZ Championships in the 1980's.

He is still racing in Formula Ford, with kids who are 50 years younger than him!