A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS, PART III.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. The history of racing is filled with memorable moments, incandescent triumphs and yes, unspeakable tragedies. A kaleidoscope of images has captured these moments since racing's inception, and I plan to present a few of them in this column and in future columns in the coming weeks. I hope you enjoy it.

Daytona International Speedway, February 1963. Dan Gurney stands by his No. 0 LaFayette Ford, which was prepared by Holman & Moody Racing. People may not know this, but Gurney qualified eleventh for the Daytona 500 that year, and he finished fifth behind Tiny Lund (No. 21 Wood Brothers English Motors Ford, winner); Fred Lorenzen (No. 28 Holman & Moody Racing LaFayette Ford); Ned Jarrett (No. 11 Burton-Robinson Ford) and Nelson Stacey (No. 29 Holman & Moody Racing Ron's Ford Sales Ford). It was an impressive NASCAR debut for the road racer from California, and a preview of more to come.
Avus, Berlin, May 30, 1937. The Avus circuit was built as a automotive test track in 1921, and racing took place there on and off until 1936, when the the German transportation authorities decided to rebuild the fastest circuit in the world into something even quicker with the addition of a "Nordschleife," which featured a massive 43-degree banked curve made out of bricks dubbed the "wall of death" for obvious reasons (there was no retaining wall to keep cars from exiting the speedway). In 1937, a non-championship "Formula Libre" F1 race meeting was held, which allowed "special" cars to be entered, and the factory racing teams from Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz responded by bringing streamlined ("stromlinien") racers that looked more like speed record cars than their normal Grand Prix cars. As always with the two German manufacturers, national pride was on the line and over 350,000 spectators flocked to Avus to see the magnificent machines and the breathtaking speeds. And they weren't disappointed. Luigi Fagioli (No. 33 Auto Union Type C V16 stromlinien, above) qualified on the pole for Heat 2 with an average speed of 174 mph, although Bernd Rosemeyer (No. 31 Auto Union Type C V16 stromlinien) turned a lap of 176.7 mph in practice. (Three heats were run because of worries about the durability of the specially-built racing slicks. The first two heats were seven laps each, the final was eight laps.) Hermann Lang (No. 37 Mercedes-Benz W 25 stromlinien) won the final with an average speed of 171 mph, which remained the fastest road race in history for almost five decades. Remember and worth noting, this was all achieved on the racing tire technology of the day. Avus was used for racing until 1998 when it was absorbed fully into Germany’s road network as autobahn No. 115.
Rudolph Caracciola (No. 35 Mercedes-Benz W 25 stromlinien) and Bernd Rosemeyer (No. 31 Auto Union Type C V16 stromlinien) duel on the high-banks of Avus in 1937.
Workers finishing off the 43-degree banking - aka "The Wall of Death" - at Avus in early 1937.
(Photo by Jesse Alexander)
Le Mans, France, June 1954. Stirling Moss in the pit lane with the Jaguar Cars Ltd. team during practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Moss and co-driver Peter Walker did not finish the race in the No. 12 Jaguar D-Type. Peter Whitehead and Ken Wharton in the No. 15 Jaguar D-Type team car didn't finish the race either. But the No. 14 Jaguar D-Type driven by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt finished second to the No. 4 Ferrari 375 Plus driven by Jose Frolian Gonzales and Maurice Trintignant. Of note? The Briggs Cunningham-entered No. 2 Cunningham C4-R with Chrysler Hemi V8 power driven by William Spear and Sherwood Johnson finished third.
Nürburgring 1000km, June 5, 1966. Phil Hill in the Karussell in the No. 7 Chaparral 2D Chevrolet Coupe. Phil and co-driver Jo Bonnier won the race in convincing fashion before 350,000 spectators (the car parks were filled with 110,000 vehicles!), which amazed the assembled media because they figured a one-car entry that had never even seen the circuit before couldn't possibly be competitive. Needless to say, it was a sweet victory for the Chaparral Cars team. Ludovico Scarfiotti/Lorenzo Bandini finished second in the No. 11 Ferrari Dino 206S Spyder and Richie Ginther/Pedro Rodriguez (No. 12 N.A.R.T Ferrari 206S Spyder) finished third.
Riverside International Raceway, November 20, 1960. Yes, there was a United States Grand Prix on the west coast - for one year - in 1960. Here, Jim Hall (No. 24 Lotus/Climax) leads Phil Hill (No. 9 Yeomen Credit Racing Team Cooper T51/Climax during the race. Hall qualified in 12th and Hill lined up in 13th on the starting grid. Stirling Moss (No. 5 R.R.C. Walker Racing Team Lotus/Climax) won the pole and went on to win that day - by 38 seconds. Innes Ireland (No. 10 Team Lotus/Climax) was second and Bruce McLaren (No. 3 Cooper Car Company T53/Climax) finished third. Phil Hill was sixth and Jim Hall finished seventh.