Remembering the fallen

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hollie3sa
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Remembering the fallen

#1

Post by hollie3sa »

New thread for announcements of fatalities in auto racing. Please keep the announcements here rather than in the respective series thread.
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#2

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I started the thread so news like the following, that probably don't deserve their own thread, wouldn't go unnoticed:


Horst Kwech, former Trans Am U2.5L star, dies at 82
Horst Kwech, an especially versatile driver/engineer active in the 1960s and ’70s, probably best known for his pair of Under 2.5 Liter Trans Am championships driving an Alfa Romeo, has died at age 82.

Proud of his Australian heritage (moved there at a young age from his Austria birthplace), Kwech emigrated to the U.S. in 1961 at age 24. A mechanic’s job at Knauz Continental Motors in Lake Forest, Ill., soon led to racing opportunities, first driving a tube frame sports racer of his own design, later in an Alfa Romeo Giulia with which he won the ’65 SCCA Central Division B Sedan championship.

The next year, Knauz Motors acquired a factory-prepared Alfa Romeo GTA with which Kwech and teammate Gaston Andrey claimed the Trans-Am Under 2.5 Liter manufacturers championship and Kwech used to win the SCCA Runoffs BS race at Riverside.

Over the next decade, Kwech would become one of America’s most celebrated GT drivers, forming (with Ron Neal and Bill Knauz) and racing for the Alfa Romeo performance parts company Ausca; testing and racing for Carroll Shelby (and winning the ’68 Riverside Trans-Am in a Shelby-prepared Mustang); winning the ’70 U2.5L Trans-Am Championship (driving Herb Wetanson’s Alfa GTA); racing a Lola T-300 in the ’72 L&M Continental Formula 5000 Championship; and, in ’74, co-founding DeKon Engineering with Lee Dykstra (which built the highly regarded Chevy Monza, successful in both IMSA Camel GT and Australian Supercar racing over the next several years).

In its detailed biography, Wikipedia notes that Kwech holds the distinction of being the only driver to win a Trans-Am race in both the Over and Under 2 liter divisions; and that he was granted 17 patents over the years as a design engineer.

Our sincere condolences to Kwech’s Lake Forest, Illinois, family, many friends and fans.
https://racer.com/2019/12/30/horst-kwec ... ies-at-82/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Kwech
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#3

Post by Sedre »

Gilbert Sabine, father of Thierry and organizer of Dakar Rally from 1986 to 1993, died on 31 December at age of 97.

https://www.gpone.com/en/2020/01/01/dak ... ft-us.html

https://www.archysport.com/2020/01/rall ... kar-dakar/
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#4

Post by hollie3sa »

@PTRACER: If you think it's a good idea, would you make this thread sticky (such as the corresponding thread in the Motorcycle section)?
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#5

Post by PTRACER »

hollie3sa wrote: 4 years ago @PTRACER: If you think it's a good idea, would you make this thread sticky (such as the corresponding thread in the Motorcycle section)?
Done.
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#6

Post by hollie3sa »

PTRACER wrote: 4 years ago
hollie3sa wrote: 4 years ago @PTRACER: If you think it's a good idea, would you make this thread sticky (such as the corresponding thread in the Motorcycle section)?
Done.
Thank you! :bow: :bow:
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#7

Post by jimclark »

hollie3sa wrote: 4 years ago I started the thread so news like the following, that probably don't deserve their own thread, wouldn't go unnoticed:


Horst Kwech, former Trans Am U2.5L star, dies at 82
Horst Kwech, an especially versatile driver/engineer active in the 1960s and ’70s, probably best known for his pair of Under 2.5 Liter Trans Am championships driving an Alfa Romeo, has died at age 82.

Proud of his Australian heritage (moved there at a young age from his Austria birthplace), Kwech emigrated to the U.S. in 1961 at age 24. A mechanic’s job at Knauz Continental Motors in Lake Forest, Ill., soon led to racing opportunities, first driving a tube frame sports racer of his own design, later in an Alfa Romeo Giulia with which he won the ’65 SCCA Central Division B Sedan championship.

The next year, Knauz Motors acquired a factory-prepared Alfa Romeo GTA with which Kwech and teammate Gaston Andrey claimed the Trans-Am Under 2.5 Liter manufacturers championship and Kwech used to win the SCCA Runoffs BS race at Riverside.

Over the next decade, Kwech would become one of America’s most celebrated GT drivers, forming (with Ron Neal and Bill Knauz) and racing for the Alfa Romeo performance parts company Ausca; testing and racing for Carroll Shelby (and winning the ’68 Riverside Trans-Am in a Shelby-prepared Mustang); winning the ’70 U2.5L Trans-Am Championship (driving Herb Wetanson’s Alfa GTA); racing a Lola T-300 in the ’72 L&M Continental Formula 5000 Championship; and, in ’74, co-founding DeKon Engineering with Lee Dykstra (which built the highly regarded Chevy Monza, successful in both IMSA Camel GT and Australian Supercar racing over the next several years).

In its detailed biography, Wikipedia notes that Kwech holds the distinction of being the only driver to win a Trans-Am race in both the Over and Under 2 liter divisions; and that he was granted 17 patents over the years as a design engineer.

Our sincere condolences to Kwech’s Lake Forest, Illinois, family, many friends and fans.
https://racer.com/2019/12/30/horst-kwec ... ies-at-82/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Kwech
'First I've heard this sad news. 'Sympathy to his family and friends.

I was a fan since his U2.5 T/A days.
I attended the Road Atlanta IMSA twin 100s ('75) in which he debuted his Monza (chassis 1001).
Race 1, having qualified 5th, he quickly moved to the lead. I was, coincidentally, at the kink in the backstraight; as at road courses, I mobilize to to spectate at different sections of the circuits. I was watching as he was rapidly passing a backmarker (a Camaro iirc) who apparently wasn't checking his mirrors :whistling: that made contact with him right in the kink. They both went off and stopped. Horst jumped out of his car, ran over, reached in the other car and popped the driver's helmet :evil:, who was able to restart and continue. Horst couldn't?/wouldn't? (I saw no damage to his car; too PO'd perhaps?), nor competed in race #2.
Those were the days my friends, we thought they'd never end.....

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#8

Post by erwin greven »

Brian Redman: "Mr. Fangio, how do you come so fast?" "More throttle, less brakes...."
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#9

Post by Cheeveer »

Versatile beyond belief come to think of it. Won in sprint cars, stock cars, sports cars and indy cars. Raced for more than 25 years at the highest level. Will be sorely missed.
***Some say you should live each day like it was your last... but who wants to live each day in wild panic and extreme death anxiety?

The universe, look at the hugeness of it... it is a dizzying thought that little ol' me is the centre of it all!***
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#10

Post by Jacob »

Yoshikazu Sunako: 1932-2020
1966 Japan Sports Car Grand Prix winner, Nissan racing legend passes away

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2020/01/1 ... -2020.html

Another recent death. Unknown to me, but surely an interesting person
"It´s not a matter of talent, it´s a matter of luck. Pure Luck:" - Jacky Ickx
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#11

Post by erwin greven »

Brian Redman: "Mr. Fangio, how do you come so fast?" "More throttle, less brakes...."
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#12

Post by hollie3sa »

erwin greven wrote: 4 years ago
I feel embarassed that I don't know him.


Thank you for sharing the sad news @erwin greven.
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#13

Post by hollie3sa »

Motorsport community gathers to say farewell to Michael Geoghegan

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https://www.speedcafe.com/2020/03/21/mo ... rnTb3Ao37w
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#14

Post by Jacob »

Philippe De Barsy has passed away.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater


In 1967 he survived this weck at Spa
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"It´s not a matter of talent, it´s a matter of luck. Pure Luck:" - Jacky Ickx
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#15

Post by erwin greven »

Remembering Tommy Morrison, 1941-2020

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Tommy Morrison, whose Chevy Corvettes and Camaros ruled 1980s and 1990s U.S. sports car racing, died April 2.

Morrison, a native of Glasgow, Kentucky, was inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame in 2017. A talented driver, he achieved more fame as a team owner and manager.

His first big Corvette win was at Mid-Ohio in August 1984, when his 1985 prototype broke the Porsche/Nissan stranglehold on top-tier showroom stock road racing in the U.S. Altogether, Morrison’s Mobil 1 Corvettes and Camaros would win more than two dozen SCCA and IMSA endurance races between 1984 and 1989. In addition, his contracts to conduct tests of Corvette brake, suspension and power train systems would find him working closely with GM engineers on future products.

Read the full story at VintageMotorsport.com.
https://racer.com/2020/04/11/rememberin ... 1941-2020/
Brian Redman: "Mr. Fangio, how do you come so fast?" "More throttle, less brakes...."
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