You can't spray milk - the Indy tradition

Indy 500 winner Franchitti

Those unfamiliar with the Indy 500 might have wondered what this year's winner Dario Franchitti was doing when he drank from a bottle of milk and then poured it over his head. There is no tradition of the winner pouring the milk over his head, Franchitti was simply copying what his friend Dan Wheldon had done the year before. Wheldon, who died at Las Vagas last year, was remembered in a number of ways over this year's race week, including Dario's gesture. So what's with the milk?

Reportedly, Louis Meyer asked for a glass of buttermilk after he won his second Indy 500 in 1933. He made the same request when he won again in 1936 but this time he was given a bottle. A dairy company saw a promotional opportunity and offered a bottle of milk to future winners. And that's how it all started and has become a tradition. The buttermilk got lost after Meyer.

Emerson Fittipladi upset everyone when he drank a bottle of orange juice after his win in 1993. He wanted to promote the family citrus farms in Brazil. He paid for this break with tradition when he copped a hostile welcome a week later in Milwaukee.

In the photo on the right Dario Franchitti is presenting Susie Wheldon with her husband's winner's ring from 2011

Top photo: JEFF HAYNES/REUTERS

Super Woman F1 Owner

Monisha Kaltenborn - CEO, part owner of Sauber

Danica Patrick might be the best known woman in motor racing but Monisha Kaltenborn just might be the most powerful since team owner Peter Sauber handed his CEO a one third stake in the company. Sauber has retained the balance of the shares. Kaltenborn must also rank high in the list of 'Super Women' as she is married and has two children still at school.


Kaltenborn was born in India but is an Austrian citizen. She started her law degree in Vienna when she was 19, went on to attain her Masters in International Business Law at the London School of Economics, and then had the Sauber F1 team as her client in the late nineties. She joined the company in 2000 and ten years later became CEO Sauber Motorsport AG.


Peter Sauber credited Kaltenborn with playing a key role in the team's survival when BMW pulled out of F1 in 2009. He appears to be making preparations for his retirement: “I have always said that I will not be sitting on the pitwall as a 70 year old,” Sauber told Der Sonntag newspaper.
“With certainty, my successor is Monisha Kaltenborn. That is for sure. When it (the handover) happens is still open."
Kaltenborn lists opera as one of her hobbies. Given the dramatic nature of F1 and its politics that's probably appropriate.

Gilles Villeneuve - 30 years but never forgotten

Gilles Villeneuve. "Ragged Edge" Nicholas A Watts

The photo on the left is of a print from a Nicholas A Watts painting that hangs above the desk in my study. In it Watts has captured the essence of Gilles Villeneuve - the passionate, talented, crazy driver who would only give up when all the wheels had fallen, or more likely, been knocked off his car. I smile every time I look at the print. Head to one side, opposite lock, spray flying from the tyres. You had to love the guy.

Andrew Keiller’s painting    

On May 8 it will be thirty years since Villeneuve climbed into his Ferrari for what would be the last time. The drivers were qualifying for the 1982 Belgium Grand Prix. Reports of the period stated that there had been some bad blood between Villeneuve and his team mate Didier Pironi and that Villeneuve was determined to post a faster time. On his last quick lap he came upon Jochen Mass' March. Mass moved to allow the Ferrari the racing line, but Villeneuve moved to the right at the same time. The cars tangled and the Ferrari took off. We watched horrified as the little Canadian was thrown out of the car to his death.

To mark the anniversary of his father's death, Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 Champion, will drive his father’s Ferrari at Fiorano. Surely someone will be filming the event and allow us to share it on You Tube. In the meantime treat yourself by watching the video of the young lion cubs (as Andretti called them), Villeneuve and Arnoux, playing at Dijon in 1979.

Not A Thousand Miles From Home

Alfa Romeo 6C2 2500 in action in 1940

For many years one of my favourite reads was Peter Egan's "Side Glances" column in Road & Track magazine. I especially remember one piece where he chatted about the various interesting cars that he came across during his daily dog walk. Enthusiasts who keep their eyes open could likewise automotive treasures close to their homes.  Not ten minutes walk from my house in suburbia there is a 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 "Ala Spessa" (Thick Wing) recreation. Admittedly I didn't chance upon this while I was walking the dog, it is part of a private collection, but non the less this rarity is practically a neighbour.

The original car ran in the 1940 Mille Miglia reportedly driven by Mussolini’s chauffer - regular race drivers were concerned about the reliability of the injection system – it finished 24^th out of 87 starters. As a side note, there are questions about whether the 1940 race should be called the “Mille Miglia” as it comprised nine laps of a “circuit” starting at Brescia and racing to Cremona, then Mantua, before returing to Brescia. Each lap was a distance of roughly 62 miles. 

The local car was commissioned to be created from the chassis, engine and other Alfa components that had been in storage for many years. All the components are from 1939 or before. The majority of the mechanical work, including the recreation of the Caproni electro magnetic injection system, was done locally. When the car was first displayed at the Australian GP the Ferrari fuel specialists took great interest in it, peering under the bonnet and peppering its creator with questions. The beautiful body was recreated by Marque Restoration in Adelaide, Australia. I think Peter Egan would approve.

Murder at the Orient Grand Prix

Ayrton Senna at Macau '83 - Sutton Images

The Chinese GP is relatively new, it started in 2004. Held at the Shanghai International Circuit it achieved its place on the F1 calendar with the help of the organisers of the Macau Grand Prix.  There have been many GPs held in the Chinese ‘Special Administrative Region’ of Macau - that one-time Portuguese colony with a somewhat dubious history as the home of gambling, prostitution and Triad activities. The Chinese took back control of Macau from the Portuguese in 1999 and in the process inherited a Grand Prix.

From 1954 to 1960 the race around the streets of Macau was an amateur affair for enthusiasts in sports cars.  A quick look at the winners’ list takes you from the ridiculous – a Triumph TR2, to the interesting – an Aston Martin DB3S, and on to the sublime – a Jaguar XKSS (I bet the winning driver would like to have that back).

Things started to get a little more professional in 1961 when the GP became a Formula Libre event. Then in 1974 the GP switched to the Formula Pacific class. By this time the Macau GP was being treated as a race worth winning. The Guia track was a tricky and dangerous one although safety was steadily improved over many years. From ’76 onwards young European based drivers started to appear, and win. Riccardo Patrese won twice and Roberto Moreno once during the last years of the Formula Pacific era.

The track was not acceptable for F2 cars so the organisers changed to Formula 3. Ayrton Senna won the first F3 race and then, up to the mid ‘90s, there followed a list of names that went on to be successful in F1 and other top categories of the sport: Gugelmin, Donnolly, Brabham, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Rydel, Muller and Ralf Schumacher. From 1993 to 2011 a Dallara has won every GP.

Nothing modest about Macau

In the first year that a Dallara won there was an incident that attracted more news than the race. A film company had sponsored the thirty two year old Andely Chan in one of the supporting races. Chan had finished second in the race, but was later disqualified for having illegal modifications. According to the South China Morning Post report, Chan and his mechanic were shot dead, in the early hours of the following morning, as they left the New World Emperor Hotel. It appears the murder was a pay back for another murder rather than the work of an irate competitor.

Photo (right) bobjonesphotos.co.uk