Čeněk Junek

Čeněk Junek

Grave of Čeněk Junek and Eliška Junková in the Vinohrady cemetery

Čeněk Junek , actually Vincenc Junek (born May 25, 1894 in Čermná ; † July 15, 1928 at the Nürburgring ) was a Czechoslovak banker and racing car driver .

Life

Junek initially worked in the Olomouc branch of Pražká úvěrní banka ( Prague Creditbank), where he met Alžběta Pospíšilová, his future wife, in 1917. In addition to his work for the bank, Junek was an avid automobile racing driver. In 1922 he married Eliška Junková . The couple went on their honeymoon to Karlovy Vary , where they took part in training for the Karlovy Vary – Marienbad race. In 1922 he first started at the Zbraslav-Jíloviště hill climb and won it. Junek first drove a Mercedes and was finally able to purchase one of the streamlined type 32 "Tank" racing cars used in the 1923 French Grand Prix from Ettore Bugatti . The couple competed in races in 1923 and 1924. On the 1923 Zbraslav-Jíloviště hill climb, his wife accompanied him as a co-driver and mechanic in the Bugatti Type 30, and from 1924 she competed herself. In 1924 Junek, who was a director at Prager Creditbank at the time, acquired the Humburky Castle , which he sold to Rudolf Randák in 1925.

In 1927 the Junek started together at the Targa Florio in Sicily . The Bugatti, controlled by his wife, was in the lead before he retired due to a defect. After his wife was able to persuade him in 1927 to register her for the race for the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring , Junek competed at the Nürburgring himself on July 15, 1928 , while his wife watched the race from the grandstand. During the race, Junek got off the track with his Bugatti Type 35B in the “Ex-Mühle” section and had a fatal accident. He was the first driver to die on the Nürburgring.

In his place of birth, the old-timer race Memorial of Čeněk Junek , organized by the old- timer gentleman car club Čeňka Junka , for which vehicles built up to 1945 are approved, commemorates Čeněk Junek. The primary school in Dolní Čermná bears his name.

Junek and Eliška Junková are buried in the Vinohrady cemetery in Prague.

successes

• 1922: Zbraslav-Jíloviště hill climb , 1st place
• 1923: Zbraslav-Jíloviště hill climb, 1st place

Web links

Commons : Čeněk Junek  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Čeněk Junek. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed April 2, 2018 (English).