Dick Rathmann
| Nation: |
 United States
|
||||||||
| Automobile world championship | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First start: | Indianapolis 500 1950 | ||||||||
| Last start: | Indianapolis 500 1960 | ||||||||
| Constructors | |||||||||
| 1950 AJ Watson · 1956, 1958-1959 Kalamazoo Sports Inc. · 1960 Jim Robbins | |||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| World Cup balance: | WM-24. ( 1956 ) | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| World Cup points : | 2 | ||||||||
| Podiums : | - | ||||||||
| Leadership laps : | 3 over 12 km | ||||||||
James Merwin "Dick" Rathmann (* 6. January 1924 in Los Angeles , California ; † 1. February 2000 in Melbourne , Florida ) was an American NASCAR - and Champ Car -Rennfahrer, in particular in the 1950s was popular in the United States, winning 13 NASCAR races during his career.
The pseudonym
The somewhat superfluous and confusing pseudonym had the following origins: When his younger brother Richard (1928–2011) - Dick is the short form for Richard in English colloquial language - wanted to start a motorsport career, he simply used his older brother's birth certificate to under to be allowed to start his name. When, in view of the younger man's successes, the “real” Jim finally wanted to start racing, he in turn used the papers of the “original” Richard to compete in races as “Dick” Rathmann.
The NASCAR star
Dick Rathmann's real domain in motorsport was the NASCAR races, which then were closer to series production than they are today and which enjoyed great popularity with the public. He always relied on the Hudson brand in all his races between 1951 and 1958 , winning 13 races in 128 races with a Hudson Hornet and achieving as many pole positions . In 1952/53 he won five races each time, but without becoming champions. He was able to book the following races as first place: Martinsville 100, Langhorne Speedway, Darlington 100, Dayton 100 or 150, Central City 150, International 200, Morristown 200, Lincoln City 200, Langhorne 250, Oakland 250, Wilkes County 160 and Santa fe 200.
Starts in the Champ Car series
Like many other US racing drivers, he also tried his hand at single- seater races, with the additional incentive that his brother was quite successful there. Sun denied Dick Rathmann 1950-1958 couple of races in the Champ Car series, where he remained until 1960 five times in the race in 1950, 1956 and 1958 Indianapolis , known as Indianapolis 500 took part. Since this race as a Grand Prix was also counted as part of the Formula 1 World Championship , his name also appears in the Formula 1 statistics, which do not take into account the fact that Dick Rathmann had a reputation that went beyond being an occasional starter.
On his first start he struggled with inferior technical equipment and had to give up prematurely. During the Formula 1 season in 1956 , he was able to prove his racing speed on this circuit with fourth place in qualifying training. In the end, he finished fifth, for which he was credited two World Cup points. In the 1958 Formula 1 season on May 30, 1958, during the Indy 500, he had the best prerequisites for a victory, as he had experienced pole position in qualifying with his McNamara Special. But already in the third corner he was no fault of the moving behind him Ed Elisian , who lost control of his car, drawn back into the wall of the brick yards. The following Jimmy Reece then went into a skid and collided in turn with his pursuers Bob Veith and Pat O'Connor . When the latter overturned, he was the only one to suffer life-threatening injuries due to the inflamed fuel of the pilots involved in the pile-up. A total of 15 racing cars were more or less involved in the collision that from now on was considered to be the worst in the early stages of an Indian race since 1909/11. After the mandatory restart, Jimmy Bryan was able to win safely on a Belond AP Special. Dick Rathmann tried his luck again in the following two years, but his "speed" could no longer be compared with the earlier days, so he gave up racing and moved to Florida to work in the business of his brother, a large Chevrolet sales agency to work just as successfully.
In the all-time best list of NASCAR professionals, he ranks 46th with his 13 race wins - and thus ahead of some of the modern NASCAR pilots like Matt Kenseth or Sterling Marlin , although his career within the NASCAR series was relatively short. Some top drivers like Darrell Waltrip or Richard Petty drove beyond the age of 45.
Dick Rathmann died of heart failure on February 1, 2000 at the age of 74.
statistics
Indy 500 results
| year | Start number | begin | Agony (km / h) | Result | Round | guide | failure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 45 | 18th | 210.676 | 32 | 25th | 0 | Oil pipe |
| 1956 | 78 | DNQ | |||||
| 73 | 4th | 232.481 | 5 | 200 | 0 | ||
| 1958 | 43 | DNQ | |||||
| 97 | 1 | 234.895 | 27 | 0 | 0 | accident | |
| 1959 | 73 | 4th | 232.111 | 20th | 150 | 0 | Pit fire |
| 1960 | 97 | 4th | 234.203 | 31 | 42 | 0 | Brakes |
| 1961 | 75 | DNQ | |||||
| 97 | 6th | 234,991 | 13 | 164 | 0 | fuel pump | |
| 1962 | 9 | 13 | 236,810 | 24 | 51 | 0 | Magneto ignition |
| 1963 | 22nd | 17th | 239,980 | 10 | 200 | 0 | |
| 1964 | 23 | 12 | 244,373 | 7th | 197 | 0 |
| Legend | ||
|---|---|---|
| colour | abbreviation | meaning |
| gold | - | victory |
| silver | - | 2nd place |
| bronze | - | 3rd place |
| green | - | Placement in the points |
| blue | - | Classified outside the point ranks |
| violet | DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
| NC | not classified | |
| red | DNQ | did not qualify |
| DNPQ | failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify) | |
| black | DSQ | disqualified |
| White | DNS | not at the start (did not start) |
| WD | withdrawn | |
| Light Blue | PO | only participated in the training (practiced only) |
| TD | Friday test driver | |
| without | DNP | did not participate in the training (did not practice) |
| INJ | injured or sick | |
| EX | excluded | |
| DNA | did not arrive | |
| C. | Race canceled | |
| no participation in the World Cup | ||
| other | P / bold | Pole position |
| SR / italic | Fastest race lap | |
| * | not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered |
|
| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
| season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Peter Hand Brewery | Chaparral 1 |
DAY
|
SEB
|
SEB
|
 MAY
|
TAR
|
 BER
|
ONLY
|
 LEM
|
TAV
|
CCA
|
 RTT
|
ONLY
|
BRI
|
BRI
|
PAR
|
| 6th |
Web links
- Dick Rathmann on hudsonclub.org ( Memento from July 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Driver statistics on racing-reference.info
- Portraits and autographs by Dick and Jim Rathmann
- Dick Rathmann. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on May 15, 2020 (English).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rathmann, Dick |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rathmann, Jim; Rathmann, James Merwin (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 6, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Los Angeles , California |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 1, 2000 |
| Place of death | Melbourne , Florida |