Teddy Tetzlaff

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Teddy Tetzlaff (start number 33), at the American Grand Prix 1912

Teddy Tetzlaff (Theodore Herbert Tetzlaff, born February 5, 1883 in Los Angeles , † December 8, 1929 in Artesia , California ) was an American racing driver in the pioneering days of American car racing . Tetzlaff also appeared as an actor in racing films from the silent era .

Career

The trained auto mechanic Tetzlaff competed in the first four races of the world's oldest car race still in existence today, the Indianapolis 500 , Indy 500 for short, from 1911 to 1914. His best result in 1912 was second place behind Joe Dawson . His nickname "Terrible" Teddy Tetzlaff (the terrible Teddy Tetzlaff) was based on his full-throttle racing style with the alternatives of winning the race, causing the machine to burst or flying off the track.

A race report describes the latter variant as follows: “Teddy Tetzlaff ... led the field of 16 drivers. Tetzlaff confirmed his reputation as a lead foot without nerves by leading the field from Los Angeles, throwing it off track at San Diego and wrapping his car around a telephone pole . "

The highlight of his racing career was the second place in the AAA National Championship in 1912 . He won the Santa Monica free-for-all in a Fiat S 61 , in July in Tacoma , Washington, the 200 mile “heavy car event” with 2: 54.31 hours and a day later the 250-mile-free-for-all. Few Days before the races in Tacoma, Tetzlaff had been kidnapped in Tacoma for the purpose of extorting ransom, but was released.

In 1911 Teddy Tetzlaff achieved an average speed of 78.7  mph (126.7  km / h ) with his Fiat in Santa Monica, a world record among all races and racing drivers, which was not surpassed in 1912 and 1913 either. For comparison: In 1913 Earl Cooper achieved 74.63 mph (120.11 km / h) with a Stutz on the then fastest American circuit in Corona, the fastest in the world was Paul Bablot with a Delage in Le Mans with 77 mph (124 km / h) ).

Teddy Tetzlaff also supported the planning and preparation of long-distance races for organizers as a specialist.

In a serious accident in 1911, Tetzlaff suffered an injury to his spine. Health problems followed, which led to his death on December 8, 1929.

Tetzlaff and the movie

In 1912, Tetzlaff began to play himself in silent films by comedy pioneer Mack Sennett . Well-known is the film The Speed ​​Kings by director Wilfred Lucas , in which he appeared with racing driver colleagues Earl Cooper and Barney Oldfield . He later supported the actor Wallace Reid in his racing driver films. Tetzlaff's son Ted Tetzlaff became a well-known cameraman in Hollywood who later also directed .

Speed ​​records

  • On March 19, 1910, a promotional leaflet from Lozier Motor Company announced that a production model 51 with 51 bhp (37.5 kW), driven by Teddy Tetzlaff, set a world record of 100 miles (161 km) in 1:14:29 hours would have.
  • At the first motor rally in 1914 in the Bonneville Salt Flats , Teddy Tetzlaff accelerated his Blitzen-Benz to 228 km / h, according to other sources to 229.85 km / h.

Filmography

  • 1913: The Speed ​​Kings
  • 1919: The Roaring Road
  • 1920: Double Speed
  • 1921: Too Much Speed
  • 1922: Across the Continent

Texts

According to the Catalog of copyright entries: Pamphlets, leaflets…, Volume 10, Issue 2

  • Teddy Tetzlaff: Ignorance costs autoists millions each year, 8692-8698
  • Teddy Tetzlaff: tells readers of Evening herald all about automotives, 8692-8698

Web links

Commons : Teddy Tetzlaff  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Pictures by Teddy Tetzlaff

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500
  2. ↑ Example of driving over the load limit: 55. Must Have Been Bad Tires and then 56. Wauwatosa
  3. ↑ Westways, Vol 71
  4. ^ Teddy Tetzlaff at Driver Database - Motorsport
  5. ^ The New International Year Book
  6. ^ Mercedes And Auto Racing In The Belle Epoque, 1895–1915
  7. ↑ Omnibus of Speed: An Introduction to the World of Motor Sport
  8. ↑ History of the Tacoma Speedway - lakewoodhistorical.org ( Memento from February 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ^ The Troy Record Almanac and Year-book
  10. ↑ Michigan Manufacturer & Financial Record, Volume 15
  11. ↑ EDDIE SYMS WATERMAN
  12. ↑ Allen Brown: Teddy Tetzlaff. Retrieved March 21, 2020 .
  13. ↑ The Speed ​​Kings (1913)
  14. ^ Floyd Clymer: Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925. McGraw-Hill, New York 1950
  15. ^ Outing: Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction, Volume 58
  16. ^ Bonneville: The Fastest Place on Earth
  17. ↑ Nina Rehfeld: There is no salt! Financial Times Deutschland , October 14, 2011, page 25
  18. ↑ 100 years ago: Record hunter with a displacement of 21.5 liters: the Benz 200 PS, known as the "Blitzen-Benz"
  19. ↑ Catalog of copyright entries: Pamphlets, leaflets…, Volume 10, Edition 2
personal data
SURNAME Tetzlaff, Teddy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tetzlaff, Theodore Herbert; Tetzlaff, Terrible Teddy (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American racing driver and actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1929
Place of death Artesia , California