Willi Krakow

Willi Krakau (born December 4, 1911 in Schöneck ; † April 26, 1995 in Peine ) was a German automobile racing driver .

His first race went Krakow with a BMW 328 at the Eifel race in 1937 on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring . After the war, he first competed in Hockenheim in 1947. Even ahead of the legendary driver Karl Kling in the race , his car caught fire and he had to give up. As the first German driver after the war, Krakow took part in an official race in Italy, the Gran Premio dell'Autodromo di Monza in 1950, where he was the first German athlete to have the national flag waving on the pole alongside the colors of other nations. In 1952 he was registered for the German Grand Prix , but could not achieve a fully timed lap in training and therefore could not take part in the race.

Willi Krakau, who was also a hopeful rower at a young age, was a member of the German Olympic rowing team in 1936 . He was also an avid boxer and skier. To the greatest surprise of the experts, he won a 50 km cross-country ski run in the Erzgebirge as a “flat country” against the greatest competition from all over Germany. In 1934 Kraków became a ski instructor for the former Queen Friederike of Greece .

After the end of his racing career, Krakow devoted himself to mountaineering and underwater sports with diving equipment and harpoon.

In addition to his active sporting activities, Krakow was a member of the former Supreme National Sports Authority and a member of the main sports committee of the ADAC in Munich.

literature

• Reinald Schumann: Motorsport in Germany 1945–1955 - From self-made to the silver arrow , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 1992, ISBN 3-613-01413-0

Web links

• Willi Krakau at www.chicanef1.com (English)
• Biography at www.conceptcarz.com (English)
• Race results at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ III Gran Premio dell'Autodromo di Monza 1950 ( Memento of July 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on July 20, 2012)