German Grand Prix
The
German Grand Prix (
Grosser Preis von Deutschland) is an automobile race.
The first national event in
German Grand Prix motor racing came to the Automobil Verkehrs und Ubung Strasse
AVUS race course in southwest
Berlin in
1926 as a sports car race. It became an official Grand Prix event in
1929. The first race at the AVUS track, in heavy rain, was won by native son, Rudolf Caracciola, a feat that no other German driver would accomplish until
Michael Schumacher in 1995. The first 1926 race was marred by an accident involving driver Adolf Rosenberger whose car crashed into one of the marshals' huts, killing three people. The German Grand Prix would not return to the AVUS track again until
1959.
On June 19, 1927, the race site shifted to the 28 kilometer track at Nürburgring where it would basically stay until the 1970s when it began rotating with Hockenheim which became its permanent home in 1986. The 1930 and 1933 German Grand Prix events were both cancelled due to the country's economic problems.
The Nürburgring track is the site of the famous near-fatal accident crash of Austrian driver, Niki Lauda. Considered the true test for race drivers, more Formula One drivers have been killed at the Nürburgring track than any other race.
Grand Prix motor racing winners:
- 1926 - Rudolf Caracciola (Germany) - Mercedes-Benz
- 1927 - Otto Merz (Germany) - Mercedes-Benz
- 1928 - Rudolf Caracciola and Christian Werner (Germany) - Mercedes-Benz
- 1929 - Louis Chiron (Monaco) - Bugatti
- 1930 - No Competition
- 1931 - Rudolf Caracciola (Germany) - Mercedes-Benz
- 1932 - Rudolf Caracciola (Germany) - Alfa Romeo
- 1933 - No competition
- 1934 - Hans Stuck (Switzerland) - Auto Union
- 1935 - Tazio Nuvolari (Italy) - Alfa Romeo
- 1936 - Bernd Rosemeyer (Germany) - Auto Union
- 1937 - Rudolf Caracciola (Germany) - Mercedes-Benz
- 1938 - Richard Seaman (England) - Mercedes-Benz
- 1939 - Rudolf Caracciola (Germany) - Mercedes-Benz
Formula One winners: