Late Braking News

by Ben C. Hracing

May, 2006

First of all, congratulations are in order to both Jack Kolpack, and Blackhawk Valley Region for receiving an award from the SCCA for the third best website among regions of our size. Just think, if you had not posted my articles perhaps you would have gotten first or second. So now what do you do? You post this article! That is not the way to win awards! Seriously, both are to be commended for the website. And I have noticed a few changes to the site since the award which are improving Smoke Signals even more.

In a previous article I mentioned the different colors of the flags being used during the time of the Elgin road races between 1910 and 1920. After extensive and exhaustive (?) research I have more information concerning the flags. I learned this information after exchanging emails with noted historian Donald Davidson of IMS, in addition to researching a few books about the early days of racing.. I hope you do not contact Mr. Davidson to learn my whereabouts. Although my trail has gone cold, Guido and Luca are still looking, and would use this information.

The Automobile Club of France was formed in 1895. The AFC established using signal flags to communicate with drivers during a competition event, and the earliest reference I have found to the use of signal flags was in the book A Record of Motor Racing 1894-1908, written by Gerald Rose in 1908. He mentions that during the 1899 Tour de France (which was an automobile race, not a bicycle race) a yellow flag was used to signal "attention" to the competitors, and a red flag was used to signal to "stop", similar to what is used today. I am not certain when a checkered flag came into use to signify the end of a race. There is a black and white photo in A Record of Motor Racing which shows Fournier on a Mors car driving under the finish banner as he won the 1901 Paris to Berlin race, with a man standing there holding a solid colored flag instead of a checkered flag. Perhaps the banner was used to signify the end, instead of a checkered flag, and the person w! as holding a red flag to tell the drivers to stop, as the event was over. This is my best guess. If they had color film back then I could tell you the color of the flag. Although I do not know when the checkered flag first came into use, I know it was used for the first Vanderbilt Cup race in 1904, if not before then. The next reference to signal flags I found is in a book about the history of the FIA in which it states signal flags used by the AFC during the 1906 French Grand Prix were a blue flag to tell the drivers to slow down, and a yellow flag was used to tell them to stop. At some point in time the signal flags used in the U.S. became different from those used in Europe, but I am not sure when the change took place. As I stated before, at the Elgin races in 1910, red meant a clear track(or "start" at Indy), yellow signified danger, green meant one lap to go, a white meant consultation (the same as a black today), a yellow and red waved simultaniously meant st! op ( the same as a red today), and a checkered flag meant finish. At Indianapolis the flags changed slightly with the addition of a black flag with a white center to signify you were about to be overtaken.

The FIA, based in Paris, France regulates racing throughout the world, and has been around since 1904. Originally it had the acronym AIACR, which stood for Association Internationale des Automobiles Clubs Reconnus (which translates as International Association of Automobile Clubs .....er ..... something or other). In 1946 at the conclusion of World War II the organization resumed and changed it's name to Federation Internationale de L'Automobile, or FIA. During the late 1920's racing in Europe using AIACR rules a yellow flag meant to stop, a stationary blue flag meant you were being overtaken, but a waved blue flag meant caution, or the same as a yellow flag means today. A black flag displayed with your number meant you had to stop. A red flag was not used for signaling because several member countries objected to the use of the color red. Although the reason for the objection has been lost over the decades, it has been suggested the reason was political, given th! e political climate of the 1920's. I am not making this up.

By 1930 the Indianapolis 500 (and I presume other races in the U.S.) changed their signal flags. At this time green meant start, white meant consultation, red meant stop, yellow meant caution, and orange with a navy blue circle in the center meant you are being overtaken, King's blue meant last lap..

In 1937 the flags at Indy were changed slightly to conform to those used in Europe, but I do not know when the flags in Europe were changed from those in use during the 1920's. The "consultation" flag was changed from white to black. "Car attempting to pass" was changed from orange/blue to "vivid"blue, and "starting last lap"(which is not used in Europe) was changed from King's blue, to white. In 1940 the blue flag was changed throughout the world when an orange diagonal stripe was added to the blue flag. This was later changed so the diagonal stripe was yellow, as this color showed up better at night.

I have not found or been given a reason for the changes to the colors over the years. But as you can see, there have been numerous changes made over the years. If I ever find a reason for the changes I will share them with you. Until then, your guess is as good as mine. At the present time I believe every organization except the SCCA displays a green flag at the next flag station to signal a clear track once past an incident covered by a yellow at the previous flag station. And unless I am mistaken, the SCCA is the only orgnization which does not require all of their flags waved. CART uses a white flag with a red cross to signify an emergency vehicle on course. The FIA has gone to a solid light blue flag to signal a driver he is being overtaken. They also use one yellow flag to signify an incident off of the racing surface, and two yellow flags to signify it is on the racing surface. The FIA has been trying to standardize flags for decades,but we here in the U! .S. continue to do things our own way.

I appologize for the history of flags being so "wordy", but there were so many changes and different organizations to acount for, this was not easy to write. And you may want to reread the previous five paragraphs a few times to make sure you have it correct. You never know when someone will ask you about the history of race flags.

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You may or may not be aware of car colors having been used to signify their country of origin. Up to 1968, when Lotus brought sponsorship and commercialization to Grand Prix races with Gold Leaf sponsorship, Grand Prix cars were almost always painted in their national colors. Ferrari is the only car still painted in it's country's colors, which everyone knows is red for Italy. Did you know this was not always Italy's national racing color?

The first Gordon-Bennet race was held in 1900. The rules were written to encourage participation by car manufaturers from a number of countries. The first year's race had participants from four countries. It was decided to paint each country's cars a different color for easy recognition and to promote competition between the participating countries. The colors chosen were: blue for France, yellow for Belgium, white for Germany, and the U.S. color was......red. By 1902 Great Britain was also entering cars in the Gordon-Bennet races and was given the color of green, and Italy was given black. By the 1907 French Grand Prix Italy's color was changed to red, the U.S. colors became white with red (the present day colors of Japan), then much later (I believe about 1920) the colors were changed to it's present colors of white with blue. When Jimmy Murphy won the 1921 French Grand Prix his Duesenberg was painted white with blue.

This information on flags and national race colors is useless trivia, but interesting none the less. About the only thing you can do with this information is win bar bets. Hmmm. On second thought, it could be very useful.

There is one more item I would like to bring up before I sign off. Most of you have probably heard of the Mille MIglia. It was staged from 1927 through 1957 in Italy, and some of the races were legendary.. The race was held on public roads and the distance was 1000 miles hence the name Mille MIglia. There was little or no crowd control, and the drivers had to watch out for local traffic on the roads as they raced. During the 1957 race the Spanish international playboy the Marquis Alfonso De Portago, when only 40 miles from the finish, blew a tire, loosing control of his Ferrari. Traveling more than 150 miles an hour it careened into spectators lining both sides of the road before crashing, killing Portago, his co-driver,and 10 spectators. There was such an outcry the race was never held again.

Portago's co-driver was Edmund (Eddie) Gunnar Nelson, age 42. He and Portago were close friends. Nelson was an American, married to a Japanese wife, and lived in Paris. While studying at the University of Illinois, Nelson was a photographer's model and was voted the "most handsome male student" on campus.His photo appeared in national automobile ads. He was an amateur boxer and was with an amateur boxing team at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. He taught Portago how to bobsled and coached the Spanish Olympic team. Portago's sled finished fourth in the two-man event during the 1956 winter Olympics. It sounds like Nelson was an interesting guy.

By now you are probably wondering why I am mentioning any of this, it having happened nearly 50 years ago. I mention it because there is a local connection. Nelson lived in Beloit, Wisconsin during the mid-ninteen twenties. Even though he had not lived in Beloit for years, he always listed it as his home, even on the entry form for the Mille MIglia. Now you know the rest of the story.

"til next time,

Ben