The below article is the second in a series.
A photo that says volumes about Grand Prix racing in the 1950s. Fred Wacker on the grid at Monza in 1954, where he will place sixth overall with a truly outclassed Gordini. Photo by Bernard Cahier
By S. Scott Callan
Photos by Bernard Cahier published with permissions
What could be more appropriate for VeloceToday than an American racing French Gordinis in Europe? Author S.Scott Callan allowed us to publish part of his full length interview with the late Fred Wacker, below. Stay tuned as next week we’ll review the new biography of Fred Wacker authored by his son and Bob Birmingham.
Fred was a friend of my Dad’s. He and Fred and Jim Kimberly spent a lot of time together in the early days of Midwestern racing.
After my Dad passed away Fred and I got into the habit of talking in the spring, when he was heading back to Chicago after wintering at the Palm Springs house, and in the autumn when he had just arrived. Fred would regale me his stories of getting started in racing with his black Cad-Allard, the eight ball. Racing at Sebring, around the roads of Elkhart Lake before they built Road America, at Watkins Glen, and down Argentine way.