A muffled yodelling was audible under the blue star-studded full-face helmet as Hans-Joachim Stuck came to a standstill in front of the pits. What could it mean? It was an expression of the greatest enjoyment; because
“Strietzel” had sat in one of his former Formula 1 racing cars on the Arena runway in Oschersleben again for the first time in more than four decades. In a March-Cosworth belonging to ‘72STAGPOWER, the same Braunschweig team, that would in the future – as it says in the subtitle – keep alive the “Spirit of Jägermeister Racing”. “Strietzel” Stuck made the Formula 1 really “fly” in Oschersleben. And the staccato roar punctuated by bursts of double-declutching throttle when changing down at the end of the start-and-finish lines made the V8 sound exactly like it once did on the Nürburgring, where Stuck celebrated his Formula 1 premiere in the Jägermeister-March in front of his home crowd in 1974.
Through the years, Stuck was one of the matadors of the Jägermeister team, which remained in existence until 2000. His audacious performances in Formula 2 crowned him “King of Hockenheim” in the Formula 2 Jägermeister-March. And he also excelled in other orange-coloured racing cars. In the Group 5 BMW 320, in the BMW 635, the Porsche 956 and the Porsche 962.
Jens Katemann published a gripping report about Stuck’s excursion into yesterday’s Formula 1 world in “auto, motor and sport”.
Photos:
Daniel Salinger / kreativburschen
