1939 European Championship

By 1938, Hermann Lang had already developed into the fastest grand prix driver, which became more evident during the 1939 season, his most successful year. Why the German sport authorities declared Hermann Lang as the 1939 European Champion instead of H.P. Müller, is still a big riddle today.

This 1939 title is strange and doubtful to say the least, since the A. I. A. C. R. (Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus) never issued any official results or awarded the title that year. When applying the previous years’ scoring system to the 1939 results, H.P. Müller would have been the rightful 1939 champion. But Lang was undeniably the fastest driver that year, having won also two minor Grands Prix. The neutral Swiss AUTOMOBIL-REVUE reported that to score points for 1939 either a new French Plus or the old German Minus system was to be applied. After the conclusion of the Swiss GP on 20 August, the A.I.A.C.R. obviously had this dispute not yet settled and the new European Champion was not known. This created an unprecedented, totally absurd situation in the history of world sports: the assessment of a championship was to take place not before but after the conclusion of the series. A settlement was then planned for the October conference "at the green table" but this never happened since the A.I.A.C.R. in Paris could not meet with the world at war since 3 September. Consequently, in order to resolve this issue, Obergruppenführer and Major a. D. Adolf Hühnlein of the NSKK-Nazis, who was also President of the ONS (Oberste Nationale Sportbehörde), the ultimate authority for all motoring events in Germany, declared Lang as the European Champion in December of 1939. After racing had stopped in September at the onset of WW II, the ONS must have revised the system to make Lang champion with supposedly 23 points, after his victories in the Pau GP, Eifelrennen, Belgian GP, Swiss GP, Kahlenberg and Grossglockner Mountain Races. How exactly the scoring system was altered to carry out this injustice, remains a mystery.

The Question is: How did the ONS point system work and which races were included in the ‘ONS European Championship’? Anybody?

According to the AUTOMOBIL-REVUE 1940, No.20, pg.1, the next A.I.A.C.R. meeting, which took place on 12 May 1940 at the Bellevue Palace in Bern (the capital of neutral Switzerland), failed to settle the 1939 European Championship. Altogether, only 18 delegates attended and from the ones making up the Sporting Commission, only the Italian engineer Furmanik was present. Under these conditions a meeting was not to be considered.

Hans, I guess we should introduce you properly. Your main field of research is pre-1950 racing because, as I recall, you feel there is plenty of information around since the WDC started.

This particular line of enquiry is one of the most interesting of all... the European Champion basically determined by the Third Reich, sporting bodies notwithstanding.

There must be an answer somewhere, let's just hope your search bears fruit..

Does anyone here know any more?

A question Hans: where does this figure of 23 points come from? I've seen it quoted before, but never with a source given.

So I'm wrong in my thought that the champion was always decided by committee, and that there was a genuine points system. Interesting, I hope we find an answer.

The 23 points come from a short article in the German "Motorpost" (Nr. 49, Dec 9, 1939). In this article Adolf Hühnlein, the "Korpsführer" of the NSKK (Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrer Korps), declares Hermann Lang as well as motorcycle racers Ewald Kluge and Heiner Fleischmann as European Champions since "both the AIACR and the FICM cannot assemble because of the war". He details the points totals for all three of them, and since the totals of the bike riders stand cross-checking, there is the belief that the Lang total is also correct. However, there is yet no proof that the scoring system was indeed changed for the 1939 season, just reports about an ongoing discussion over scoring methods.

Originally posted by Marshal
So I'm wrong in my thought that the champion was always decided by committee, and that there was a genuine points system. Interesting, I hope we find an answer. There was one and the same point scoring system applied from 1935 to 1938. Since it had not officially been changed for 1939, the contention is, to carry on with the previous rules for 1939. See also Leif Snellman's wonderful home page on this matter: http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/cha.htm

Thanks fines, I'd always wondered where that reference came from. I don't suppose by any chance they gave a table or quoted any other totals? The reason I ask is that I have a tentative theory about this and would like to test if it fits!

Originally posted by fines
The 23 points come from a short article in the German "Motorpost" (Nr. 49, Dec 9, 1939)....Michael, to avoid any confusion, let me repeat the exact words of that article and I hope you will accept my translation. Here the second terribly long sentence of this awful announcement: "Since, as a result of the war, the A.I.A.C.R. as well as the F.I.C.M. cannot meet, I declare on the basis of the presented, clear points results regarding the European Championship's internationally counting automobile and motor cycle races to European Champion for race cars, the NSKK-Staffelführer (squadron leader) Hermann Lang on Mercedes-Benz with 23 points and to European Champion for motor cycles in the class ....." (No further details in reference to the 23 points!)

The same text had appeared on 30 November, 1939 in the Völkischer Beobachter, the Nazi party’s newspaper!

For about the last 14 years or so I have colected little snippets like these, to add to the mosaik. It is not yet finished. I have gone through four different German language auto magazines of 1939 and found only the one article mentioned by Michael. AUTOMOBIL-REVUE and MOTOR und SPORT have not reported this announcement or related matter. I will extend my search the next time I am in München (Munich) where Das Deutsche Museum maintains a technical library stuffed with all kinds of goodies. :)

Originally posted by Vitesse
Thanks fines, I'd always wondered where that reference came from. I don't suppose by any chance they gave a table or quoted any other totals? The reason I ask is that I have a tentative theory about this and would like to test if it fits!
I also have a theory - many theories, to be precise!

My 'best shot' would be the following scoring system:
10 pts - 1st place
6 pts - 2nd place
5 pts - 3rd place
4 pts - 4th place
3 pts - 5th place
2 pts - every other competitor running at the finish
1 pt - for fastest race lap

That would give:

B F D CH TOT
Lang 11 1 - 11 23
Müller - 10 6 4 20
Caracciola - - 11 6 17
Brauchitsch 5 - - 5 10
Dreyfus - 2 4 2 8
Sommer 4 3 - - 7
Hasse 6 - - - 6
Meier - 6 - - 6
LeBègue - 5 - - 5
Mazaud 3 - 2 - 5
Pietsch - - 5 - 5
Raph - 2 3 - 5
Étancelin - 4 - - 4
Stuck - 2 - 2 4
Nuvolari - - - 3 3
Chinetti - 2 - - 2
Evans - - - 2 2
Gérard 2 - - - 2
Hartmann - - - 2 2
Joa - - 2 - 2

__________________
Michael Ferner

Michael,
I am impressed with your calculations. I never heard about it before at TNF.

However, I am somewhat hesitant to accept your this scoring system because I was always under the impression that the 10 points for a win came much later, possibly in the sixties or so. Do you know which series started to award 10 points for a win?

Michael:
Great minds think alike!! I'd also gone for 10 points for a win and 1 for fastest lap. What I find so frustrating about this is that we don't even know exactly which events were included in this championship. I've always assumed just the four grandes epreuves, but as the NSKK was involved might the Eifelrennen and/or the hillclimbs be included - unlikely I feel, but you never know!

And, to address your point Hans: I'm not sure knowing this answer would help us - after all, the 1950 World Championship was probably the first that gave eight points for a win. Figures like this seem to be plucked out of the air, so why not ten points for a win in 1939?

I note that there was also a declaration regarding motor cycle champions. My knowledge of pre-war motorcycle racing is nil - was there an official championship and if so, might its scoring system give us a clue? I may be asking questions you have already answered to your own satisfaction, but on the other hand, perhaps an obvious answer has been there all the time?

I believe that Michael is very qualified in regards motorcycle racing and their championships and might be able to tell us his experience. I never bothered with anything but grand prix racing and limit myself to the early years (1895-1949). Mind you, I'll still sit on the couch staring at the box every fortnight, so I will be watching the Monaco GP this weekend.

Since I have a small collection of German language magazines (copies of pages only) I have seen that since the thirties a few journalists have devised lists to determine the best driver of the year at the end of the season. I have tried to do something similar on my list at http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw0.htm , which is displayed on Leif Snellman's home page.

Here is in essence what the Swiss AUTOMOBIL-REVUE (22 August 1939, No. 68, pg. 10) wrote about this topic. The article explains that the classification plans (below) were not official at all. It was also explained that assessment rules still did not existed. Müller would have won if the calculation had used the 1938 system. If one followed the French assessment method, then Lang would have won the championship. A third formula was to give the title only the driver, who had been victorious in at least two "Grandes Épreuves". The decision at the green table was to be made at the October meeting of the A.I.A.C.R.......
Note: The lists are best read when you select the smallest Text Size from the View menue.
The old minimum (or minus) evaluation (1935-1938)
Driver B F D CH Total
Müller 4 1 2 4 11
Lang 1 4 7 1 13
Caratsch 6 7 1 2 16
Brauch. 3 5 6 3 17
Nuvolari 4 7 4 4 19

The new maximum (or plus) evaluation (1939?)
Driver B F D CH Total
Lang 10 1 1 10 22
Müller 1 10 6 4 21
Caratsch 1 1 10 6 18
Brauch. 5 1 1 5 12
Nuvolari 1 1 1 3 6

Originally posted by Vitesse
Great minds think alike!!
:blush: ;)

Hans, you didn't pay attention lately! ;)

David McKinney had something posted along these lines at TNF (Dec 17), about a German friend who had found something in a Portuguese magazine. I quote him:
Apparently the suggestion was made at the October 1938 meeting of the CSI that the French championship system should be adopted for the European series, ie 10 points for first place, 6 for second, 5 for third, 4 for fourth, and 3 for fifth, with every other finisher getting one point. No decision was made then, but at another meeting in July it was decided this new system should be adopted, and applied retrospectively to the 1939 races already held.
Maybe it was slightly altered, which would explain the 23 points for Lang!?

The FICM (International Motorcycle Club Federation, forerunner of the FIM) awarded European Championships in 1938 (6-5-4-3-2-1 points for 1st through 6th) and 1939 (5-4-3-2-1 points for 1st through 5th), then the FIM World Championships in 1949 (10-8-7-6-5 points for 1st through 5th, and 1 point for fastest race lap only if still running at finish) and from 1950 to 1968 (8-6-4-3-2-1 points for 1st through 6th) etc. Other European Championships were awarded on a one-race basis (European Grand Prix).

Originally posted by fines
....Hans, you didn't pay attention lately! ;)........Michael,
First, this statement has never been proven to be correct and
Second, a copy of this article cannot be furbished.
Therefore, at this time, it is just another theory or speculation that this ruling supposedly got approval in July of 1939.

Judging by the articles written in the AUTOMOBIL-REVUE during 1939, I doubt that this ruling got approval because AUTOMOBIL-REVUE would have reported so and written differently about this topic in their 1939 articles. Unfortunately, I don't have any 1938 A.-R. magazine copies, which might possibly include a report about the October 1938 C.S.I. meeting. Also, don't forget that C.S.I. members as well as A.I.A.C.R. representatives had the reputation of being tightlipped about their meetings, a fact, which annoyed many journalists of the day. There was no report about the 1939 July meeting in the magazines or I must have overlooked it. Since I was searching for exactly such kind of information bits and pieces, it seems inconceivable that I passed over it, just alone for all the planning, time and money that went into my last research trip.

HANS!

Of course it's only speculation, I never pretended anything else. Don't be so harsh with me! ;)

And yes, it seems the AIACR was VERY tightlipped about the whole affair. Imagine, a governing body revealing its holy grail, the championship standings, to the public!!!! :eek: :rolleyes:

__________________
Michael Ferner