FROM THE ARCHIVE
Phil ‘Red’ Shafer strikes a slightly lonely
figure as he conducts his Buick-powered
Shafer Special through the majestic –
and in this instance meteorologically
unbecoming – Eifel landscape
during the German Grand Prix at
the Nurburgring on 19 July 1931.
Des Moines, Iowa native Shafer –
who made seven Indianapolis 500starts, finishing as high as third
in 1925 – was forced to retire
with a suspension problem after
13 laps. The race was won by Rudolf
Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz SSKL.For a DVD charting the genesis of
Formula 1 head to bit.ly/BirthofF1