Rudolf Caracciola was a German racing driver.
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola was born on 20 January 1901 in Remagen, Germany.[1] He was the son of Maximilian Caracciola[2][3][4] His father wanted him to study at a university, but after his father's death, he became an apprentice at the Fafnir-Automobilwerke in Aachen.[5]
He began racing in 1922, while he was working at the Fafnir-Automobilwerke.[6] In 1923, he began working as a car salesman at Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft's Dresden sales outlet, and entered races with the Mercedes 6/25/40 hp racing car.[7]
In 1926, Rudolf won the inaugural German Grand Prix, held at the Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße (AVUS) track in Berlin.[8] [9][10] He used the prize money to set up a Mercedes-Benz dealership on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin.[11]
He won eleven races in 1927, and in 1928, he again won the German Grand Prix.[12] In 1930, he won the Irish Grand Prix.[13] He also closed his Mercedes-Benz dealership after the firm went bankrupt.[14]
By 1932, Mercedes-Benz had completely withdrawn from motor racing, and Rudolf began racing for Alfa Romeo.[15] In 1933, after Alfa Romeo had withdrawn from motor racing, Rudolf and his friend Louis Chiron formed their own team, Scuderia C.C. (Caracciola-Chiron).[16] While practicing for the Monaco Grand Prix, three of his car's four brakes failed, and the car crashed into the wall.[17] He began racing again in 1934.[18] He won the European Drivers' Championship in 1935, 1937, and 1938.[19]
Rudolf married Charlotte "Charly" Liesen in 1926.[20] They had met in 1923, when Rudolf was working in Dresden.[21] In February 1934, Charlotte was killed in an avalanche while skiing in the Swiss Alps.[22] In June 1937 in Lugano, Switzerland, Rudolf married Alice Hoffman-Trobeck.[23]
He became a Swiss citizen in 1952.[24]
Rudolf was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in 1959, and on 28 September 1959, in Kassel, Germany, he died of liver failure.[25] He was buried in Lugano, Switzerland.[26]
In 1998, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.[27]
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C > Caracciola > Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola
Categories: Remagen, Rheinland-Pfalz | Racing Car Drivers | Germany, Notables | Notables | German Roots