The “Bergkönig”

Hans Stuck (1900-1978) was a brilliant German racing driver, and the father of Hans-Joachim Stuck, the well-known Formula One driver and winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A pre-war Grand Prix winner, he was better known as the Bergkönig (king of the mountains), as illustrated by this magnificent photo above, where he can be seen on his way to another victory, this time at the Shelsley Walch hillclimb in 1936, driving his Auto Union C.

Stuck’s career with Auto Union was quite successful. In 1934, he won the German, Swiss and Czechoslovakian Grand Prix races (as well as finishing second in the Italian Grand Prix and Eifelrennen). There was no European Championship that year, or he would have won it.

In 1935, Stuck won the Italian Grand Prix (along with second in the German Grand Prix; he also won his usual collection of hill-climb wins, again taking the European Mountain Championship.