In 1977, Germans Hans-Joachim Stuck and Jochen Mass qualified for the German Grand Prix. At the Hockenheimring, the former achieved his first podium, but the story of compatriot Hans Heyer resonates much more half a century later. Like a mischievous child, he secretly participated in a Formula 1 race, aided by grid girls and marshals. This is a reconstruction of that event.
Making a debut in Formula 1 on home soil is a dream for many, but only a few see it become a reality. During the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring, ATS deployed a second car. German touring car cannon Hans Heyer saw his opportunity and bought in. Heyer, who had only driven an F2 car twice, failed to qualify for the Sunday race with P27. He ended up as the third reserve driver on the list and could only start if three qualified drivers, for example due to injury or technical problems, had to drop out before the start.
However, ATS is certainly not a high flyer. Heyer – who had only driven an F2 car twice – also failed to qualify for the Sunday race with P27. He was four-tenths behind Héctor Rebaque at P24 and more than four seconds behind pole sitter Jody Scheckter.
As easy as it was for Heyer to buy the seat, securing a place on the starting grid proved considerably more difficult. He ended up as the third reserve driver on the list and could only start if three qualified drivers, for example due to injury or technical problems, had to drop out before the start.
A Glimmer of Hope
Heyer’s chances seem lost from the outset, but suddenly there is a glimmer of hope. Frank Williams does not prepare the first reserve driver, Patrick Nève, for the race and since Emilio de Villota’s McLaren, the second reserve, is suffering from an engine failure, Heyer suddenly becomes the first reserve driver. On the Sunday of the race, he optimistically drives his ATS car into the pit lane. Just in case…
Until that weekend in Hockenheim, Hans Heyer was an unknown entity to all F1 followers. The German, always recognizable by his distinctive Austrian Tyrolean hat, had mainly made his mark in touring car racing. In 1974, he won the European Touring Car Championship, and in 1975 and 1976, the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM).
“Born on March 16, 1943, in Mönchengladbach, his parents ran a bitumen and concrete mixing company. His father Matthias had his hands full with Heyer: at the age of four, he was already behind the wheel of a truck, rolling it around the company premises. His father forbade it, but the young boy kept climbing behind the wheel.
At the age of nine, his parents sent him to a boarding school in the Eifel. However, what they didn’t take into account was that the school was located in the town of Adenau – near the ‘Green Hell’, the nickname Jackie Stewart coined for the notorious Nürburgring. When young Heyer opened the window, he could hear the roar of the Silver Arrows on the circuit. He cycled there, wandered through the pits, got to know all the drivers, even the great Juan Manuel Fangio. “At one point,” Heyer recalls in a conversation with WAZ, “they threw me out. But the next day I was back.”
Dutch Champion
His passion for car racing and technology was ignited. Heyer initially kept it a secret from his father, who later silently tolerated it. He apprenticed at Daimler-Benz and took his first steps in racing in the late fifties. Because the then 16-year-old Heyer was too young to kart in Germany, he tried his luck in the Netherlands. In 1962, he won the Dutch championship in the 100cc class, followed by the 125cc title in 1963.
Back in Germany, he also won several championships there, after which he switched to car racing. In addition to his successes in touring cars, Heyer achieved three consecutive victories in the 24 Hours of Spa and appeared a total of twelve times at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Returning then to Hockenheim, to the German Grand Prix in 1977. The 24 qualified drivers made it through the warm-up round without any problems, but he was not deterred by this. He had devised a mischievous plan.
Heyer, along with a few accomplices, pushed his car to the start of the pit lane and instructed two helpers to open the barrier to the track at the right moment. “I had placed my car in a strategically advantageous position. Most of the grid girls who were there, I knew well. I said: ‘Girls, when you come back from the grid, stand around my car so that I am somewhat out of sight,'” he explained afterwards.”
A starting crash between Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni provides the distraction Heyer needs. The barrier opens and Heyer secretly steers his ATS onto the track. Thanks to some friends among the marshals, who, according to legend, willingly turn a blind eye. Thus, Heyer still manages to participate in a Formula 1 race. And more than that…
‘Who is this man?’
Heyer makes an impressive advance through the field and is twelfth after eight laps. Only Harry Valérien, commentator for the German TV station ZDF, notices that something is amiss and exclaims: “Who is this man?”
One lap later, his clandestine performance comes to a halt: a shift rod tears off, his car gives up with a gearbox problem. Only then is the cat out of the bag and he is apprehended. Subsequently, he is disqualified by the race management and his name is crossed out on all race forms. He receives a suspension for five races for his action.
Former driver and F1 follower Allard Kalff once paid attention to Heyer’s remarkable story for the program ‘In the Slipstream’ on Viaplay. “Over the years there have been many villains,” says Kalff. “From white-collar criminals to real criminals. I consider Hans Heyer more of a rascal, because it’s amusing that someone just pulled off a sort of Pietje Bell-like action. I think many people chuckled at his action.”
Kalff understands how Heyer managed to get onto the track unnoticed. “We’re talking about the seventies. There was just a telephone connection between the track posts. And the race management and timing people were in different buildings at the time. That made communication and quick switching a lot more difficult.”
DNQ, DNF and DSQ
The now 82-year-old Heyer is mainly remembered today as a respected touring car and endurance driver. Yet his name will forever be linked to that one Sunday. To this day, Heyer is the only Formula 1 driver to hold the curious record of the most so-called D’s at one Grand Prix: Did Not Qualify (DNQ), Did Not Finish (DNF) and Disqualified (DSQ).
Kalff rightly calls the classic anecdote of Hans Heyer ‘a painting of that time’. “This of course doesn’t happen anymore. Nowadays, Formula 1 drivers no longer have to qualify for a race and everything is regulated and delineated. I find that a pity, because stories like this are simply part of motor racing.”
