Master Oil Racing Team
04-18-2005, 08:58 AM
When I got back from Fredricksburg last night I had a E-mail from Ralph Donald informing me that Hans Krage had passed away. Many of you have probably already heard the news. It really bummed me out. Still am. I'm going to post some stories about Hans and I hope that others out there who knew him and raced with him will also. Many condolences to his family.
When Hans was a young man, maybe even in his teens, he raced motorcycles. He lived in East Berlin if I remember correctly. One day he needed a magneto and there was not one to be found or available in East Berlin, so he got one in West Berlin and was caught smuggling it back. It was before the wall was up. The authorities sentenced him to one year in solitary confinement. He was locked up in a little cell not much larger than an outhouse.
His family had property in East Germany and it was confiscated by the government (nothing to do with the smuggling). Communist rulers just like to take what they want. When I last saw him in Florida his family was just about to get back some propery the had on the North Sea and there was another large section with a house that they thought would also be returned. After Germany was reunited, citizens could petition to get back property that was wrongfully taken.
David Westbrook and I raced in Berlin in 1976. After the races David and his wife Fay went home and I stayed to go to a marathon at Karlshaven, W. Germany the following weekend. Walt Blankenstein, his wife and granddaugther also went to the marathon. Hans was racing the 6 cylinder OF he had won the world championship with a few months earlier.
We had to drive several hours through East Germany before getting to West Germany. Hans was driving and Walt's wife and granddaugther were in the back seat. Walt rode with Dieter Konig. We were telling stories and Hans started talking about Renato Molinari. They had had some scrapes together and Hans didn't much like him. He was telling about a race in Italy where he claims Molinari ran over him on purpose. The more he told the details, the madder he got. He was waving his hands all around, clenching his fists and punching the air. We went a long way down the autobahn without Hans touching the steering wheel. He put both hands palms up and said how he touched the bottom of Molinari's boat as it went over the top of him. When we got to the hotel, Mrs. Blankenstein called me to the side and said she didn't want to ride back in the same car if Hans was driving. She was terrified the whole time. Good thing she wasn't with us when Hans was checking out his Porsche on the Kurfurstendamm.
Dieter had high up friends at the BMW motorcyle factory. He got a couple of bike frames and Dieter rigged his up with a 350cc Konig. Hans thought that wasn't enough power. He put a 500cc Konig in his.
I don't know how many titles Hans won, but it was considerable. He was a hard driving, hard living individual who was always fun to be around.
When Hans was a young man, maybe even in his teens, he raced motorcycles. He lived in East Berlin if I remember correctly. One day he needed a magneto and there was not one to be found or available in East Berlin, so he got one in West Berlin and was caught smuggling it back. It was before the wall was up. The authorities sentenced him to one year in solitary confinement. He was locked up in a little cell not much larger than an outhouse.
His family had property in East Germany and it was confiscated by the government (nothing to do with the smuggling). Communist rulers just like to take what they want. When I last saw him in Florida his family was just about to get back some propery the had on the North Sea and there was another large section with a house that they thought would also be returned. After Germany was reunited, citizens could petition to get back property that was wrongfully taken.
David Westbrook and I raced in Berlin in 1976. After the races David and his wife Fay went home and I stayed to go to a marathon at Karlshaven, W. Germany the following weekend. Walt Blankenstein, his wife and granddaugther also went to the marathon. Hans was racing the 6 cylinder OF he had won the world championship with a few months earlier.
We had to drive several hours through East Germany before getting to West Germany. Hans was driving and Walt's wife and granddaugther were in the back seat. Walt rode with Dieter Konig. We were telling stories and Hans started talking about Renato Molinari. They had had some scrapes together and Hans didn't much like him. He was telling about a race in Italy where he claims Molinari ran over him on purpose. The more he told the details, the madder he got. He was waving his hands all around, clenching his fists and punching the air. We went a long way down the autobahn without Hans touching the steering wheel. He put both hands palms up and said how he touched the bottom of Molinari's boat as it went over the top of him. When we got to the hotel, Mrs. Blankenstein called me to the side and said she didn't want to ride back in the same car if Hans was driving. She was terrified the whole time. Good thing she wasn't with us when Hans was checking out his Porsche on the Kurfurstendamm.
Dieter had high up friends at the BMW motorcyle factory. He got a couple of bike frames and Dieter rigged his up with a 350cc Konig. Hans thought that wasn't enough power. He put a 500cc Konig in his.
I don't know how many titles Hans won, but it was considerable. He was a hard driving, hard living individual who was always fun to be around.