Fritz Scheidegger (Max Friedrich Scheidegger, 30 December 1930 in

Langenthal Langenthal is a town and a municipality in the district of Oberaargau in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipality of Untersteckholz merged into the Langenthal. On 1 January 2021 the former municipality of Obersteckh ...

- 26 March 1967

Mallory Park Mallory Park is a motor racing circuit situated in the village of Kirkby Mallory, just off the A47, between Leicester and Hinckley, in central England. Originally used for grass-track until 1955, a new, basically oval hard-surfaced course ...

, England) was a Swiss sidecar racer who won two

Sidecar World Championship FIM Sidecar World Championship is the international sidecar racing championship. It is the only remaining original FIM road racing championship class that started in 1949. It was formerly named Superside when the sidecars moved from being part o ...

s. Scheidegger began racing in the 500 cc solo class, becoming Swiss champion before turning to sidecar competition teaming with Horst Burkhardt to race in grasstrack sidecars. They began their world championship career soon after in 1957 at Monza at the final

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

of the season, finishing an impressive fourth. 1958 brought no world championship success on an underpowered BMW, but

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

began with a win in the first Grand Prix in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attract ...

followed by third at the

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

on the

Clypse Course The Clypse Course describes a motor-cycle racing course used for the Isle of Man TT Races between 1954 and 1959. The course is long and is in the parish of Onchan in the Isle of Man. The course uses two short sections of the Snaefell Mount ...

followed by fifth in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and a third in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

saw the team finish the championship in third overall. For the 1960 season they had no wins, but a series of second and third places meant the team ended up in second position overall. The 1961 season produced two wins at France and Belgium and three runner up positions, but they again finished second in the championship. In the 1962 season Scheidegger first teamed with British passenger John Robinson, after Burkhardt initially left to race solos, then teamed with Florian Camathias. By the end of season they were in third position after a win, a second and a third.

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

was again with Robinson, and again a third place in the championship, following a win, two seconds and a third. The 1964 season began with a win in France and ended with a win in Germany along with a second and a third to clinch them second place in the world title. 1965 was a dominant performance from Scheidegger and Robinson with four wins and three second places netting them the world championship at the last round at Monza. If 1965 was a great performance, 1966 was even more so with the team winning every race, but with much controversy. They were excluded for a fuel irregularity at the Isle of Man TT, awarding the championship to

Max Deubel Max Deubel (born 5 February 1935 in Wiehl, Germany) is a German former professional sidecar racer. He was four time FIM Sidecar World Champion and a three-time Isle of Man Sidecar TT The Sidecar TT is a motorcycle-with-sidecar road race c ...

and Emil Hörner, but reinstated three months later on appeal. Scheidegger was killed while leading a race at

in 1967. Scheidegger's BMW outfit crashed at high speed at Shaw's Corner after a defective bracket holding both the rear brake torque arm and the gear change cross shaft failed. At the following inquest, it was also disclosed that the bracket had not been properly

brazed Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal. Brazing differs from we ...

and that its brazing had been cracked for some considerable time. John Robinson suffered a broken leg and retired from the sport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheidegger, Fritz 1930 births 1967 deaths Swiss motorcycle racers Sidecar racers Isle of Man TT riders People from Langenthal Sportspeople from the canton of Bern