Image Unavailable, Please Login Remembering Helmuth Koinigg on his birthday, born 3 November 1948. Koinigg was an Austrian racing driver whose brief but promising Formula One career was tragically cut short during the 1974 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in only his second F1 race start. Suspension failure caused a heavy impact with the armco which resulted in his death.
I was at The Glen for that race but was unaware of his death until the next day. Barrier systems were in their infancy in those years.
Yes I believe that it was actually the barrier itself that caused his death and had it not been there, he could have quite likely survived.
That's what was reported at the time. Koinigg's car would have "submarined" under the guardrail that decapited him.
I seem to recall that a Fchat member who attended the race was very close to the accident scene. Horrifying.
