A busy day in Formula 1, but relatively quiet elsewhere, 4 June has a good few memorable race stories to tell.
Nino Farina led another 1950 maiden F1 season Alfa Romeo 1-2 over teammate Luigi Fagioli and Louis Rosier’s Talbot Lago in the 1950 Swiss Grand Prix. The Maserati team’s pressure system exploded and demolished Felice Bonetto’s pit box, thankfully without injuring anyone as Bonetto raced on to finish 12th.
It was a good day for Team Lotus over the years – Jim Clark won on the 49 chassis and iconic Cosworth DFV engine’s debut over Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme’s Brabham-Repcos in Holland ’67 and Emerson Fittipaldi’s 72D Cosworth won Belgium ‘72 from François Cevert’s Tyrrell and Hulme’s McLaren. Mario Andretti led Ronnie Peterson to a Lotus 79 Cosworth 1-2 over Jacques Laffite’s Ligier Matra in Spain ’78 as all three drivers went on to win those years’ titles.
4 June was also good day for McLaren – Alain Prost’s MP4/5 Honda won a 1989 US race in Phoenix stopped with 75 of the scheduled 81 laps completed after the maximum two hours had elapsed from Riccardo Patrese’s Williams-Renault and Eddie Cheever’s Arrows.
David Coulthard’s McLaren MP4/15 Mercedes held Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari and Giancarlo Fisichella’s Benetton off to win in Monaco in 2000 after Michael Schumacher’s race leading Ferrari broke.
Elsewhere, Alfred Levegh was victorious in the 318km 1900 Bordeaux road race driving a Mors, Antonio Masperi won the Circuito di Mantova in a Bianchi and Giulio Pucci’s Ansaldo the Coppa Nissena at Enna, both of those races in Italy 1924, while Tazio Nuvolari won the ‘33 Nîmes GP in an Alfa Romeo 2300B Monza. Gunnar Carlsson’s Mercury Special won the Swedish Kanonloppet at Karlskoga ‘53.
Over in the US, Rodger Ward, Gordon Johncock, Bobby Unser, Rick Mears, Paul Tracy, Scott and Graham Rahal each won an Indy race on this day, while Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais each won twice.
4 June Sports car racing stretches back to 1925 when Bartolomeo Costantini won the Targa Florio in a Bugatti 35, a race Achille Varzi also won in an Alfa Romeo P2 in 1930. There were also two IMSA races at Mid-Ohio won by Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson’s Nissan ZX-T in ’89.
Jack Baldwin and George Robinson’s Riley & Scott Judd took the 2000 US Classic, Jorg Bergmeister and Boris Said the ‘06 and Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor the ’11 Six Hours of the Glen, while Taylor and brother Jordan’s Corvette won the ‘16 IMSA Sports Car Classic.
There were three world championship Acropolis Rallies on this day, won by Ari Vatanen’s Ford Escort RS1800 in 1981, Colin McRae’s Subaru Impreza in 96 and Marcus Gronholm in a Ford Focus RS in 2006.