1. Otto Merz was a German racing driver, chauffeur and mechanic.
17 Facts About Otto Merz
1. 2.
Otto Merz was a driver in the motorcade during the 1914 assassination of Archuduke Franz Ferdinand and later won the second running of the German Grand Prix in 1927.
3.
Otto Merz died in a crash during practice for the 1933 Avusrennen in a modified Mercedes SSK on 18 May 1933.
4.
Otto Merz was born on 12 June 1889 in Esslingen am Neckar to Karl Gottlob Merz, a locksmith, and Christine Margarete Merz nee Blessing.
5.
Otto Merz served as a chauffeur and mechanic for several wealthy motor car enthusiasts, such as Theodore Dreher, the Austrian motor sport sponsor and son of Anton Dreher, and the Saxon industrialist Willy Poge.
6.
On 28 June 1914, as the chauffeur for Count Alexander von Boos-Waldeck during Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie's visit to Sarajevo, Merz drove the third car in the motorcade.
7.
Otto Merz took up on racing in the early 1920s and achieved victories at both Solitude Racetrack and at the Klausen hill climb in 1924.
8.
Otto Merz followed this up with a 1925 victory at the Solitude Ring, a closed road course around Castle Solitude, in a four-cylinder two litre Mercedes.
9.
Otto Merz came in second place, while several drivers succumbed to the heat, including Rudolf Caracciola, who took over from Christian Werner and Willy Walb.
10.
Otto Merz was the sole driver of the Mercedes Benz SS for the 18 laps of the daunting Nurbrugring Nordschleife, at racing pace, an achievement for which he was widely praised.
11.
Otto Merz was usually listed only as a reserve driver, but he did see action at the International Alpine Trial and at the ADAC long distance trials.
12.
That same year, Otto Merz obtained a fifth place at the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring in anSSKL.
13.
Under such circumstances, Otto Merz had the SSKL seat in the AVUS race.
14.
Possibly he was invited by the team to drive: Otto Merz had been a popular employee since 1906, and was in good standing with the management; it is possible that Otto Merz offered his services.
15.
Otto Merz was transported to the Hildegard Hospital at Charlottenburg, a suburb of Berlin and very near the accident site, but his condition was beyond help.
16.
Investigators later concluded Otto Merz had lost control for a few moments.
17.
On 19 October 1918 in Schelklingen, Otto Merz married Maria Hoch, who was born in Allmendingen on 22 January 1889 to Leo Hoch and Maria Hoch nee Autenrieth.