The “Mountain King” and his little horse

Franz Tschager (born 1962) is the most successful South Tyrolean “mountain king” of all time among car racing drivers. Despite the legendary Val Gardena motorsport pioneers Herbert Demetz and Ernst Prinoth. Between 2000 and 2002, Tschager was crowned European Hill Climb Champion three times in the corresponding FIA automobile racing series (officially the European Hill Climb Championship). In 3 he drove his very first official race and in 1980 his last official race. He said goodbye with two or three later sporadic show excursions into the motorsport world, which meant the world to him for over two decades. Today Franz Tschager is a successful “car broker”, strongly supported by his wife Inge. The passionate athlete goes on ski and mountain bike tours with his 2002-year-old son Nico and competes in kite surfing.

Franz Tschager enjoys going on mountain bike tours with his son Nico.

“Motorsport has always fascinated me. When I was finally able to get my driving license at the age of 18, I drove adventurous races for the South Tyrolean motocross icon Aldo Sinn, who was unfortunately almost completely forgotten today. “I actually tried things that weren’t actually worth trying,” Tschager remembers with a smile. In 1979, as a spectator of course, he experienced first hand the fourth of a total of 9 Mendel victories of the unforgettable “gentleman driver” Mauro Nesti, who died in 2013. At that moment it was all about the very young Franz: his big goal was to sit in a racing car one day. He worked towards this with determination and sacrifice and in 1987 the time had finally come. Hardly any sponsors, but a lot of passion He drove the self-prepared VW Golf Group N 1600 over the narrow route from Levico to Vetriolo in Trentino to third place in his class straight away. The fire for car racing now burned brightly in the young “Screw King”. There were five races this trial year, including a 1st place in Montecampione. “I hardly had any sponsors, but I did have some loyal and enthusiastic helpers. I fondly remember how Hermann Zanon supported me. “I’ll build you the right body around your engines,” he told me. And I became braver. In 1988 I won at the Mendel Pass and finished 16th overall with a clearly inferior vehicle. Things went very well the following year. In 1990 I tried my luck in a Scirocco that I had built myself, which actually rolled quite well for a total of 3 years. In 1993 I competed in a total of 7 races, of which I won 4. In 1994 the time was ripe for the premier class. The most important “victory” - and thus the decisive prerequisite - at this moment was on the sponsorship front.

I quickly found a prototype (Lucchini Alfa Romeo 3000) and became Italian champion in the P-2 class, Tri-Veneto champion and overall runner-up Italian champion. In 12 races I was crowned winner eight times and had second places three times. The next step was almost predetermined. In 1995 and 1996 I drove a Breda BMW in the P-1 class with varying success. In 1997 I switched to a prototype Lucchini P-1 BMW 3000 and won 7 stages and the Tri-Veneto championship title. The following year I became Italian champion in the P-1 class and vitime Italian champion in the overall classification,” says Tschager.

In his element: Franz Tschager

Then his international time began. The Kardaun native “stumbled” into the European Mountain Championships rather by chance. He never believed that he would ever compete at this extremely demanding level. And he never thought that he would one day inherit Mauro Nesti. Obtaining a driver's license for the European Championship in Italy is not only extremely difficult. Such a driver's license is also extremely expensive (especially in Italy). Because Tschager had been treated badly in a race in southern Italy (a direct rival had "charged" the entire field of participants with money so that it wasn't counted), he vowed: "I'll never race in Italy again." Because of his outstanding driving skills, Tschager was offered an Austrian driver's license and he happily took it. The South Tyrolean fulfilled the trust placed in him much more clearly than expected. In the international statistics, Franz Tschager appears as an “ITA driver”, but actually it should be called “A driver”. Also because Tschager was only allowed to drive in the internationally advertised European Championship races in Italy. “My three European Championship titles are largely due to Austria,” laughs sports friend Tschager. Success after success In 1999, in his European debut season in the Lucchini P-1 98 Evolution, he achieved first places in Romagnano Azzago, in the Portuguese Rampa da Falperra, Levico, in Trier, in the Val Camonica, in the Slovakian Matador, at Mont Dore and in Laibach, in the French Türckheim and in Alghero on Sardinia. This balance was “tarnished” by two second places at Rechberg and Terminillo. He was vice-European champion and that made the hunt for strong sponsors much easier.

Franz Tschager delivered an almost flawless performance in the Osella BMW PA 2000 S in 20. He won ten of 14 races and replaced the then three-time European champion Pasquale Irelando as “mountain champion of all classes” in that memorable year of 2000. And, as already mentioned, with the Austrian A-1 license (the second highest license after that for Formula 1). Franz Tschager was delighted. “In Italy I would certainly never have experienced the appreciation that I received in Austria,” says Tschager. This is probably also the reason that no Austrian has ever been a European hill climb champion in the racing car class or prototypes; the sports car legends Hans Lins and Johannes Ortner had never advanced that far. The brilliant racing driver underlined that this triumph for the South Tyrolean was no flash in the pan with two further European championship titles in the premier class of mountain automobile racing. In these 2 years, Tschager won 3 European Championship races and then left the big European stage that he had played so impressively on.

Franz Tschager can look back on an impressive career.

“I have achieved more than I ever dared to dream,” says Tschager today. In addition to his sporting success, he was also lucky: he was largely spared from serious accidents. He sold the vehicles and all the technical equipment well at the end of his picture-book sporting career.

Today, car enthusiast and mechanic Franz Tschager and his wife Inge run a thriving car dealership in Kardaun. “I have, let’s say, a very loyal historical customer base. I register my customers’ requirements and then search for the car they want across Europe,” says Tschager, who is sporty and young at heart. He was originally a highly talented snowboarder. In the meantime he has changed disciplines, rides a mountain bike and goes on long ski tours. He avoids ski slopes as much as possible. “My son Nico, who attends business school, has been largely spared from my PS virus, at least so far. To be honest, I'm not overly sad about it. “He loves nature and together we experience it intensively, especially in Corona times,” says Franz Tschager. Get up close and personal with the action “Of course I still follow car races, but not directly at the venues. I am good friends with the two current European champions, Simone Faggioli and Christian Merli from Trentino, and I enjoy exchanging ideas with them regularly. I see with joy and hope that South Tyrol's young racing scene is very active and successful. As a former active player, my heart smiles,” says Tschager. Maybe there will be a real race again at some point. Organizational talent has been demonstrated a lot in recent years with the Mendel Slalom.

“What remains from these many years are wonderful friendships, great experiences and an adventurous time full of unimagined possibilities. I met many extraordinary people. I was in the spotlight with Michael Schumacher at the FIA honors in Monte Carlo and experienced great people like Mauro Nesti. He was a great role model for me. The fact that he, who lived soberly and celibately and looked as if he would live to be 100, had to die so early really affected me. He had always sworn by honey as his elixir of life. His funeral really got under my skin,” says Tschager. Over the course of his incomparable career, Nesti was 9 times European champion, 17-time Italian mountain champion and won a total of over 450 races.

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The “Mountain King” and his little horse

s+ is tracking down South Tyrolean sports legends in the new series “What happened to…?” This time it is the turn of the most successful local “mountain king” of all time among car racing drivers: Franz Tschager

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