110px|Rudolf Caracciola (left) and his riding mechanic Eugen Salzer celebrate after winning the first German Grand Prix in 1926.

Rudolf Caracciola (1901–1959) was a German racing driver who won the European Drivers' Championship (the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship) an unsurpassed three times, and the European Hillclimbing Championship three times. Caracciola raced for Mercedes-Benz during their original dominating Silver Arrows period, and set speed records for the firm. In 1933, he established the privateer team Scuderia C.C. with Louis Chiron, but a crash in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix left him with multiple fractures of his right thigh, which prevented him from racing for more than a year. He returned to the newly reformed Mercedes-Benz racing team in 1934, with whom he won three European Championships, in 1935, 1937 and 1938. Like most German racing drivers in the 1930s, Caracciola was a member of the Nazi paramilitary group NSKK, but never a member of the Nazi Party. He returned to racing after the Second World War, but crashed in qualifying for the 1946 Indianapolis 500. A second comeback in 1952 was halted by another crash, in a race in Switzerland. After he retired Caracciola worked as a Mercedes-Benz salesman targeting NATO troops stationed in Europe. He is remembered as one of the greatest pre-1939 Grand Prix drivers, a perfectionist who excelled in all conditions. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1580:

The Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth, England, as explorer Francis Drake completed his circumnavigation of the globe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Hind

1687:

The Parthenon in Athens was partially destroyed during an armed conflict between the Venetians under Francesco Morosini and Ottoman forces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon

1957:

West Side Story, a musical written by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim and based loosely on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, made its debut on Broadway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story

1983:

The racing yacht Australia II, captained by John Bertrand, won the America's Cup, ending the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defense of the trophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_II

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

exanimate (adj): 1. Lifeless, not or no longer living. 2. Spiritless, dispirited http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exanimate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,

But neither arrest nor movement.

And do not call it fixity, Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,

Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,

There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time. --T. S. Eliot http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot