Paul Pietsch (20 June 1911 – 31 May 2012) was a racing driver, journalist and publisher from Germany, who founded the magazine Das Auto. Info from Wiki
Bio by Hans Hulsebos
Paul Pietsch was born in Freiburg in 1911, he worked for the family brewery and in 1932 was able to buy himself a Bugatti Type 35. Although the Bugatti was already outmoded he raced in the German GP that year. He went on to buy an Alfa Romeo Monza and in 1934 won not only hillclimbs but also the Norwegian and Swedish ice races and showed well at AVUS and in the Eifelrennen. Unfortunately he had a big accident on the Gabelbach hillclimb and broke his leg badly. The Auto Union team manager Willy Walb had been impressed however and when Pietsch had recovered he went for an Auto Union try-out at the Nurburgring, along with another youngster Bernd Rosemeyer. Pietsch was quicker.
Both men were hired as the junior drivers alongside Achille Varzi and Hans Stuck Sr. The Type B AutoUnion was by no means an easy car to drive but Rosemeyer quickly became the ascendant star while Pietsch seemed to struggle. At the end of the year Pietsch was dropped by the team. Pietsch returned to racing in the voiturette classes with Maseratis in 1937 and 1938. In 1939 he was entrusted with one of the 3-litre Grand Prix Maseratis, causing consternation amongst Nazi officials by leading the silver cars in the German GP at the Nurburgring. In the end however he spun twice and lost time in the pits and so finished third.
The war robbed Pietsch of what would have been his greatest years as a racing driver but he raced again in the post-war years, campaigning Alfa Romeos. He was still racing when the World Championship began in 1950 and made his F1 debut at the age of 40 in the 1950 Italian GP. His last GP was the German GP in 1952.
Later he founded the highly-respected “Auto Motor und Sport” magazine in Stuttgart.
From the death of his countryman Karl Kling in 2003 until his own death, Pietsch was the oldest surviving Formula One driver, and the last surviving driver of pre-war GP era.
On 31 May 2012, Pietsch died from pneumonia at the age of 100 years, 11 months and 11 days. Pietsch was also the first Grand Prix driver to reach the age of 100.
Paul Pietsch – Auto Union, Motor und Sport – from 
