I’m sad to report that long time Ontario Porsche racer Fritz Hochreuter on Friday evening. A member of the Deutscher Automobil Club in Toronto, Hochreuter was well known in racing circles far beyond the Ontario racing scene.
From the Sixties through to the Eighties, Hochreuter was a regular competitor in endurance racing at Sebring and Daytona, also competing in the Trans Am series. Most often, he co-drove the long distance events with other Canadians Rudy Bartling and Rainer Brezinka. Hochreuter was also known to build rather impressive Porsche racing engines.
Like many local gearheads, I recall his red 911 RSR being at most CASC regional races I attended at Mosport in the late Eighties and early Nineties. One weekend when he had unloaded his trailer next to ours in the paddock, he rolled the beast out of the trailer by himself and fired it up. For one reason or another, it seemed hard to start and when it finally caught, the flat 6 was barely idling and backfired terribly every time he blipped the throttle. Hochreuter lifted the hood and mucked about for a while when we heard him exclaim “Fucking Webers”. Moments later he asked us to help push the car back into the trailer. That was Saturday morning and the car did not appear on track that weekend.
His wishes were to be cremated, with no memorial services.
The photo above was shot during the 1988 IMSA GTU race at Sebring by Mark Windecker.
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Fritz Hochreuter was one of the smoothest and most lovely persons I knew. He was precise in doing his job and he was very discreet. He didn’t like much attention on his person. He held the contact to old friends in Germany since the mid 1950ies when he emigrated to Canada and in earlier years he visited the village where he was born regularily. He was a fine person. Unfortunately in his last years he often was lonely after ending his racing career. In the last years he had some trouble making health problems but he could stand up again. He died suddenly in this home where he has lived in the last 30 years. There was a ceremonial service in Toronto with about 150 persons. They talked about her life with him, his friendlyness, his helpful attitude and this always peaceful character. The world lost a fine person with Fritz Hochreuter.