This large, domineering man invented the job of motor racing team manager and in doing so changed the way the sport was run forever. Believe it or not, racing drivers of the 1920s used to thrash around circuits for hours on end without ever knowing their position or even whether they had won. So Neubauer worked out a system of signals using red and black flags, a blackboard and chalk to keep them posted.
He used his system for the first time at the Solitude circuit near Stuttgart in September 1926: there, to the spectators’ amazement, the seriously overweight Rennleiter pranced about in front of the Mercedes-Benz pits, energetically waving his flags and holding out his blackboards to the roaring cars.
