Stefan Lüscher: End of his last race
JOURNALIST AND RACE DRIVER Swiss racing has lost one of its defining personalities. Stefan Lüscher succumbed at the age of 69 to an illness that he endured with great bravery for many years. Stefan Lüscher was one of the best racing drivers in Swiss one-make cups in the 1970s and 80s. His sporting highlight was winning the Swiss Renault 5 Cup in the 1981 season. As co-driver [...]
Stefan Lüscher was one of the best racing drivers in Swiss one-make cups in the 1970s and 80s. The sporting highlight was winning the Swiss Renault 5 Cup in the 1981 season. Lüscher also later competed in numerous rallies as a co-driver for Marc Hopf, with whom he worked at Auto-Illustrierte.
Editor in chief and book author
From 1997 to 2010, Stefan Lüscher was editor-in-chief of AI. But he made a name for himself in the racing scene in other ways. As a journalist and freelancer for various newspapers and magazines for which the Basel-born journalist reported on automotive sports, he acquired a great deal of expertise.
In a spontaneous idea, this led him to publish the "Rennsport Schweiz Yearbook" in 1984 in collaboration with rally co-driver Raini Sicher, a friend of his, from Repof AG in Gurtnellen. This resulted in a unique series of books, which over time became indispensable. Since 1995, this indispensable reference work for every Swiss motorsport fan has been published by the sports enthusiast former National Councilor Edi Engelberger in his Aktiv publishing house in Stans.
Insidious disease
Although Stefan Lüscher continued to race sporadically for years as a roving reporter, his most difficult race was yet to come. Lüscher contracted ALS in the second decade of the 2000s, when he was working as a freelance journalist. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a chronically progressive disease of the central and peripheral nervous system.
Mentally still fully awake, this disease confined him to a wheelchair for the last few years. Lovingly cared for by his wife Philomène, who accompanied Stefan to the race courses in the early days of his career, he endured ALS with admirable bravery. Although Lüscher handed over the overall management and responsibility for the yearbook with the 2015 edition to his longtime journalist colleague and co-author Peter Wyss, he made sure to continue his efforts behind the scenes.
Book vernissage as the highlight of each year
Together with Philomène, Stefan took care of the acquisition of the indispensable advertisements, without which the yearbook could not cover its costs. Every acceptance was a victory and a recognition, every rejection a disappointment.
The appearance at the vernissage each December, surrounded by many Swiss racers and companions, was like an early Christmas for him. So also on December 19, 2019 in Seelisberg, where many saw him for the last time and felt his joy in being together.
Rest in peace
In the night of April 18, Stefan Lüscher passed away peacefully at the age of 70 in his beautiful house in Uetliburg, whose ambiance gave him much strength until the end.
The publishers and editors of AutoSprintCH extend their sincere condolences to his wife Philomène and all his relatives.
