{"id":460292,"date":"2004-09-01T19:00:16","date_gmt":"2004-09-02T02:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=97700"},"modified":"2024-12-02T19:48:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T19:48:42","slug":"absent-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/absent-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"French Grand Prix (1945) &#8211; Absent Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tears streamed down a thousand faces in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris on September 9, 1945. Tears for the absent French men and women who had been murdered by the Nazis. Tears for the torture, deprivation and humiliation the living had suffered under the cruel subjugation of the Third Reich\u2019s forces of occupation. Tears of joy that the start of a motor race marked a certain return to normalcy for a war torn people. Tears of a joy that the start of a motor race might mark a certain return to normalcy.<\/h4>\n<figure id=\"attachment_690838\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-690838\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-690838\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p3-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p3-71x100.jpg 71w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p3-293x410.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-690838\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Benoist<\/p>\n<p>Photo: Courtesy of William Mearns<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_690837\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-690837\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-690837\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p2-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p2-71x100.jpg 71w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p2-293x410.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-690837\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jean-Pierre Wimille<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tears streamed down a thousand faces in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris on September 9, 1945. Tears for the absent French men and women who had been murdered by the Nazis. Tears for the torture, deprivation and humiliation the living had suffered under the cruel subjugation of the Third Reich\u2019s forces of occupation. Tears of joy that the start of a motor race marked a certain return to normalcy for a war torn people. Tears of a joy that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":690836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,3766,11272,261,16918,18207],"tags":[11349,11351,17140,548,11306,11454,17143],"class_list":["post-460292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-history","category-members-only","category-motorsport-racing","category-races","category-special-feature","tag-gp-history","tag-motorsport-history","tag-members-only","tag-motorsport","tag-jean-pierre-wimille","tag-robert-benoist","tag-special-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>French Grand Prix (1945) - Absent Friends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Newman tells the compelling story of three racers turned French resistance fighters\u2014Benoist, Wimille and Grover-Williams\u2014and how the first postwar European road race came to tragically honor two of them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/absent-friends\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/absent-friends\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"French Grand Prix (1945) - Absent Friends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Newman tells the compelling story of three racers turned French resistance fighters\u2014Benoist, Wimille and Grover-Williams\u2014and how the first postwar European road race came to tragically honor two of them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/absent-friends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-09-02T02:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-02T19:48:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/09\/FEA200409-p1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Newman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robert Newman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"21 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/absent-friends\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/absent-friends\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robert Newman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a6bb7003c06481e9ed650a2b44c3e3c3\"},\"headline\":\"French Grand Prix (1945) &#8211; Absent Friends\",\"datePublished\":\"2004-09-02T02:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-02T19:48:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/absent-friends\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3752,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/absent-friends\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2004\\\/09\\\/FEA200409-p1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"History (Grand Prix)\",\"History (Motorsports &amp; Racing)\",\"Members Only\",\"Motorsport &amp; Racing\",\"People (Jean-Pierre Wimille)\",\"People (Robert Benoist)\",\"Special Feature\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Car Culture\",\"History\",\"Members Only\",\"Motorsport &amp; Racing\",\"Race Recap\",\"Special Feature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/absent-friends\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/absent-friends\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/absent-friends\\\/\",\"name\":\"French Grand Prix (1945) - 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