Moonlight Mischief

The icy bob run at Garmisch-Partenkirchen had been touched up with snow to slow the sleds down to almost sane speeds. But World Champion Bobsledder Eugenio Monti, 30, was in no mood for safety. Only the fact that he had drawn a late starting number for the two-man trials helped him hold on to his hair-trigger temper. Earlier sleds swept the run clean, and Eugenio and his brakeman Renzo Alvera slicked down the one-mile groove in the record-breaking time of 1:14.28.

His two-man title safe for another season, Eugenio was still not satisfied. Last week more snow was shoveled onto the bob run before the four-man sleds started their breakneck slides, and Eugenic drew No. i starting position. This meant that there would be no front runners to pack the course. So Eugenio. a hotelkeeper's son from Dobbiaco in the Dolomites, decided on direct action. The night before the four-man competition started, he collected four shovels, rounded up his teammates and drove to the bob run.

Finding an empty car near the run, a night watchman called the cops, and after a long, moonlit search, the investigators found Monti and his men shoveling snow off the sled track as busily as neighbors clearing a driveway. Nonplused at having nabbed a world champion, the cops collected the shovels and made a report to the Bob-Wart (track steward). Next morning, with the backing of the Italian Bobsled Association, the steward and his Championship Jury disqualified Shoveler Monti's sled.

The snow was replaced, and two German sleds made slow, comfortable runs to finish in first and second place for the four-man title. Unchastened Eugenio Monti sneered at the four-run time total of 4:49.33 and announced: "All I wanted was a fast run." Then, as a Garmisch gamin pranced behind him in an elaborate pantomime of shoveling, he added: "This is the last time I will race here."

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