Also, "Any Old Port in a Storm" - Adrian Carsini drives his brother's sports car to the scuba diving site, but Ric was already dead before he dropped him in the ocean. Later, Carsini refers to his brother's "auto racing, skydiving...". No race car crashes, however.

Dear J & J,

thank you very much for your detailed explanations with all Columbo episodes involving car crashes. Some people obviously talk through their hats, or at least confuse series and scenario.

For your information, Jean Graton has his racing driver hero Michel Vaillant solve precisely such a sabotage in "The Half-inch Spanner" (not translated), a comic short story first published in Tintin (F) = Kuifje (NL) magazine in Belgium on Nov. 19th, 1958 -a month before I was born. The criminal was so stupid as to forget "La clé de 12"[mm] on the garage floor.

The story may well have inspired a film director later -or could it be reverse?-, but obviously not with Columbo.

Yours,
Peter Denimal
English teacher at Université de Lille and
former Group 2 rally team local manager RAC rally 1980-82

PS: contacts and enquiries welcome.

Peter,

You are quite welcome. I think a Columbo episode featuring a race car driver would have been enormous fun. Columbo puttering about in the pits, interrupting the mechanics and drivers while sniffing about for clues. Driving his Peugot onto a race track to see the suspect/murderer and getting in the way of the race cars. Some delicious possibilities. He would probably show up to arrest the driver while he was on the starting line of the next race! Alas, this episode was never made.

I'm guessing your experience in auto racing would peak your interest in such an episode.

Funny enough, there is such an episode in Poker Face, Season 1, Episode 7, The Future of the Sport! This series is often compared to Columbo, because it follows the same "Murder first HowCatchUm" format.