Kurt Hitke

Hitke was born in Audigast, a village near Groitzsch in the Kingdom of Saxony, at that time part of the German Empire. He immigrated to the United States in 1911, and by the time of the First World War had declared his intentions to obtain American citizenship. In addition to his driving abilities, Hitke was an outstanding automobile mechanic and is credited with inventing the first straight eight motor, which was later used very successfully by the Packard Motor Company and others. His interest was largely in racing automobiles and both the Roamer and the Kenilworth, which he designed, were considered outstanding during the early 1920s.^[1]

A naturalised American by the time of his racing days, Hitke later ran an insurance company in Illinois.^[2]