A friend saw this story about the Tour de France and speculates that Johnny Spirit may have a German uncle:
...
Didi is Deiter Senft, a 56-year old German who modeled himself as "El Diablo" after hearing of an archaic cycling term used by television announcers:
"They always called the final kilometre of a criterium [stage] the red devil's lap. I never saw a red devil, so I became one."
(The only time the phrase "red devil's lap" appears in the Lexis-Nexis perdiocials database is when it's used to reference to Didi's story, so take that for what it's worth.)
via a323.yahoofs.com