Drivers who stood up to be counted

[nicanary]

I've always been a bit sentimental about drivers who stepped up to the plate when their team was in trouble and performed above and beyond the call of duty.I'd be interested to hear your thought but here's my starter pack:

1)Graham Hill 1968 - Chunky was in bits and the team were despondent but Graham was his usual no-nonsense self and virtually carried them to the title. Nobody in the paddock begrudged him that.

2)Denny Hulme 1970 - Bruce had just been killed and then Denny got burned badly at Indy. He turned up at the next GP with flesh sticking to his gloves and blood seeping through - he never said a word.Tough man.

3)Ivor Bueb,Le mans 1955 - a journeyman driver proven at National level in 500s and small sportscars,he'd never driven a Jag,never driven at Le mans,never done a long-distance race etc etc.and had to witness that(!).As far as I know he jumped in and did a double stint whilst Lofty England exercised his management skills and Mike Hawthorn exorcised his demons.Kudos.

you must have a pile more of such heroes.I don't count Niki Lauda at Fuji1976 - that was a different sort of courage.

[ensign14]

Jimmy Caruthers. Saw his team-mate killed at Indianapolis in 1973, and was the next car out to qualify; ran his four fastest laps at Indy.

Then won the sprint car championship in 1975. Didn't live to pick up the trophy, the cancer with which he was racing proved too fatal.

And all this taking place after his brother was killed racing...

[sublimao]

I would not forget:
A) Senna with his Mclaren powered by Ford.
B) Indy 2011 winner Dan Weldon
C) AJ Foyt at his first winning 24 HRS Daytona fasted on wet.

[Down F0rce]

Damon Hill at Williams in 1994...

[nicanary]

Nice one Down Force - in those days he wasn't the world's top ace but he buckled down to it really well and impressed a lot of people - must have rubbed off from his dad.

His greatest moment was surely winning in Japan to ensure the title.There were some who thought he might bottle it.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by sublimao

I would not forget:
A) Senna with his Mclaren powered by Ford.
B) Indy 2011 winner Dan Weldon
C) AJ Foyt at his first winning 24 HRS Daytona fasted on wet.

I wouldn't agree with Senna in the context of what I understand this thread to be where a driver galvanised a team by picking them up. He nearly didn't start the season was on a race by race contract at his own behest so that didn't really show a commitment to the team. He clearly wanted to be at Williams but couldn't cos Prost veto'd him. While Senna was of course brilliant in 93, he wasn't doing it for the team. Just my opinion.


Mario Andretti at Monza 82 would be a good example after what Ferrari went through that year. He came back and stuck the thing on pole, really lifting the spirits of the team and fans at their spritual home.

The Hill example in 94 is good one and one that stuck in my mind at the time. He struggled at first but then really grew into the team leader role and should have wont he title if the powers that be had a bit more balls.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by nicanary

Nice one Down Force - in those days he wasn't the world's top ace but he buckled down to it really well and impressed a lot of people - must have rubbed off from his dad.

His greatest moment was surely winning in Japan to ensure the title.There were some who thought he might bottle it.

Wrong year tough he did win a soaking wet Japanese race brilliantly that year to keep the title race alive to Australia. That was still his best drive however. His title winning Japanese win was in 96.

[nicanary]

Yup- I did know but just didn't explain myself properly.

I'm a 50s fan, REAL racing when the skills required were so different.How about Luigi Musso at Monzanapolis 1958 - The Yanks no doubt thought they would again get their own way. Fangio did it for the money,Stirling because he just loved to drive anything,anywhere,anytime.Musso did it for Italy,for pride and passion in what must have been a pig of a car(though not as bad as Stirling's bitsa).He really shocked the Yanks in my opinion and made them think twice about the Europeans - cohones

[AGD]

Originally Posted by ensign14

Jimmy Caruthers. Saw his team-mate killed at Indianapolis in 1973, and was the next car out to qualify; ran his four fastest laps at Indy.

If you go with 1973, I think you would have to mention Gordon Johncock. Of course, May 1973 may be the most forgettable month of May at Indianapolis with the death of Art Pollard, the big crash with Salt Walther at one of the attempted starts, and of course the nearly constant rain.

The worst luck may have befallen the Pat Patrick Racing team. They had 3 cars in the race I believe, #20 of Johncock, #40 of Swede Savage, and the #60 of Graham McRae. Savage was having a good race and looked like a real contender for the win until he had a very, very bad crash near the pit entry with the car full of fuel. It was an ugly scene and one of the pit crew members of the #60 team car, Armando Teran, tried to run to the crash site to help Savage, but he was run over by a rescue vehicle driving to the crash scene at a high rate of speed and was killed instantly. Savage survived the crash, but he died several days later after complications. I'm not sure how much the rest of the team was thinking about going for the win after all of that, but Johncock managed to win the race for Patrick Racing after the inevitable rain came and ended perhaps the darkest chapter in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

Johncock's win in 1982 for Patrick Racing probably has to be considered as well. Pat Patrick was convinced that they were robbed of the 1981 Indy 500 victory with Mario Andretti after the Bobby Unser USAC fiasco. It was a total mess and Pat Patrick, who had not won Indy since Johncock's rather forgettable 1973 win, had to have been totally cheesed at Roger Penske's politicking of USAC to overturn the 1981 results so that Unser could win. Penske was a big favorite to win in 1982 with their cars starting 1-2, but then the famous "Coogan" crash occurred and took Mario Andretti's Patrick Racing car out even before the race started. Mears dominated the race, but Johncock stuck around and a pit miscue by Mears' team (they put more fuel in the car than was needed and that cost them a lot of time) put Johncock in the lead late. Mears was seriously faster and caught Johncock in the last couple of laps, but he could not get by and Johncock and Pat Patrick finally had a win that they could celebrate. On top of that, they basically stole the race from Roger Penske. That had to be sweet.

Speaking of Penske, perhaps Al Unser's 1987 Indy 500 win has to count up there too. It wasn't a good month of May for Penske's usually dominant bunch. Penske had returned to using in-house chassis throughout the team after running Marches before and the new cars weren't so good. Penske ate the humble pie and dumped the in-house cars for year old Marches (don't ask me what took Roger so long to eat the humble pie in 1995, but that's a different story). On top of that, that was the first year of widespread use of the Ilmor (Chevrolet) engines that Penske was involved in. The Ilmor powered Marches for regular Penske drivers Sullivan and Mears proved to not be reliable during the race.

Penske had released Big Al during the off-season despite winning the CART Championship in 1985 for Penske and being the test pilot for the Penske-Ilmor combo in 1986. Roger had a deal to run Danny Ongais in a 3rd Penske car, but Ongais had a practice crash and injured himself. Roger decided to bring back Big Al, who was still unsigned, and put him in an old March with a Cosworth DFX engine. I think the car was a show car in a hotel lobby somewhere before getting pressed into racing action. Anyway, that was the race where Mario Andretti dominated until his car failed late and Roberto Guerrero had his clutch problems. Big Al won the race in improbable style and joined the 4 time winner's club. It was one of the most captivating stories in Indianapolis 500 history and it happened with a driver Penske had just fired basically and smartly picked back up at the last second. The win also covered up the fact that Penske's new car and engines were not ready for primetime. Everybody forgot about that and marveled about how Roger won Indianapolis again, but this time with an old chassis, an old engine, and an old driver. By 1988, Roger's chassis and engines were ready to kick butt.

Ok, sorry for the long post. I'm sure most of you are familiar with these stories, but I think they fit the criteria of the OP.

[ensign14]

According to Dr Olvey's book it wasn't complications that killed Savage, but tainted plasma...

The Foyt at Daytona in 1983 is a bit of a fraud. Preston Henn put him in the car during a pacecar period for publicity purposes. Made Bob Wollek, who had done all the hard work, mad as a skunk on heat. Foyt only had 2 hours but all the media were around him. They patched it up enough to win together in 1985 though.

[ensign14]

Another one while I'm at it: Andre Boillot, a one-hit wonder, but what a hit, the 1919 Targa in a Peugeot that he'd wrecked on the final corner. Crossed the line twice to make sure. "C'est pour la France!"

[AGD]

I can't believe I forget this when reminiscing about old Indy 500s, but what about Bobby Rahal winning the 1986 Indy 500 when car owner Jim Trueman was seriously ill and just days away from succumbing to cancer? Of course, Rahal barely won that race after having an intense battle with Kevin Cogan (in a Patrick car) and Mears in his Penske March. Rahal picked off Cogan on a very late restart and took the win and two consecutive CART championships for Truesports after that as well.

[chunterer]

Just a couple of thoughts from 'my time'

Tambay 1982, post Gilles. An enormous task stepping into the great little mans shoes in such a tumultuous time.

The Alan Docking F3 team, and particularly Elton Julian who returned to Thruxton a month after Marcel Albers tragic death in 1992 and won.

[formerf1champ]

- As far as Al Snr is concerned, considering the history of Menards, I would be appreciative of 3rd place at '92 Indy.

- The '97 European GP is most remembered for Schumacher's dubious "racing tactics" and the fact it was a last race title decider. But I remember that being a pretty hot race and what isn't remembered is that, for the first 3/4 of it, JV and MS drove at an extemely high level under immense pressure, more than any other title decider I can remember.

Specifically, JV's move on Schu was pretty ballsy and took a lot of courage to execute. It's not like he was right under Schu's rear wing and it was at a circuit without genuine overtaking opportunities. May not fulfill the criteria fully, but certainly, JV stepped up that race and justified him as a worthy F1 champ.

- Begrudgingly, I'll nominate Eddie Irvine, for his 1999 season. Not that I want to get into an argument about it but, had Ferrari really wanted it, I think they could've picked off the '99 title. He did step up, the '99 Austrian GP win is similar to what Schu has a reputation of.


- In 1995, an earthquake in Kobe, Japan, destroyed or significantly damaged the Dunlop factory. This affected their supply to Dunlop-shod teams in the ATCC and the teams were forced to use tyres made from the factory in England. The ATCC tyres were not a priority for the England factory and the quality wasn't as good. To cut the long story short, John Bowe won the 1995 ATCC on Dunlop tyres when Bridgestone were the most favoured choice. Dick Johnson may've allowed Bowe to use his Japanese allocation, but it only lasted so long. John Bowe was, legitmately, for 12 months at least, was the best Australian racing driver.

[nicanary]

The posts are all good- especially Graz' about Mario in 1982.

He has always been one of my Top-Ten favourites- you can't help but love his enthusiasm for the sport.I reckon he'd do Le Mans this year if you asked him but no doubt Elf & Safety would say "too old".

Off-thread I know, but do you all remember Sebring 1970? I reckon that was the only time Mario "lost it" - I bet some of those amateurs in their MGs,Volvos and Fiat 124s were so shell-shocked afterwards they never raced again.

[Duff_44]

- Kevin Harvick in 2001, replacing Dale Earnhardt after his death. He won in his third race with the team, in a 'healing' moment for NASCAR.

- Tim Richmond in 1987, who missed the start of the 1987 NASCAR season with pneumonia, returned to the series later in the year and won his first two races back in his car before having to sit out again. In reality, Richmond had full-blown AIDS, and had arguably his two best seasons while fighting it.

- Johnny Herbert pulling yeoman's duty at the end of Le Mans in 1991 and missing out taking in the spoils of victory because of exhaustion.

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by Duff_44

- Kevin Harvick in 2001, replacing Dale Earnhardt after his death. He won in his third race with the team, in a 'healing' moment for NASCAR.

- Tim Richmond in 1987, who missed the start of the 1987 NASCAR season with pneumonia, returned to the series later in the year and won his first two races back in his car before having to sit out again. In reality, Richmond had full-blown AIDS, and had arguably his two best seasons while fighting it.

- Johnny Herbert pulling yeoman's duty at the end of Le Mans in 1991 and missing out taking in the spoils of victory because of exhaustion.

It was probably the noise- has there ever been a louder racing-car?

[SAMD]

Originally Posted by nicanary

It was probably the noise- has there ever been a louder racing-car?

I reckon I have a metro that was louder. You can probably hear it in Ards.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by formerf1champ

- As far as Al Snr is concerned, considering the history of Menards, I would be appreciative of 3rd place at '92 Indy.

The results don't show it, but Big Al had a phenomenal 1993 Indy 500 as well. He was driving for Kenny Bernstein's team that year and that was the year after Guerrero crashed on the pace laps after crushing the track record in qualifying. Kenny's NASCAR and Indycar programs were not having a ton of success at that time. Al had the flu and a high fever during that race, but came from no where to lead a number of laps (15 I think) and run towards the front of the pack. Granted, he was on an alternative fuel strategy than most of the leaders, but he still ran some good times. I think he may have missed his pit towards the end of the race and that may have cost him some time. Also, I think his car may have been overheating. It's been a while so I don't remember all the details, but it was a great race all things considered and it had to be a big boost to the team to run up front after such a dismal period.

Although finishing the race (especially near the top of the grid) was a rare feat for Menard's during the stock block era (Luyendyk did it once too in 1995), that 1992 race had so many laps under caution that it probably helped the reliability of that engine a lot. Still, he had a great race that day and he had to be over the moon after the race about his performance and what Little Al did. I'm sure Big Al was glad that he raced at Indy again in 1992 and 1993 so he did not have to end his career with his last Indy memory involving the giant tub of crap that was the March-Alfa!

Originally Posted by nicanary

It was probably the noise- has there ever been a louder racing-car?

Didn't Volker Weidler develop ear problems shortly after driving the Mazda? I wonder if the two are related.

[nicanary]

I've just thought of someone who would also interest our threaders in the States - he didn't stand up to be counted as such, but NOT to be counted.

Ed Hugus Le Mans 1965!

I'm sure most readers will know the story,but I noticed today that Janos Wimpffen has listed him as a winning driver in the tome of results.I always thought the whole point was that the drive was a bit of a "non-subject".

Nontheless he did what was asked of him and as far as I am aware he wasn't responsible for the eventual "leak".Respect.

[D-Type]

I don't know how many people do know the story - I don't know it all. As I understand it, in the early hours of the morning it rained heavily and Masten Gregory found he could not see as both his glasses and his visor were misting up so he pulled into the pits. Jochen Rindt could not be found, so Ed Hugus who was the team's nominated reserve driver jumped into the car. So far so good, but now it gets complicated. The regulations about relief drivers at the time stated that when a relief driver was used, the driver he had replaced should not drive the car again. I'm not certain whether it meant Gregory or Rindt in this case. Anyway, both Gregory and Rindt subsequently drove the car although one of them should not have done so. Hence had the authorities known that Hugus had driven the car they would have had to disqualify it. But no team protested, the ACO didn't know and the victory stood.

I'd be grateful if anyone who knows the full story can correct what I've written.

[nicanary]

Me too.It's one of those fascinating stories that make the sport more interesting.

Ed Hugus was definitely the nominated reserve, but surprisingly he is shown as a joint winner in "Time and two seats" - maybe it was a typo by Janos or he thought the guy should be properly honoured.

Some accounts say Ed put on Jochen's helmet to fool the ACO officials.Whatever, they didn't twig. The Wimpffen book has a photo of a gendarme supposedly encouraging Ed to get up on the rostrum to accept the plaudits - if so, then HE must have known.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by AGD

I can't believe I forget this when reminiscing about old Indy 500s, but what about Bobby Rahal winning the 1986 Indy 500 when car owner Jim Trueman was seriously ill and just days away from succumbing to cancer? Of course, Rahal barely won that race after having an intense battle with Kevin Cogan (in a Patrick car) and Mears in his Penske March. Rahal picked off Cogan on a very late restart and took the win and two consecutive CART championships for Truesports after that as well.

Also - Justin Wilson win at Detroit 2008 for Newman Haas, a few weeks before Paul Newman's death. I think it was Newman Haas last win in IndyCar too.

[chunterer]

On that note I would venture that any of the CART drivers who continued during the Fontana 500 in October 1999 were also made of stern stuff?

[formerf1champ]

Were the drivers aware of Moore's death during the race? I don't think they were.