![]() LISTEN: Jochen Rindt remembered – by Helmut Marko, Jackie Stewart and Bernie Ecclestone When Juan Manuel Fangio was buried in Balcarce in 1995, Jackie moved heaven and earth to ensure that he and Stirling Moss were present, though the journey involved trials and tribulations that would have daunted a less principled fellow. He has always had the self-assurance to leave it to others draw their own conclusions about their respective merits. But after Surtees and Clark retired, the 76-lap race came down to a straight fight between the BRM team mates.Īnother thing is that he has never fallen into the trap of trying to suggest that he might have been better than Jimmy, whose record of 25 Grand Prix victories he bettered by two in 1973. In total there were 40 changes of lead between Graham, Jim Clark, John Surtees and Jackie. In his rookie season of F1 in 1965 he scored his first World Championship win at Monza in the Italian GP, narrowly pipping Graham Hill. One story in particular reflects his ethics. READ MORE: F1’s Best Drives #1 – Stewart conquers The Green Hell His record of 27 victories from 99 starts is testament to his stature, together with his three World Championships and countless wins in other racing categories, and all of them were achieved without the need to push any other driver off the circuit or to behave in anything other than an honourable manner. Without his unflinching determination the sport might never have progressed from the senseless risk-taking of the pre-Armco days to the multi-billion enterprise it is today, and there would have been many more drivers who would not otherwise have survived. Without doubt he invested more than he got in return, as that crusade via the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association after his crash in Belgium in 1966 triggered wholesale change at a time when dignitaries of the sport once reacted to his request to have a dangerous tree removed before somebody hit it and was killed, with the crass comment: “If Stewart wants the trees cut down, he knows where the saws are.” He spoke once of the time when he and his wife Helen counted up all the friends it had taken from them, and stopped when they got beyond 50. In terms of material reward the sport has, rightly, smiled on Jackie, but it also exacted a high price. ![]() WATCH: From his first win to a Nurburgring masterclass – 10 moments of Jackie Stewart brilliance Today, they know how lucky they were to survive such a dangerous era, each on his own terms. They hugged warmly and laughed about old memories, even though Jacky’s fatalism in his racing days had never sat any better with JYS than JYS’s safety crusade had sat with him. And I warmly remember the May day, 41 years after a photograph of him driving a BRM H16 at Silverstone in 1967 had triggered my love affair with F1 as a boy, when I sat between them over lunch at Jackie’s house to discuss their memories of Jochen Rindt for a book I was writing.įor fleeting moments I remembered what it was like to be a teenager again… While I was speaking with Emerson about Jochen, one of Jackie’s grandchildren came in and proffered pen and paper for an autograph.Įmerson immediately obliged, and asked if he had his grandfather’s autograph too, “because he was a much better driver than me.” The boy’s what-are-you-talking-about expression was a picture.Įmerson’s words spoke volumes for the regard in which he is still held, as did Jackie’s greeting of another old rival, Jacky Ickx, in Abu Dhabi last year. Together with old rival and friend Emerson Fittipaldi he is always a welcome addition to the paddock. Today, just turned 84, he still attends many races as an ambassador for Heineken and Rolex among others, characterised by his habitual and good-natured mickey-taking with journalist friends, and that endearing Spring-heeled Jack walk that is so nearly as jaunty as it was in his heyday behind the wheel. BEYOND THE GRID: Sir Jackie Stewart on surviving and thriving in F1’s most ferocious era ![]()
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