When it’s not always best to be traveling by Small
plane…
Of my short list of drivers to fall into this
ghoulish category, obviously the most famous is Graham Hill. For which I’d
forgotten that this November will be the 50th Anniversary of His death. As Hill
and five others perished on November 29, 1975.
Hill was a two-times Formula 1 World champion,
(1962, 1968) winner of the 1966
Indianapolis 500 as a rookie. And won the
1972 24 Heurs du Mans along with five Monaco Grands Prix. And is still the only
winner of the mythical Triple Crown, i.e.; Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Le
Mans and Monaco Grand Prix, that surely Frederico Suave has now given up upon,
ci?
Hill won 14 races and 13 poles between 1958 and
1975, then setting the endurance mark for most Grands Prix starts at 176,
before Jacques Laffite tied Him eleven years, two months and two days later at
the 1986 British Grand Prix. While Fernando Alonso made His momentous 400th
Grands Prix start last December at Qatar, and has longs since doubled Hill and
Laffite’s accomplishment…
http://www.nofenders.net/2024/12/f1-alonso-officially-starts-his-400th.html
I’ll freely admit that I’d forgotten the name
of the other Formula 1 driver on that fateful flight. As 23yr old Tony Brise
was onboard, along with four other team members.
Briese was Hill’s protégé, having effectively
replaced Hill at His namesake’s F1 team Embassy Hill Racing, following Graham’s
retirement from Formula 1 after failing to qualify for the 1975 Monaco Grand
Prix. Making a total of ten Grands Prix starts over His short F1 career.
Brise had impressed in the unheard of MCB
International Formula Antlantic Championship in 1975. Winning six consecutive
races enroute to the title and thus catching the eye of sir Frank Williams.
Deputizing for the injured Jacques Laffite, Brise made His Formula 1 debut at
that year’s Spanish Grand Prix, finishing seventh. Yet perhaps it was an omen?
As the race saw the deaths of four spectators…
Returning from testing their 1976 F1 challenger,
the Hill GH2 racecar at Circuit Paul Ricard. With 46yr old Hill at the controls
of His six seater Aeroplane on a night flight in rapidly diminishing skies, as
the London Fog got thicker ‘n thicker. Hill most likely misjudged the Elstree
Airfield in the fog. First grazing a tall tree at the nearby Golf course upon
approach with the Aztec’s landing gear and flaps deployed. Before hitting
further trees. With the plane then rolling right before it’s wingtip dug int
the ground and the plane erupted into fire, killing all six persons
immediately!
As Hill, Brise, Embassy Hill team manager Ray
Brimble, Designer Andy Smallman and mechanics Tony Alcock and Terry Richards
perished aboard the twin engine Piper PA-23 Aztec on a night when Hill should
have diverted to His secondary airfield for landing. As a previous airplane had
aborted three attempts of landing at Elstree Three hours earlier, when unable
to either see the field’s lights or spotting them too late upon approach due to
the thick fog…
The only driver on this short list to have a
racing circuit named in His honour is the unheralded Jose Carlos Pace, a “One
Hit” wonder. Having won His Home Grand Prix in 1975 in Sao Paolo at Interlagos,
better known today as Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace. Formerly known as the
Autodromo de Interlagos, site of the Brazilian Grand Prix, beginning in 1972.
And known as the Sao Paolo Grand Prix since 2021.
Carlos began His F1 career driving for Frank
Williams, making His debut at the 1972 South African Grand Prix. Then switched
to Surtees between 1973, to Mid-season 1974, before falling out with John
Surtees.
After driving a privateer Goldie Hexagon Racing
Brabham entry in France, Carlos switched to the Brabham team for the remainder
of His F1 career. Winning the Brazilian Grand Prix in ’75, when He and teammate
Carlos Reutemann regularly featured up front. Leading Brabham to second in the
Formula 1 constructors Championship behind the wheel of the BT44 Ford-Cosworth
DFV V-8.
Yet the following season, Brabham’s fortunes
dipped when switching to the heavier Alfa Romeo Flat 12 lumps’ that team owner
Bernie Ecclestone had secured. Before improvement shone with the new V-12
units, along with Carlos new teammate John Watson before catastrophe struck.
A native of Sao Paolo, Pace died in a light
plane accident in March, 1977 at Age 32, leaving behind a wife and two
children…
Like most drivers of the day, Pace also raced
in Sports Cars. Most notably finishing runner-up in the 1973 24 Heurs du Mans
driving a Werks’ Scuderia Ferrari 312PB with Arturo Merzario.
The final two members of my short list hail
from IndyCar’s Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era. And Diehard IndyCar
Aficionados will know who they are…
Al Holbert is seemingly more synonymous with
His Sports Car career vs. Open wheel Racing. Having won five IMSA GT
Championships along with being one of nine Triple Crown Endurance race winners,
i.e.; Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans.
Having previously
scribbled about Messer Holbert’s exploits in my No Fenders five-part Le Mans
Triple Crown saga…
http://www.nofenders.net/2023/10/le-mans-triple-crown-winners-part-3.html
Yet I tend to forget that Holbert ran a single
season in CART during 1984 for Alex Morales Motorsports in an March/Cosworth
chassis. Claiming three top tens, and two top fives; including a career best
fourth place finish at that year’s Indianapolis 500, finishing ahead of fellow
rookie Michael Andretti…
In September, 1988, sadly upon takeoff from
nearby Columbus, Ohio, a clamshell door that wasn’t closed caused Holbert’s
Piper PA-60 Aerostar to crash. Fatally killing Al Holbert then just age 41.
Tony Bettenhausen Jr. surely lived under the
shadow of His Father, like All Bettenhausen’s did, Righto? Especially with
Pops’ or Senior being a two-times National Champion and winner of 21 races.
Thought that Tony Lee Bettenhausen Jr. had
contested far more than the 103 IndyCar races over His driving career between
1979 to 1993. Capping His driving career at that year’s Indianapolis 500,
finishing P22 in a Penske PC22/Chevrolet.
And like I’ve typed before, Tony’s remembered
more to Mwah as a CART team owner with those sharp looking Alumax year old
Penske chassis…
Sadly, on Valentines Day 2000, Tony, with wife
Shirley and businessmen Russ Roberts and Larry Rangel died in a small plane
crash in Harrison County, Kentucky, enroute to Indianapolis after attending CART
Spring Training at Homestead, Florida.
As here’s a long
ago No Fenders yarn I scribbled’ about the Bettenhausen’s and Vukovich’s…
http://www.nofenders.net/2011/05/retro-bettenhausens-n-vukovichs-unsung.html
