Club Arnage

I was having the usual hassle and aggro at work when someone said 'thats your namesake over there, have you heard of him?'

Heard of him? I've only read everything I can get about that race and the 917's... thats all!

A nice bloke, I had about 1000 questions to ask but settled for an autograph.

Made my day.

Dickie

Funny thing is, I doubt if anyone who is real historian of the sport regards his 1970 Le Mans win as his finest drive by a long shot.  Most think his greatest drive without question was his drive to second place in the BRM in the 1968 Monaco GP. BRM like Lotus were rocked to the core by the loss of drivers central to their teams, The death of Mike Spence at Indy devastating Tony Rudd & BRM.  From what I've heard from Mr. Attwood most of his recollections of Le Mans 1970 are of being sick as a dog with the mumps. Le Mans 1970 was also probably one of the biggest flops in the history of the race.  Almost all of the top contenders from Ferrari and Porsche, in a race that promised such a great duel, either crashed in the storms or broke down.  The slowest 917 in the field won.
John

Maybe so, but to quote the old motor racing saying - "to finish first, first you have to finish"..........

"to finish first, first you have to finish"..........Ah yes, but as good trivia question, who's quote is that?
John

Good q fax,
It would be cheating to Google, and I don't know, soooo...

It sums up Alain Prosts racing philosophy, and the French do like a philosopher, but I don't think it was the proffeseur. To me it sounds like it came from your side of the water, where sound-bites rule, that would put it on the very quotable doorstep of Mario, so that's where my money's going.
H

Hi H,
Good call with Mario, close but not quite.  Actually it came from one of his long-time employers.
John

Wotcher Fax,

Colin Chapman!!?
In which case I'm back and forth across the Atlantic like a fiddlers elbow...
I was interested to read last week (from, I think, a retired barrister/lawyer) that if Chapman hadn't keeled over and gone to the great washer collector in the sky, he would have gone down for at least 10 years for his involvement in the 'De Lorean Affair'

I still occasionally see one on the road, they must be a nightmare to keep running, I believe the spares shelves are somewhat less than full.
H

Talking of sharing names with famous people and with mainstream TV being a bit higher profile than sportscar racing legends (sadly), I get frequent pauses whenever I give my full name (Richard Wilson) over the phone for any reason to anyone who doesn't know me .. you can almost hear them wondering whether to spout "I doon't belieeeeve it" !!!  :D

Hi H,
Close again.  It was Roger Penske.  The Captain and his lads will be chasing an absolutely ridiculous fourth consecutive
Indianapolis 500 title at the end of the month.  I think he made that remark sometime in the early seventies during his days with Mark Donohue.  I had also heard that about Chapman, he was in some pretty deep sh*t over the DeLorean debacle.  I think some of his associates ended up doing some time and he would have almost certainly have as well.
John

The more I hear about Colin Chapman, the more convinced I become that he's still around somewhere.

Dickie

Dickie,
I too, am convinced he's still around somewhere. It's just that his current state is where we, or at least the conspiracy theorists may disagree. He may be tuning heads with Lord Lucan somewhere in the tropics, or he may be turning into tulip heads somewhere in Essex.
I'm sure I saw him at the shampoo bar last year, and I believe Andy Zarse saw him getting stuck into a kebab in Crawley one recent Saturday night.
It's just like Ernie and his ghostly gold tops...
H

I thought he was hanging out in Vegas with Elvis and Jim Morrison.
Fax

Oh God no H.  Why did you have to drag up that revolting spectacle?    :-X