Watkins Glen when Francois Cevert was killed in final qualifying. 32 years ago,

[Lee Shumosic]

I found this thread interesting....esspecially the vintage (for me) links to the "bog" . I have a great appreciation for the events and people that dreamed and worked to make the sport what is ours today...

http://specracer.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2059

[Al Craighead]

Hey Lee,

Thanks for the link. I was at that race with my dad and his race team at the time as spectators. While I don't remember much, I was 3, I do remember everyone being very depressed around the camp fire and supposedly it was discussed wether to go home or not. For my dad it and Villeneuve's death the two saddest days in racing. Fortuntely I have fonder memories of the Glen from other trips, including spending one race in the Williams pits, after Alan Jones bumped me with his road car.

Cheers,

[Brian Graham]

Al, I thought you were dropped on your head as a baby! Being hit by Alan Jones is definetly a better excuse! Brian.

[Michael Rand]

OK, Al was 3. I wasn't. I was in my March 73B on the falsegrid waiting for the Saturday Colombo Yogurt Pro FB race to get under way and we were all told to get out of cars as it would be a while until repairs were made after a severe accident going up the hill through the esses.
The pace lap was kinda spooky, looking at the brand new unpainted armco sections that had just been bolted in place.
And during the FB race was when the Brazilian tour groups bus was stolen and lit on fire in the bog.
All in all, a surreal weekend. And the yogurt fight in the FB hospitality tent at the end of the day was not the least of it. Ask James King, current honcho of the Historic F1 deal in NA. He started it......

[Al Craighead]

Very cool Michael. Was wondering if any of the apex gang raced then as part of support races. Never heard about yogurt fight. Best food incident I recall was girls at mosport eating butterscocth from oil tins.

Cheers,

[Mike Allison]

Mikey,

I was there too, although as a spectator. My brother and his wife and and my wife Sue and daughter Krista, (one year old), rented a camper and parked at the stretch where the Boot joins the short track. We got caught up in a little Bog action when he and I went for a stroll during the wee hours. We hitched a ride on the back of a rental truck, only to have the door open and have a bunch of Deputy's pile out.

I remember how silent it got when the word passed through the crowd about Cevert. I have photos of him and Jackie Stewart in the drivers lounge just prior to practice. A very sad day. Jackie retired the next day and yet the race went on. Was it Emerson Fittipaldi or Ronnie Peterson who won? I remember pulling for James Hunt who I believe finished third.

I still have the cold air box off of Carlos Reuttiman's Brabham. I bought it from the crew after the race for $5.00. They used to do that at the end of the season and then spend the money on drinks at the Seneca Lodge.

Lots of water under the bridge and times that won't come again.

Mike

[ZEKESPEED]

Boy you guys are old!

[Michael Rand]

Yeah, well, you ain't all that far behind Zeke. We gotta talk.....

[Thomas Copeland]

Has anybody ever read his biography "Contract with Death"? His real name was Francois Goldberg but was given his mother's name of Cevert because they were afraid he'd end up in some Nazi death camp. I read the book when it first came out (gave it away to some library years ago). Anyway, supposely, according to the book, his whole racing death was predicted to him by some fortune teller in 1966 or 67.


Edit: I did a search on amazon.com to see if they have the book available. They have one copy at $329.95! That'll teach me to give away all those old racing books. Still got my old Autocourse annuals dating back to 1974. Supposely worth a fortune. Too bad I can't use them for collateral on a loan.

[Mike Allison]

Hey Zeke,

You're not quite as old, and you're not quite as good lookin'. But you did just father a new baby, so something's working for you.

He's about 10 months old now isn't he?

Mike

[Mark H]

I was a little to young to remember all of the news from back then, all the F1 racing I saw was on ABC's wide world of sports...I think?

But the Speed Channel used to show The Quick and the Dead a few years back. It was a real F1 movie from the season that F Cevert was killed. He was one of the featured drivers along with Stewart and Peterson and Hailwood. They had some great footage of him that made me admire him. He seemed like what I invision a real race car driver should be like. He still was young and untainted by $$, fame and most of all seeing the tragady of life on the GP trail.

One of the interviews with him was spooky where he talks about him and another driver crashing in the same corner with his being much worse looking but the other driver being killed. And then he dies before the film is finished.

This guy is what heros are made of, he did it to go fast, have fun, be the best he could be... not to be a rich self centered jerk.

We sure could use some more guys like that these days. Who knowes how far he could have gone? And if Jackie Stewart thought that much of him he must have been OK.

[Bob Coury]

I think I still have the Sports Illustrated Magazine that covered his death, as well as the local Elmira or Glen newspapers. I need to dig them back out.

Speed TV had a special on a few years ago named "Jackie Stewart, the Flying Scot" in which they interviewed both Jackie and Helen about that day.

We were there the following year, and unfortunately witnessed the accident of Surtees driver Helmut Koeing.

[jgaither]

Shortly after the season in which Cevert was killed and Stewart retired, Sports Illustrated named Stewart the Sportsman of the Year. As far as I know, this is the only time the honor was given to a motorsports driver. Anyone know of another? I don't remember that Mario got it when he won the title. If not for all the tragedy surrounding Stewart's last race (USGP) and that he had already announced his retirement, I'm not sure he would have won it.

His record stands at 27 wins in 99 starts - a % well ahead of most anyone else. Perhaps, Clark's % was better. Anyone know? The record of 27 wins (modern era) wasn't broken until Niki Lauda did it, but The Rat took a lot more than 99 starts to get there.

JAG

[Bob Coury]

I still have that issue of SI when Jackie won SI Sportsman of the Year.

[Brian Graham]

It was Alain Prost who beat Sir Jackie Stewarts record. I remember that day, now the Schu has made it a ridiculous number which surely will never be matched. Brian.

[jgaither]

You're right, Brian. Lauda ended up with 25. I think I got mixed by forgetting that he was the first guy to tie Stewart's record of three titles in the so-called modern era. Fangio had more, of course. It was truly a cruel sport in Stewart's time, as evidenced by Cevert's death, Clark's, Rindt's, and on and on. Does anyone remember that Jochen Rindt is the only champion ever to win the title posthumously? Can you imagine that ever happening again? Possible, but not bloody likely.

JAG

[Steve Demeter]

I remember and Emmo secured it with his first GP win that year at the Glen.

Ickx was coming on real strong in the Ferrari and nearly stole it away.

I thought that Fangio won 24.
Clark broke that with 25
Stewart broke it by 1 or 2
Lauda beat Stewarts total, which stood until Schummacher blew it into the weeds.

[Mark H]

As young as Kimi and Alonzo are do you thing that one of them may have a chance?
And do yall think that Shumi will ever add 1 more to his?

That era was very hard on drivers, it got my hero Mark Donahue too , we haven't lost anyone in big time open wheel racing in a while, that is a great thing pointing to the safety of the cars and tracks. With Jackie Stewart having a great deal to do with track safety, I read somewhere that he woulden't race at a track in a CanAm race after seeing some trees to close to the track, so the track cut them down that nite and he raced the next day. Now would you see that today?

[Steve Demeter]

Mark,
The sad thing about my hero also, Mark Donohue, was that he got hit in the head by the "F1 safety trick dujour" the catch fencing with wooden posts sawed halfway through.

He was lucid after the crash and walking (according to quotes attributed to Emmo) and then lapsed into unconsciouness and died from a brain hemmorage, caused by the impact with the flying fence posts.

[D.T. Benner]

Yea Steve, Mark Donahue's death hit me hard as he was my favorite American driver at that time and his death was so preventable. Those Catch Fences were more of a hazard than a safety device. One time someone rolled a car thru a bunch of it and it took 20 min. to cut the wire away just to get TO the driver! I remember taking my son with me to Laguna Seca to see a Can Am race when he was so small I carried him around all day in a back pack/child carrier. Mark won in Penske's Porsche 930 Turbo Panzer Wagen. My son would stand up in the back pack and cheer every time Mark went by. Gees now hes 34 years old and still remembers that day!

[fubar]

This thread started the memories flooding back like an out of control beer party at the frat house in the '60's. I saw my first sports car race at the Glen at the '62 USRRC won by Jim Hall's Chapparal. Was back for the '64 Grand Prix and saw the blue and white (!)Ferrari's at the downtown Glen garage. Snuck through a culvert to watch the start just outside the track edge past where Tex jumped up to throw the green. In '67 for the Can Am and got involved in the early bog area when my friend drove his '65 Corvair through a bonfire. Later that night after a half lap cruise of the track with St Bernard and beer cases in the back (we avoided arrest then) he was busted for streaking the back straight and hauled downtown for a night behind bars. Sunday morning I used a Gulf credit card at a local garage to get $40 and bail him out on a disorderly conduct charge. Bob Bondurant took a scary ride through the air in a Lola but survived to start his school much later while Donahue ran away with the win in a T-70. Then we we packed up our empty Yuengling 16 oz. returnables in our pop-up, loaded the St Bernard back into the slightly smokey Corvair to head back to PA in time for me to start an Air Force gig. Back in California in '73 to see Donahue walk away to another easy win at Laguna in the all powerful Penske Porsche but haven't returned to the Glen in all these years or even seen the "boot" addition in person. Everyone who drives it says the Glen is the best and it's still my goal in racing to run a FF at the track. I always thought the Cevert book was ironically titled "All But My Life" but am probably wrong there. At any rate the Glen and early bog definitely contributed to my continued moral decay and habitual attempts to race a FF. All you Glen vets check the SRF thread but they're correct in the conclusion that we won't see days (and nights) like those again at any race tracks.

[Ron Tebo]

The book "All but my life" was a biography of Stirling Moss written by Ken W. Purdy.... I read it years ago and thought it was a great book.