World
Championships
|
1
|
Grand Prix
Entries
|
62
|
Grand Prix
Wins
|
6
|
Pole
Positions
|
10
|
Nationality
|
Austrian
|
History
In the record books he is notable for being the only
posthumous World Champion. But before he was killed Jochen Rindt had carved
himself a memorable niche in the small but select category of heroes whose
voracious appetite for raw racing was demonstrably apparent in a daredevil
driving style that was both thrilling and worrying to watch. Few threw
themselves into the fray with such vigour, nor did many measure up to Rindt's
status as a colourful character. Fiercely determined and resolutely
independent, he had a rough and tumble allure seldom seen before or since.
Karl Jochen Rindt, born on April 18, 1942, in Mainz,
Germany, was orphaned as an infant when his wealthy parents were killed in a
bombing raid. His maternal grandparents adopted him and brought him up in Graz,
Austria. A head-strong youngster seemingly hell-bent on defying authority, he
continually sought ways to indulge in his burgeoning passions for speed and
competition - preferably allied with danger. Twice he broke limbs in schoolboy
ski races and when he switched to motorized sport, at first on a moped and then
on a motocross bike, he either crashed or won. On public roads he drove
battered Volkswagens like a madman and was often in trouble with the police.
His rebellious streak caused him to be expelled from several private schools
and his strait-laced grandparents (his grandfather was a prominent lawyer)
despaired for his future.
He affected a deliberately unkempt appearance and
had a personality that tended to be abrasive. He used pieces of string instead
of laces to tie his battered shoes. His flat boxer's nose (he was born that
way) and abrupt manner of speaking made him seem intimidating. Confident to the
point of arrogance and ambitious in the extreme, he resolved while still in his
teens to ascend to the very pinnacle of motorsport.
His hero was Count Wolfgang von Trips, the
aristocratic German driver whose death at Monza in 1961 failed to dampen
Rindt's enthusiasm. He began racing touring cars and then single seaters,
crashing with alarming frequency and several times ending up in hospital. Yet
such setbacks only fortified his will to succeed. He personally financed his
first forays in more serious formula cars. In 1964 he went to England and
bought a Formula Two Brabham for 4,000 pounds cash. In his second F2 race, at
Crystal Palace, the British press reported that 'an unknown Austrian' had
beaten the famous Graham Hill. Contemporary accounts noted the spectacular
style that was to become Rindt's trademark: 'His car was sideways throughout
the race. It went around the corners at unbelievable angles and always looked
as if it was about to go off the road.'
Yet the rambunctious Rindt became the man to beat in
the intensely hard- fought F2 series. In 1965 he signed a three-year Formula
One contract with Cooper, whose cars weren't competitive. But Ferrari's
sportscars were, and Rindt, partnered by the American Masten Gregory, drove a
Ferrari 250LM to victory in the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hour race.
While enduring two more seasons in outclassed
Coopers and another in an unreliable Brabham, Rindt flogged his machinery
mercilessly. Often he seemed completely out of control and Jochen acknowledged
that appearances were not deceiving. When asked how frequently he drove beyond
his limits he replied: "Did I ever drive within them?"
The audacious Austrian, who perfectly exemplified
the popular perception of what a racing driver should be, became a favourite of
the fans and of the photographers, for whom he provided some of the best action
photos in Formula One history. Off the track the pictorial appeal took on
'Beauty and the Beast' dimensions when in 1967 Jochen Rindt married Nina
Lincoln, a glamourous Finnish fashion model.
For 1969, Team Lotus founder Colin Chapman signed
Rindt to partner reigning World Champion Graham Hill. The newcomer quickly
out-paced his illustrious team mate, but the Lotus 49 was as fragile as it was
fast. Jochen was leading the Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuich Park when his
car's high rear wing collapsed, pitching it into the wreckage of Hill's Lotus,
which had earlier crashed for the same reason. Hill was unhurt but Jochen
suffered a concussion and a broken jaw and became an outspoken critic of Chapman's
cars, calling them unsafe as well as unreliable. However, he modified these
views following his first championship victory: the 1969 United States Grand
Prix at Watkins Glen.
His first win of 1970, indeed the greatest of his
short career, came at Monaco in the outdated Lotus 49, the new 72 model not yet
being raceworthy. After languishing in fifth place for much of the race, the
retirement of others promoted Rindt to runner-up, 15 seconds behind Jack
Brabham driving one of his own cars. Scenting a whiff of victory, Rindt then
proceeded to reel in the race leader by means of a thrilling, even frightening,
charge that mesmerized all who saw it, including Brabham himself. Faster and
faster Rindt went, smashing the lap record to smithereens. For the veteran Brabham,
the sight of the wildly careening Lotus looming ever closer in his mirrors
proved such a distraction that on the last corner of the last lap he crashed
into the barriers.
Jochen wept tears of joy as Prince Rainier and
Princess Grace presented him with the winner's trophy. In the next few weeks he
wept at the deaths of two of his close friends - Bruce McLaren and Piers
Courage. He began to consider retiring for family reasons, for Nina had
presented him with a baby daughter, Natasha. Yet he drove as hard as ever and
won four consecutive races, including the Dutch Grand Prix where Courage was
killed, and also the French, British and German events.
Then came the ill-fated day of September 5, 1970,
when Jochen Rindt's Lotus inexplicably ploughed into a guardrail at Monza
during practice for the Italian Grand Prix. One of the first on the scene was
his good friend and business manager Bernie Ecclestone, who came away with only
with two sad souvenirs: a battered helmet and a single shoe which had been thrown
some distance from the wreckage.
The fatal accident happened close to where his
boyhood hero Wolfgang von Trips was killed in 1961. At that time the German was
leading the championship, just as the Austrian was now. But while von Trips was
later beaten to the title by his Ferrari team mate Phil Hill, even after his
death no one was able to deprive Jochen Rindt of the championship he surely
deserved.
Text - Gerald Donaldson
