THE GREATEST, AND THE GREATEST COMEBACK
Afew weeks back, golfing scribes were lauding Tiger Woods for his comeback and said it was the greatest ever! Most motor sport fans might think differently.
I was at the Nürburgring in 1976 as one of Frank Williams mechanics at Wolf/williams. Our driver was Arturo Merzario who, as usual, was running toward the rear of the field when he came upon Niki’s [Lauda] accident. Guy Edwards, Brett Lunger, and Harald Ertl had tried unsuccessfully to get Niki out of the burning wreck but failed because they couldn’t undo the seat belt. Most teams used Willans seat belts with [a]twist knob release mechanism whereas Ferrari used their own over-centre camlock lever configuration. Lunger went in for a second attempt and Art, being an ex-ferrari driver, followed and released the seat belt. There was a heavy atmosphere
over the pits as teams prepared for the restart. Niki’s recovery was well covered in the movie Rush.
In November ’76,
Peter Warr, who had now taken over management of Wolf Racing from Frank, arranged endof-season training at Ferrari’s Fiorano Circuit, making ours the first Cosworth Dfv–engined car to run there.
We all met Enzo [Ferrari] when we arrived and had our photos taken. Niki took over the Ferrari from Carlos [Reutemann] on the second day. He was trying different helmets in regard to his burn scars. Only one car could be on the track at a time, and Niki was waiting to go out. There was a large lap-timing clock in the pits just after the bridge on the figure-eight-style track, and when our new driver Jody Scheckter’s time came up — a new lap record — we all jumped around crowing and pointing it out to Niki! He made a rude two-handed gesture then went out and within five laps had beaten Jody’s time. A real champion.
My favourite Niki story came after Watkins Glen in ’77 when Niki had won the title and had walked out on Ferrari. The Austrian press wanted Niki to meet Muhammed Ali who was training in New York. Niki had to wait for a while before he was let into the room where Ali was getting a massage. Ali said, “You are the greatest racing driver and I am the greatest boxer [long pause] but I’m the greatest.” Niki said he wasn’t prepared to argue so he left.
As a footnote, I think Arturo Merzario did
Frank Williams a favour by not finishing any races for him. Walter [Wolf] gave Frank the push and so he took the clever Patrick Head and formed his own brilliant team.
Ian Gillingham