Vale, Chris Amon MBE 1943 – 2016
With the death on August 03 of Kiwi racing great Chris Amon, the baton has been passed to a new generation of New Zealand drivers.
Christopher Arthur Amon (born July 20 1943, died August 03 2016) was one of, if not our greatest racing export, parlaying an early start at club and national level racing at home to a sparkling if star-crossed career at the very top of the sport on the world stage.
With driver and later constructor and team owner Bruce McLaren, and 1967 F1 World Champion Denny Hulme, Amon was a key member of New Zealand motorsport’s hallowed ‘Trio at the Top.’
Unfortunately he will always be remembered by many as the best driver never to win a round of the Formula 1 World Championship. My lasting memory of Chris from his racing days here, however, are of a win, something the majority of other journalists and obituary writers have chosen to ignore.
That day was January 26 1975 and Chris won the 18th Teretonga International behind the wheel of a Talon MR1 F5000 car.
I remember it well because on the podium the commentator (rather tactlessly, I thought at the time) launched into his post-race interview by asking what it felt like to actually win a race for a change.
The silly thing is the son of sheep farmer Ngaio and Betty Amon from Bulls in the Manawatu won plenty of races in his career, including one of world motorsports so-called ‘Triple Crown,’ the Le Mans 24 Hour (with fellow Kiwi Bruce McLaren in a Ford GT40 in 1966).
He twice won the New Zealand Grand Prix (in 1968 and 1969), won the first Can-Am race for the McLaren’s nascent team in 1965 and shared victory with Ferrari teammates in sports car races at Monza in Italy and Daytona in the United States.
What Amon didn’t manage (and where the ‘unluckiest man in motorsport sobriquet has come from) to do was win a round of the Formula 1 world championship. He started plenty (96 of 108 entered), finished 51 and was on the podium 11 times after starting five from pole and setting the fastest race lap in three.