JOHN HOGAN
This quietly spoken and unassuming Australian was one of the most influential men in the F1 paddock for nearly 40 years
A tribute to the hugely respected Formula 1 sponsorship guru
John Hogan, who died in January of a Covid-related illness at the age of 76, was a pioneering commercial figure in Formula 1 who commanded significant influence in the paddock. But he was also so much more. ‘Hogie’, as he was universally known, was a genuine motorsport enthusiast whose intuitive understanding of F1 made him a popular character and close friend to many drivers, including James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
In F1 circles, Hogie will be remembered as the real ‘Marlboro Man’ (even if he didn’t wear the hat), having joined parent company Philip Morris in 1973 as the cigarette brand was embarking on its long commercial relationship with F1. Until 2002, when he finally left the company, Hogan was Marlboro’s man in the paddock who negotiated the big-money deals that made its flourescent-red-and-white colours synonymous with the world of grand prix racing.
“People used to call us cowboys and at first you get offended,” he said in 2014. “But then I realised, no, actually that is what we are and it’s great. I loved being a cowboy!”
The son of a soldier, Australian-born Hogan spent childhood years in the Far East following his father’s army postings, but moved to England to attend school, where he befriended future A Clockwork Orange actor Malcolm Mcdowell, whose father ran a pub in Aintree. Visits to F1 races at the Liverpool venue would whet Hogan’s appetite.
Hogan plunged into the advertising business straight out of school, working up to big accounts such as Nestlé and Coca-cola. He also found himself naturally drawn to motor racing people, befriending future Brabham F1 driver Tim Schenken, Scottish rising star Gerry Birrell, and Hunt. Hogan would recall sourcing them sponsorship, at £500 per race, then found a kindred spirit in Ron Dennis, a former mechanic who co-founded the Rondel Formula 2 team. Hogan came up with the team’s backing from Motul and 208 Radio Luxembourg.
When he landed at Philip Morris, Hogan wasted little time making his mark, soon switching the Marlboro brand from BRM to the sharper Mclaren team, with whom Emerson Fittipaldi won his second world title in 1974. When the Brazilian shocked the team by quitting for his brother Wilson’s new Copersucarbacked outfit, Hogan played a central role in Mclaren signing Hunt to replace him. Hogan was perfectly placed to witness the Englishman’s epic season-long duel with Lauda through 1976, maintaining strong friendships with both.
His most significant contribution to F1’s story was surely his advocacy of Dennis to take over Mclaren in 1980, in the wake of the team’s dwindling form under Teddy Mayer. Without Hogan, Dennis might never have landed the defining role of his professional life, as Marlboro Mclaren raised the bar through the 1980s and Lauda, Prost and Senna returned the brand’s investment with a string of world titles. Hogan also ran a programme supporting young talent: Mika Häkkinen, Eddie Irvine and Allan Mcnish were among the beneficiaries.
Like team co-ordinator Jo Ramírez, Hogan was one of few people to remain on good terms with both Prost and Senna during their explosive rivalry between 1988 and 1990. “I had a problem in that I liked them both,” he said, even if he did admit Senna was “not a very amicable individual”. Along with Gerhard Berger and Hunt, it was Hogan who contributed to Senna’s mellowing in his final years – although he couldn’t blunt the Brazilian’s cutthroat approach to negotiations when he agreed the infamous $1million
HIS MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO F1’S STORY WAS SURELY HIS ADVOCACY OF DENNIS TO TAKE OVER MCLAREN IN 1980
per race deal in Senna’s final season with Mclaren in 1993.
It was also Hogan who terminated Mclaren’s long relationship with Marlboro at the end of 1996, confirming the news to an expectant Dennis at the Spanish GP. Despite years of friendship, he’d say the conversation would prove no hardship after the many tough budget negotiations the pair had engaged in each season.
The deal to increase Marlboro’s investment in Ferrari was perfectly timed, coinciding as it did with Michael Schumacher’s incredible run of success in Scuderia red. Hogan held the German in high regard, but by Schumacher’s third of five Ferrari titles Hogan cried enough, leaving his post as he approached 60.
A brief, unhappy experience at calamitous Jaguar Racing would have been an off-key coda to his career, but Hogan’s connection to F1 – including a strong bond with Bernie Ecclestone – was never truly broken. He’d subsequently work closely with Zak Brown as a consultant to his JMI marketing agency, advising the future Mclaren team boss using all the experience he’d gained from a life of paddock negotiations.
He modestly claimed to be “the man with one eye in the land of the blind” during those ‘cowboy pioneering’ days of the 1970s. But beside the likes of Ecclestone and Colin Chapman – another friend – Hogan was a low-profile but key mover and shaker in the generation that hustled F1 into the modern commercial era, and he played his part with energy, charm and a vital dose of good humour. It was with good reason that GP Racing recently enshrined him as one of the most influential figures in F1 history.