WHO IS NUMBER ONE OF OUR NATIONAL DRIVER HEROES?
Put simply, there is no way that anyone other than Gerald Royston Dallas Marshall was going to be on top of this list.
As is so often the case, it is easy to slip on a pair of rose-tinted specs and claim life was better back then, whenever that might happen to be. But, the impact that Marshall left behind transcends generations and lives as strongly as it did when he was creating it.
The images of Marshall are personal and will, of course, reflect which era the fans saw him in. From hustling a Mini, wrestling a TVR through to putting Vauxhall right at the heart of the Special and Super Saloon story, there was something for everyone.
Even in Production Saloons, TVRS and Historic machines, the man continued to combine remarkable skills more readily than any other driver before or since: he was quick, a winner, and also had the ability to give the trackside fans what they wanted in terms of entertainment.
Even as I began my career as a motorsport journalist in the early 1990s with this title, he was a big part of my life and we became friends. If I was stumped on the career history or achievements of a particular racer from the 1960s or early 1970s, he would be happy to help and extremely generous with his time – although I would know there would be a dressing down first.
“Oh Christ, don’t you know who that is?” he would half-laugh. “Remind me: how the hell did you get your job again?”
Thanks Gerry.
I was fortunate enough to go on track with him in 1988 in a Brands Hatch Racing School Ford Escort, but it was when the roles were reversed in 2004 that sticks with me even more. Even though I had been driving for over a decade, when the chance came for me to give him a lift to the pub (where else? It was his chosen venue for the interview I was about to conduct) I have never been so nervous in my life. He is the only passenger I have ever taken where I was literally shaking with nerves – I had a real-life hero in my car. Those are feelings that haven’t changed, even since his death in 2005.