Gone but Never Forgotten

I received some photos from Robert Murphy on the subject of lost talent. The thread in the F1 forum prompted him. With apologies to Gerard and Craig I have taken the liberty of posting them here because a) These were three fine talents and b) The history of Formula 1 would be all the poorer without the presence of these racers.

There is a fascinating thread going on in the Formula One section about "Talent Unrealized". I have some of my pics of a couple of the guys mentioned on CD... Revson, Bellof, Cevert,....

I shot this pic of Nillson as he is entering White's corner at Mosport Park during Friday practice for the 1977 Canadian GP. Gunnar will qualify 4th but in the race he will have an accident on lap 17....those "pesky" stuck throttles. Autocourse will rank Gunnar as the 6th best driver in 1977... he followed Lauda, Hunt, Andretti, Scheckter, & Watson.... and was ranked ahead of Depailler, laffite, Reutemann, and Mass. Sadly, Gunnar willn be diagnosed with cancer......

http://www.angelfire.com/pe/mallett/gunnar01.jpg

I took this shot of Revson at Watkins Glen in 1973... he was my wife's favorite ( gee, wonder why?).

http://www.angelfire.com/pe/mallett/revson01.jpg

I took this pic of Francois Cevert right outside the Tyrrell "garage"
(tent city) after the Saturday afternoon session at Mosport Park for
the 1972 Canadian GP.

http://www.angelfire.com/pe/mallett/cevert1.jpg

Anybody got any stories or memories of these or any other drivers. We’d all like to hear them.

Cheers

cool pics Pete..I havent seen these guys race but have heard quite a bit about them and I believe that Cervert crash was one of the main reasons Jackie Stewart retired as he was his mentor..
As for the first pic of Gunnar gee it almost looks like a hillclimb event doesnt it..glad safety has come a long way since then but I guess now you wouldnt be able to get a shot like that unless you have a $5000 camera..

I have seen footage of the crash at Monza of Revsons death and I carnt quite remember the driver (someone is bound to know) who dived in trying to get him out ..that footage will stay in my memory for a long time especially when they realised they couldnt get him out and slumped on the ground in total helplessness...Not trying to get people down by saying that but it is what has stayed in my mind about the footage ...anyway great shots Peter :)

Thanks Marcus but I am just the postman. The plaudits must go to Murph who (I believe) has an enormous collection of pics from the 60's 70's and 80's. Its our job to prise them out of his collection.

When I look around the various forums ("fora"?) I see a lot of people who compare the current F1/Touring Cars/Sports Cars et el with today which means there's loads of people who could join in here.

Lets hope they join in whilst the 99 season drifts into history.

Cheers
;)

Actually I just realised, Murph talks about Bellof but I didn't post the pic so here it is.


http://www.angelfire.com/pe/mallett/bellof02.jpg


[This message has been edited by Peter Mallett (edited 12 December 1999).]

Hi, Marcus:

One remark about your comments over the footage you saw: Revson was killed at Kyalami, if I'm not wrong, not at Monza.

yes im not sure about revson but I have realised the footage I was thinking of was actually Ronnie Peterson's crash...sorry...another great driver as well

I wondered if it might be Peterson.

There were two who got him out of the car. James Hunt was the one who went into the wreck first, and Clay Regazzoni was right there too.

Ronnie gone, James gone, Clay hurt. It's a hard sport we follow, and I suddenly feel very old.

Beautiful shot of Cevert. I was absolutely floored by his death ... first time I realised that people my age could be killed. And he was so very much alive ...

Actually Murph has sent me a whole selection of Peterson which I will post in the near future. As usual they are terrific shots.

who is murph???
is he a professional photographer or someone who just enjoys taking (very good i might add) pics of race meetings.

Murph aka Robert Murphy is the man whohas provided the stories and pics. He's an enthusiast of long standing and I thank him for sharing these pics and stories with us. ;)

ok cool thanks from me to murph...keep up the great work. :)

Unrealized talent, Gilles Villeneuve.
He had incredible talent, and was taken before his time. I assisted his funeral and will always remember his incredible car control and complete faith in himself.

There is one curve in Berthier where Gilles was from in Quebec.
I saw him take that curve at an incredible speed, when I passed the Villeneuve Honda dealerhip, I stopped and asked who was driving that car, the dealer laughted and pointed at Gilles, and aswered "The Boss", "The future World Champion".

He would have relized his dream, I'm glad his son became the first Canadian Champion"

His death hit me hard.

Peter, do you have an email address for Robert Murphy ? I would like to use one of his pictures on the new site, but i'd like to seek his permission first.

Craig.

Craig, I do have Murph's e-mail address also.
I'll sent it to you by mail.

Wot Gerard said. ;)