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Bye Bye Bear
Denny Hulme accumulated 248 points in his 112 F1 Grand Prixs. The last of those points were added thirty years ago this month. Then, in October 1974, at the final round, he told his great friend Phil Kerr, the McLaren team boss, that he would call it quit
New Zealands most successful Grand Prix driver turned 38 during the course of the 1974 season – he’d started thinking about retirement after his former team-mate and buddy Peter Revson was killed at Kyalami but, contrary to what I’d always thought, he didn’t actually make the final decision until the final race at Watkins Glen. His season had started sensationally in South America – local hero Carlos Reutemann led his home Argentinean Grand Prix with only two laps to go. What better place to win your first GP? With five laps to go the crowd started to worry – the white Brabham developed a rough edge to the engine note as the Ecclestone run car started to run out of petrol. In a way it was rather reminiscent of a day in Sweden the previous year. There Ronnie Peterson had the race in the bag and looked set to, at long last, take his maiden win – and on home soil. But it was not to be and good old Denny swept by the snatch the victory. And so it was in Argentina – that wily old Bear did it again. The crowd were in tears – and Denny won his eighth, and last, Grand Prix.
Denny had bided his time after starting on the 5th row of the grid and was in the perfect place at the right time – a typical heady race from one of the shrewdest operators around. And by 1974, one of the most experienced. Emerson Fittipaldi had joined him in the McLaren team for 1974. Their respective climbs to F1 could not have been more different. Whereas Denny had spent years trudging across Europe towing his race car on the back of an open trailer, Fittipaldi arrived in Britain from Brazil in 1969 to do Formula Ford and made his F1 debut the next year. Later in 1970 he won the American Grand Prix. It was only his fourth championship race – two years later he was world champion at 25. Meteoric, as they say. Denny made his F1 debut for Brabham at the 1965 Monaco Grand Prix a couple of weeks before his 29th birthday. He completed five more GPs that year and scored 5 points with his best result being in his second GP in France where he finished 4th. Solid performances but nothing to suggest that here was a world champion in the making.
Here, however, is where the careers of ‘Emmo’ and Denny take on an interesting link. The Brazilian was crowned world champion at the 1972 USGP, 27 GPs after making his debut. Compare this with 33 GPs from debut to crowning for Jim Clark, and 52 GPs for Michael Schumacher. Alain Prost, Jackie Stewart and Ayrton Senna took considerably longer and the only driver of the modern era to threaten the speed of Fittipaldi’s success is Jacques Villeneuve. But then there’s Denny – he might have been a late starter but once given his chance, he took it with both hands. On October 22, 1967 he finished third in the Mexican Grand Prix – good enough to clinch the world title. It was his 26th F1 GP – no other world champion since the mid-50s had ever, or has ever, taken fewer Grands Prix from debut to taking the title. No bad for a guy that came up the tough way.
Fittipaldi won the 2nd round of the 1974 championship in Brazil. For the second race in a row, a Ferrari was second. It looked like the Scuderia were back after a dismal 1973. Denny was out of the points and so lost the lead of the world championship for the last time. South Africa had always been a happy hunting ground for the Bear but not so in 1974 when Revvie was killed after hitting a barrier in practice. Reutemann got a little revenge back for running out of gas on home soil to take his first win. In Spain, where the Amon AF1 made its F1 debut, Niki Lauda became the second new winner of the year and in fact led Clay Regazzoni home for a Ferrari 1-2. Fittipaldi completed the rostrum and Denny was 6th. He was 6th again in Belgium where Emmo won for McLaren at the Nivelles circuit. At Monaco, Ronnie Peterson proved there was still life in the venerable Lotus 72. Denny was eliminated in a first lap accident.
In Sweden, where Denny had stolen victory the previous year, the third new face atop the rostrum for the year appeared in the form of Jody Scheckter. His teammate Patrick Depallier finished in his wheel tracks for a Tyrrell 1-2. Denny’s rear suspension collapsed in the later stages. It was Lauda-Regazzoni-Fittipaldi in Holland and these three now led the title race with the Brazilian on 31 points from Lauda’s 30 and Clay’s 28 points. Ronnie cranked the old Lotus up again around the tight confines of Dijon-Prenois to win the French GP ahead of the Ferraris. Denny claimed another point for 6th but Emmo had retired early on. Scheckter shot back into championship reckoning at Brands Hatch after winning the British Grand Prix from Fittipaldi – two points covered the top four drivers on the table and there were still five races to go!
Regazzoni dominated the German Grand Prix around the Nurburgring and went to the head of the championship from Scheckter who was 2nd. The McLarens? On the grid, Fittipaldi couldn’t select first gear. In fact he couldn’t select any gear and sat motionless on the second row of the grid. Denny had qualified 7th and suddenly found his team mate right in front of him. He tried to get around him but the space he wanted was already taken. The Kiwi missed slipping through by mere centimetres – result, two works McLarens out on the spot. The Styrian mountains were alive with Lauda supporters and he stirred them by planting the Ferrari on pole. Regazzoni’s fans came over the Swiss border to join in the fun but it was Reutemann that came through to take win number 2 for the year. Lauda was out early and Regazzoni could only manage 5th. The other title contenders, Scheckter and Fittipaldi were both retirements. The early stages had been run at a fantastic pace and behind the leading group, Denny had been having a fantastic duel with Jacky Ickx’s Lotus. As some of the front-runners dropped out, they moved up. Before long, Denny was third and that became second when Peterson dropped out. Reutemann started to fret, “My pit signals told me that Denny was second and I began to think “Oh no – not again!” There was no repeat of Argentina and Denny came home second. It would be his last visit to the rostrum and therefore the last time a New Zealand flag formed part of a victory ceremony at a F1 Grand Prix.
Ferrari fans were out of luck at Monza – both of the red cars retired in the latter stages of the race with engine problems. Peterson gave the Lotus 72 its last GP win (over four years after the first!) in Italy from Fittipaldi and Scheckter 30 years ago this month. With only the North American rounds to go, Regazzoni led the championship with 46 points from Jody’s 45 and Emmo’s 43. Lauda still had a chance on 36 and even Peterson could do it if everyone else had major problems. In Canada, Lauda crashed while leading and a happy Fittipaldi added a victory to his pole position. Even better, he was now tied at the top of the table with only one race to go with Rega who’d come home 2nd. Denny was 6th again and his 20 points was still good enough for 7th in the standings.
There were two weeks between the Canadian and USGP’s. Who would it be? Scheckter could also win in his first full season of F1 but needed a huge dose of luck. James Hunt upset the applecart by planting his Hesketh on the front row alongside pole winning Reutemann while Lauda and Scheckter shared row 3. Fittipaldi qualified 8th, one spot ahead of Regazzoni. Denny, with retirement looming large, was well back but a guesting Chris Amon had done a superb job to put a BRM onto the 12th grid place. Lauda was doing his best to stay in contact with Reutemann and Hunt, in a bid to assist his teammates chances, but it was a wasted gesture. Clay was dropping back with wonky handling. Now all Fittipaldi had to do was keep Scheckter in his sights. Lauda was also struggling with a strange handling Ferrari while Scheckter’s slim title hopes took a dive with 15 laps to go when a fuel pump expired. The Brabham team scored their first 1-2 since 1969 with Reutemann leading home Carlos Pace while James Hunt was only 10 seconds adrift in third. Fittipaldi’s 4th place was not only good enough to give him his second drivers title but also secured McLaren’s first constructors title – a huge achievement for the team started by Bruce McLaren a decade earlier. Chris Amon, who had been a key member of the fledging McLaren team in the mid-60s, struggled manfully with the BRM to bring it home 9th.
And Denny? His F1 career ended with a bang – he was the first retirement when his engine let go in the biggest possible way. What a year – seven different winners (including a Kiwi), Ferrari were back, the title went to the last race and a McLaren won.
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