Which F1 World Champions Have You Seen Race In Person?

I did a poll to see what the favorite F1 world champion would be, outside of Michael Schumacher. Some of the answers led me to to wonder just how many of those favorites some of you have seen race in person in an actual F1 grand prix. I guess we could also count that weird event at Ontario, California Speedway about 100 years ago, in case some of you attended that.

The first F1 world champion that I actually watched race in F1 after he became World Champion was Graham Hill. I saw Clark and Mansell run Indy cars, Phil Hill in Can Am, but that does not count. So I watched G Hill, Hulme, Stewart, Fittipaldi, Lauda, Hunt, Andretti, Schecketer, Jones, Piquet, Rosberg, Prost, Senna, Villeneuve. I watch Hakkinen before he became champion, missed Damon Hill completely (marriage can put a crimp on one's lifestyle), then came back to watch Schumacher and Alonso (divorce can give back your prior lifestyle :} ).

Curious who some of you have watched.

 

I saw Jackie Stewart race a Lotus Cortina in Upper Marlboro Maryland. This would have been about 1965 or 1966. They used to have a big sedan endurance race. It was considered a big enough race that Colin Chapman was there along with Stewart. Funny but Stewart's car lost the motor after only about 30 minutes of a 12 hour race. I think an Alfa won but it might have been Bob Tulius in a Dodge Dart.

Oh, I just remembered that Sterling Moss was there too but not to race. He did a couple parade laps in a John Fitch Corvair. I lived near Upper Marlboro and worked at a little country Texaco station. I was really pissed when one of the other guys at the gas station said Sterling Moss had actually been there the day before at a time when I was off duty.

 

Fittipaldi
Lauda
Andretti
Scheckter
Jones
Piquet
Rosberg
Prost
Senna
Mansell
D. Hill
Villeneuve
Hakkinen
Schumacher
Alonso

Also saw P. Hill and Stewart race at Goodwood.

 

Let's see... These are all former or future champions whom I watched competing in a Grand Prix that I actually attended in person:

G. Hill
Surtees
Hulme
Stewart
Rindt
Fittipaldi
Andretti
Lauda
Hunt
Jones
Rosberg
Scheckter
Piquet
Senna
Prost
Mansell

 

Wow, and here I thought I was old.

 

Yeah, I have you beat by a few years!

 

Now you are picking on me. (lol)
It was February 1971, I was there, sitting about 10 rows up from the Tyrrell pit on the inside. Google up 'Questor Grand Prix'.
And a few days prior JYS puked after getting out of his car after testing a new firesuit. I was there about 10' away from him.

So, Stewart, Hulme, Hill, Fittipaldi, Andretti, then fast/forward to Detroit:
Lauda, Piquet, Prost, Jones (Team Beatrice), Rosberg, Mansell, Senna.


http://www.allf1.info/

 

Phil Hill*
Graham Hill*
John Surtees*
Jackie Stewart
Mario Andretti
Emerson Fittipaldi
Nigel Mansell
Denny Hulme
Jack Brabham
Jody Scheckter
Alan Jones

*Not in F1 cars...... at Sebring, 1963

 

Tha's it, Questor Grand Prix, novel idea, I forgot who was the promoter (I hate losing brain cells). You should have said hello.

 

I was at the Questor GP as well. I've been trying to find a poster for the event in case anybody knows where one might be.

Ontario also had a pretty neat pro-celebrity race with Porsche 914/6s prepared by Richie Ginther's shops. They were all running megaphone pipes and the little two liter sixes sounded great.

,,,sorry to go off-topic.

Jack

 

I remember listening to the Questor Grand Prix on the radio. It was, (I think) in early '71. Andretti won in a Ferrari 312B. It was open to F5000 cars and Formula 1. Did another F1 team show up besides Ferrari? The F5000 cars were completely outclassed by the F1s, to no one's surprise. Nothing is left of the old Ontario Motor Speedway. Ironically, the new Fontana track was built just a "stone's throw" away years after OMS closed and was demolished.

I saw Gilles Villeneuve run away with a Formula Atlantic race on that same OMS road course in (again I think) '76. A year later I saw him in his impressive F1 debut at Silverstone in the British GP.

 

None,

I would rather meet , talk to , and get to race with the lowliest Formula Vee driver than glance at a champion from a distance.

 

Schumacher
Senna
Prost
Mansell
Hill

 

In chronological order of their championships:
Emerson Fittipaldi
Niki Lauda
James Hunt
Mario Andretti
Jody Scheckter
Alan Jones
Nelson Piquet
Keke Rosberg
Alain Prost
Ayrton Senna
Nigel Mansell
Michael Schumacher
Damon Hill
Jacques Villeneuve
Mika Hakkinen
Fernando Alonso

 

Lotus, Brabham, Tyrell, Matra, BRM, March and McLaren! Oh, yeah, Surtees, too, but their entry was withdrawn for some reason.

Pretty impressive field, but some of the teams didn't bring their latest equipment.

Jack

 

Niki Lauda
Mario Andretti
Alan Jones
Nelson Piquet
Keke Rosberg
Alain Prost
Ayrton Senna
Nigel Mansell
Michael Schumacher
Damon Hill
Jacques Villeneuve
Mika Hakkinen
Fernando Alonso

Edit: I also saw Jackie Stewart race through a Porterhouse at Gibby's in Montreal on his 60th birthday.

 

mschumacher
falonso
jv..

 

Andretti and Fittpaldi in champcars

 

As I said, Google up 'Questor Grand Prix' and you will find tons of info.

As for OMS stuff, just keep watching EBay. I have about everything there was to offer (that I am interested in) - I have all the souvenir programs for Indy cars from 1970 thru 1984 I think, maybe it's 1980, I have no brain, I don't remember.

Donohue was the only real threat from F/5000, but he dropped out.
I lived about 5 miles from OMS, so I spent A LOT of time riding my bike out there every day after school and all summer long, saw lots of testing, met lots of folks who I had no clue as to who they were (at the time).
When it got dark, one particular driver would throw my bike and give me a ride home on his way back to the motel several times, little did I know......

 

TODAY, I would agree with you.
20-30-40 years ago is a different story.

But this is the same for ALL pro athletes in ALL sports, not just F1.

 

You left us hangin' on that one...

 

I found this photo, taken at the Questor, rather interesting. It shows the last vestiges of tire tread on the early-'71, low-profile Firestones. By mid-season the tires had gone completely slick, which they have remained ever since. The kneeling driver, BTW, is Jacky Ickx.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Glad to see that there are indeed a few folks on FChat who know F1 from before the MS era.

 

What you really mean is that you are glad to know that you and I are not the only oldies on Fchat. This thread should have been limited to memebers of the AARP.

Of course, I was barely 2 years old when I saw Graham Hill.

 

MS and FA at Monza this year - FA stopped his car just out from where i was sitting. Unforgetable!