Legends Week: The Flying Scott! - Tribute to Jim Clark

Date of birth: 4 March 1936
Date of death: 7 April 1968 (aged 32)
Nationality: British
Active years: 1960 - 1968
Teams: Lotus
Races: 73 (72 starts)
Championships: 2 (1963, 1965)
Wins: 25
Podiums: 32
Career points: 274
Pole positions: 33
Fastest laps: 28
First race: 1960 Dutch Grand Prix
First win: 1962 Belgian Grand Prix
Last win: 1968 South African Grand Prix
Last race: 1968 South African Grand Prix

A short history....

James Clark Jr. was born into a farming family at Kilmany House Farm, Fife, the youngest child of five, and the only boy. In 1942 the family moved to Edington Mains Farm, near Duns, Berwickshire, in the Borders. As his interest in motor racing grew, his parents tried to dissuade him from racing considering using motor vehicles for racing a waste.

Formula One Career...

His first years as a Formula One driver were met with mediocre success. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment was completing the dangerous Spa Grand Prix, which had claimed the lives of multiple drivers, including Clark's teammate Alan Stacey. Clark was later involved in a crash at the Italian Grand Prix with the Ferrari of Wolfgang von Trips. The Ferrari was launched into the crowed and killed several spectators and Wolfgang. When 1962 rolled around, Clark took to the track with a new emphasis on awareness and a renewed confidence. Clark promptly began winning races, but a broken gearbox crushed his hopes of a Championship.

1963 was Clark's best year as a F1 driver. He dominated the field, winning 7 of the 10 races, and earning 7 poles. The next year was a battle for the ages, as Jim Clark, Surtees, and Graham Hill battled back and forth at almost ever Grand Prix. In 1965, a new rival, Jackie Stewart, came into contention. Clark took home the Championship this year, including his famed win at Indianapolis, where he led the race for 190 of 200 laps.

1964 would see a return of the Lotus gremlins and would prevent Clark from having a serious chance at the championship. He did jump out to a sizable lead in the points, winning 3 races and finishing 3rd in another. But he managed only 2 points in the last 5 races, having several DNFs. He would finish 3rd in the championship. Not bad considering he failed to finish in 4 races that year.

Jim would return to dominant form in 1965, winning the first 5 races he entered (The team skipped Monaco to compete at Indy), and leading all but 5 laps completed. He would record 6 poles also. He would go on to win the championship, despite the team skipping Monaco altogether and bad finishes in the last three races - a 10th at Monza and DNFs in the USA and Mexico. But Jim had already done enough, and the championship was his for a second time. 

1966 would be Clark's worst year in Formula One. The rule change to 3.0 liter engines had left the team out in the cold, being underpowered. Reliability nagged as he retired from the first 2 races, and in the 3rd race at France, to add insult to injury, Jim was struck in the eye by a bird during qualifying and suffered injury enough to require pulling out of the race. He managed a 4th and a 3rd at the next two events, but had two more DNFs afterwards.

1967 Clark's Lotus would again prove fallible in the first two races.  With Clark scoring DNFs in both, but starting at the third race at the Dutch Grand Prix, Chapman unveiled the new Lotus 49 with the new Ford Cosworth DFV engine. Clark would christen it with a win in it's debut race at Zandvoort. Clark would score pole position in 6 of the last 8 races and earn 3 more victories.

Sadly, 1968 would be Clark's last year as a F1 driver, as his life tragically ended in a horrific crash. His Lotus 48 skipped off the track and crashed directly into the trees. Graham Hill, Clark's teammate, fended off Jackie Stewart for the Championship that year and dedicated his win to Clark.

His Legacy....

There is a large memorial to Clark at Hockenheim today, but because the track has been reduced in length and the old course reforested, the actual location of the crash is in a heavily wooded area and only marked by a small wooden cross.

At the time of his death, he had won more Grand Prix races and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions than any other driver. The Times recently placed Clark at the top of a list of the greatest Formula One drivers.

Quotes from or about Clark...

"Clark came through at the end of first lap of the race so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident" - Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jimmy Clark at Spa-Francorchamps 1967

"On the 13th lap Jim Clark came in to change a tire. He was finished, out of the race as far as everybody was concerned - except Jim Clark." - Murray Walker

"The loss of Jim Clark... I think was like to motor racing what the atomic bomb may have been to the world during the second world war. It was something that nobody truly believed could have occurred. The dimensions of it were so drastic and so devastating to us all. I think for the first time we truly realized that motor racing was, or could be, hopelessly dangerous." - Jackie Stewart