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AMON, CHRIS
Born 7/20/1943, Bulls, New Zealand
Starts: 95
Points: 83
Wins: 0
Poles: 5
Fastest Laps: 3
Ask a F-1 connoisseur who was the unluckiest F-1 driver ever, and 9 out of 10 the answer will pop out easily: Chris Amon. However, Amon achieved such stature in his 13-year tenure in F-1 that a recent poll of the Top 100 F-1 drivers showed him in the top 30, in front of several champions and a large number of race winners.
Amon was not only unlucky due to his failure in winning races. His ride picking was treacherous, to say the least, yet, he soldiered on to the very end of a long career, which almost saw him break the magical 100 start mark (at least for the time, the mid 70s).
A prodigy, like so many of his New Zealander colleagues, Amon was seen racing a Maserati 250 F in his native land, and brought back to Europe by Tim Parnell for the 1963 season. Amon raced the Parnell team’s Lola before his 20th birthday, and remained for many years the youngest GP starter. The first few years were not easy: driving a privateer Lola was far from a winning proposition these days, but Amon managed to score a 5th place in his very second season, in the Dutch GP.
For 1965, Amon was hired by his fellow countryman McLaren, who was starting the eponymous company that was to become so famous. In the beginning, McLaren concentrated on large engined sports cars, the Group 7 beasts that were to make such a stir in the racing world, in the second half of the sixties. Amon won a few races in England and was also present in the first Can Am series, in 1966. He did not a couple of races in Parnell’s Lotus BRM, and attempted to start the British GP in an Ian Raby Brabham, to no avail. In F-2, Amon won the Solitude GP in Germany. Before the end of the year, Amon was hired by Ford for its Ford GT program.
This proved to be Amon’s big break, as he won the Le Mans 24 Hours race partnered by fellow kiwi and boss McLaren. His F-1 racing was limited to a start in a Cooper Maserati in the French GP, finishing 8th, and an attempt to qualify a down on power 2 liter BRM engined Brabham in Italy, which result in non qualification. He was to drive the novel McLaren F-1 car, but the team faced many problems fielding a single car, let alone two.
The Le Mans win so impressed Enzo Ferrari that he contracted Amon for the 1967 GP and Prototype season. The year started well, for Amon won two Makes races on the trot with team mate Bandini, including another 24-hour race(Daytona)! In F-1, the team went through a major setback when number 1 driver Bandini was killed in a Monaco crash. However Amon finished the race in 3rd, showing that he had the pace to race in F-1 as well. For the rest of the year, Amon continued to pick placings, including 3 other 3rd places, and finished the year equal 4th, with 20 points. He did not show too much pace in qualifying until the last race of the year, in Mexico, where he qualified 2nd.
Amon continued driving for the Prancing Horse in 1968, now as a solid team leader. The qualifying pace suddenly appeared, and Amon scored 3 pole positions that year, in addition to starting on the front row many times. He led many races, only to drop out in the latter stages of the Spanish and Canadian GPs. In Britain, Siffert managed to hold off Amon, who finished 2nd, the best placing of the year. He ended up the year with only 10 points, many less than teammate Ickx.
By 1969 the Ford Cosworth powered cars were truly the class of the field, and driving a Ferrari was a liability. Although he continued to try hard, leading the Spanish race again and starting on the front row twice, including Monaco, fighting against the Fords proved useless, and Amon left Ferarri before the end of the season.
This turned out to be Amon first major blunder: little was he to know that Ferrari would be the class of the field, in the second half of the 1970 season, in the same proportion that his Ford powered March lost pace. Amon was hired as the number 1 driver for the rookie team, co-owned by no other than Max Mosley. The car appeared fast enough to yield Amon a couple of second places, in SPA and France, but thinking the car would be ultra competitive in the first year was to say the least, naïve. Even so, Amon managed to win a non-Championship F-1 race, his first, the Daily Express race held in Silvestone.
Rather than sticking around at March, Amon accepted Matra’s invitation to drive its V-12 powered car in 1971. Again, Amon’s move was not smart: the March was a nimble car, that allowed Ronnie Peterson to be runner-up to the all conquering Jackie Stewart, while the Matra was only occasionally competitive, in the first four races of the year and in Italy. He lost his visor while leading the slipstreaming race at Monza, while leading, and ended up 6th. He managed to win a second non-championship race, the poorly supported Argentine GP, which was also his debut for Matra and the V-12’s first victory.
He soldiered on at Matra for 1972, but it was not to be. The sweet sounding V-12 worked great in two races, France and Italy. In the French GP, which Amon led from pole until a stone pierced his dream, flatting a tire. Amon changed it, went back in 8th place but still managed to post a 3rd place, which turned out to be his last F-1 podium. In Italy the car started 2nd, but did not finish. Again, the Matra worked wonders in some races, and was way off the pace in others, so the French decided it was time to pack their bags and race only in the Makes Championship.
This left Amon without a ride. He raced a Politoys in the last F-1 race of the season, but was down to drive for March in 1973. There was some disagreement between Amon and the March management, and in the first race of the season the car was occupied by Jarier. Whether Amon could have done anything with the 731 is left to speculation: the works car had poor performances, but James Hunt did wonders with the Hesketh entered and engineered 731, finishing as high as 2nd. So the car was not bad, it just needed work…
Poor Chrissie ended up driving the hapless V-12 proprietary engined Tecno. This manufacturer had been very successful in F-3 and F-2, and decided to make the big jump to F-1 in 1972. The trouble was that rather than using the customary Ford engine/Hewland gearbox arrangement, the Pederzzani brothers decided to built their own engine, which doomed the project from the onset. It was no different with Amon. Although Amon scored a brilliant 6th place in Zolder, and qualified a great 12th in Monaco, the Martini sponsored contraption simply would not go fast. Although he had two different chassis to choose from, Amon decided it was not worth it and left the team after Austria.
Back in those days it was usual for top F-1 teams to field a 3rd car for the high paying Canadian and US races, and Amon was lucky (could it be?) to be invited to race for Tyrrell, the car used by that year’s champion. This could be a real break, as Stewart was alleged to be retiring at the end of the year, and Tyrrell needed a second top driver to partner Cevert, but it was not to be. Tyrrell was apparently not that impressed with Amon, who qualified 11th and finished 10th in Canada. What else could go wrong? With Amon anything was possible - he had one last chance of showing his paces to mr. Ken, in Watkins Glen, but unfortunately Stewart’s heir to be, Cevert was killed in a practice accident, and the Tyrrells withdrawn. That was it for Tyrrell.
How low could he sink? By 1974 there were tons of Cosworth V8s and Hewland gearboxes going around, and building a F-1 challenger seemed an easy task. So Amon decided to field his own F-1 car, the Amon F-1. His first race was in Spain, a race he almost won twice, and this turned out to be the only GP in which the Amon F-1 car raced. The other times the car showed up, it either DNS or DNQ. For the last two races of the year, Amon was hired by BRM to drive the P201. An once glorious name in racing, BRM was showing clear indications that it was in a downward spiral. Yet Amon managed to put the car 12th on the grid in Watkins Glen, finishing 9th.
Amon was back in F-1 for the 1975 Austrian GP, to drive for Ensign. The little team never had a driver of such stature, but it had already managed to score a point, a lucky one in Germany. To Amon’s credit, he finished both races, and was hired for the 1976 season.
Having first raced the 2-year old N-174, without much success, by Spain Amon had the spanking new N-176. In that car, Amon worked wonders. He scored 2 points (his last) in Spain, qualified in the top 10 four times, including a major upset qualifying effort in Sweden, 3rd. However, the car was fragile and prone to self destruct, and Amon withdrew after the disastrous German GP. Amon was to attempt one final start, the Canadian GP, driving for the Williams/Wolf team. He had an accident in practice, and decided to leave F-1 altogether. A final crack at the Can-Am, in 1977, with Wolf, was equally disastrous, so Amon decided to go farming in New Zealand, while he could still walk away alive, barely 33 years of age. Such a waste of talent.
Having started early in racing, by the time he was 18, Chris Amon was racing a Maserati 250F in New Zealand events. Brought to Europe by Tim Parnell, who spotted young Chris in a visit to the Antipodes, Amon had an interesting, albeit largely unsuccessful career, from 1963 to 1977. After two years in F-1, in 63/64 Amon, was pretty much a McLaren test driver in 1965, having acquainted himself well with the Group 7 beasts that were arising in Britain, running many events, and winning a few. He also found the time to win a F-2 race, in a Lola, in Solitude that same year. He also had less successful outings in a Merlyn, in that same category. In 1966, Amon was contracted as a Ford driver, and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with his boss/countryman McLaren. This was also the inaugural year for the Can Am series, and Amon was there, racing McLarens, and getting a 2nd and a 3rd place in races. In 1967, Amon was hired by Ferrari, and must have seemed like the future king of long distance racing, for a while: counting Le Mans in 66, Amon had won three of four World Championship of Makes events, including two 24 Hour races! That initial run of success for Amon, driving Ferrari sports cars with Lorenzo Bandini was short-lived. His wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 1000 km of Monza were his last in this championship, which in the mid-60’s rivaled the F-1 in importance and prestige. He was also racing in the Can Am, with a Ferrari 330 P4, entered by NART, with a best 5th place. 1968 started on a good note: second place in the Tasman championship, with a Ferrari, just behind Jim Clark, with two victories. It was a busy year for Amon: he run a few races in F-2, with a few minor placings at Ferrari, but more significantly, at the end of the year, the Ferrari works decided to contest the Can Am Series with a Ferrari 612. The car seemed promising, but in two seasons, a 2nd and a couple of 3rds were the best the monster could offer to face off McLaren’s domination. 1969 started on a good track, with victory in the Tasman Series, and 4 wins; although Clark was not there, Amon had to beat Rindt, not a mean feat. Ferrari had returned to the World Makes Championship, and although Amon and his co-drivers were fast, with poles and fastest laps, the best Amon could do was 2nd in Sebring. Ferrari was back at Can Am, but again, was soundly beaten by McLaren. Fed up with Ferrari, Amon left at the end of the year, going to March for 1970. Apparently, the fight with Ferrari was not that bad, as Amon was retained for some Makes events. Now with the 512, Ferrari was again fast, but apart for pole in Brands Hatch and a fourth at Monza, with Merzario, the year was pretty much a waste. His new employers March also decided to enter Can Am, but the factory took too long to put the car together. As a result, Amon made a few starts, towards the end of the year, and a couple of 4ths were the best efforts. For 1971, Amon was again in the Tasman Championship, this time with a Lotus and a March 2.5 liter against 5.0 competition, and a 2nd and a 3rd were his best results. Matra was also a recalcitrant participant of the Makes championship that year, and Amon had a single start in the series, a DNF with Beltoise in LeMans. Amon’s activities in 1972 were almost entirely restricted to F-1, although LeMans was again in the menu. Matra won the race, but Amon was again a DNF. By 1973, Amon’s career had pretty much lost momentum, but he was hired by BMW, to take part in the European Touring Car Championship. With young Hans Stuck as codriver, Amon won the Nurburgring round of the championship, the second most prestigious race in the series. Amon also had a 3rd place in a Matra in the World Championship of Makes, Dijon round. In 1974 Amon was in action only in F-1 (if you could call that action). But in 1975 Amon was back in the Tasman series, with a Talon, in which he obtained a victory. The car was also raced in the US F-5000 series, noteworthy the Long Beach inaugural event, and it was in entry lists of several Euro F5000 events, but it was a no show. In 1976 Amon raced exclusively in F-1, and his career ended in 1977, of all places, in the Can Am. Amon was hired by Walter Wolf to race his car in the revamped series, but after a single start, in St Jovite, Amon decided it was time to retire to the farm in New Zealand.