Chris
Amon

Chris Amon was born on 20 July 1943 in Bulls, New Zealand. He learned to drive on the family farm as a child and went on to enter small races and hillclimbs, first in an Austin A40 Special, then in a Cooper and a Maserati 250F. In 1962 he drove well in the rain at Lakeside. The English driver Reg Parnell, who was among the spectators, persuaded him to come to England. He made his Formula One debut for Parnell's team at the 1963 Monaco Grand Prix and scored his first championship points in 1964 with fifth place in the Netherlands.

He took part in only a few Grands Prix in 1965 and 1966, but raced sports cars as well. In 1966 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Bruce McLaren in a Ford GT40 Mk II. Ferrari signed him for 1967. He reached his first podium at Monaco, collected four third places over the year and finished fifth in the World Championship, his best result. That year he also won the 24 Hours of Daytona for Ferrari. In 1968 he took pole position in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands and finished second in Britain. In 1969 he won the Tasman Series, while in Formula One his best result was third place in the Netherlands. He left Ferrari because he wanted a car with a Cosworth engine.

He drove for March in 1970 and finished second in Belgium and France. Outside the championship he won the International Trophy at Silverstone. At Matra he took pole position in Italy in 1971 and finished third in Spain. In 1972 he claimed the fifth and last pole position of his career in France and, despite a puncture, came home third. In 1973 he raced for Tecno and Tyrrell. In 1974 he entered his own car, the AF101, under the Chris Amon Racing name, and then drove the final races of that season for BRM. He raced for Ensign in 1975 and 1976, finishing fifth in Spain in the latter year. After Niki Lauda's crash at the German Grand Prix, he declined to restart and announced his retirement.

In 96 starts Amon never won a World Championship race, but he reached the podium 11 times and took five pole positions. He later helped with the design of the upgraded circuit at Taupō. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1993 and inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. He died on 3 August 2016. The drivers' championship trophy of the Toyota Racing Series carries his name.

Source: Wikipedia, “Chris Amon”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.