Tom
Pryce

Tom Pryce was born in Ruthin, Wales, on 11 June 1949. He took his first steps in motor racing at Mallory Park at the age of 20. In 1970 he won the Daily Express Crusader Championship, a Formula Ford series for racing school pupils, and then moved up through the junior categories. In 1971 he won the new Formula F100 class. In 1972 he won the Formula Three support race for the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. He drove for Royale in Formula Atlantic, where he won the final round of the season. Three more wins in the category followed in 1973, alongside a Formula Two programme with Rondel Racing. At the end of that year he received the Grovewood Award.

Pryce reached Formula One in 1974, joining the newly formed Token team. He made his World Championship debut at the Belgian Grand Prix and retired after a collision. He was refused entry to the Monaco Grand Prix as too inexperienced, but won the Formula Three support race there instead. He then joined Shadow. On his debut for them in the Netherlands he went out on the first lap after a collision with James Hunt. In France he qualified third, and in Britain he set the fastest time in practice. He scored his first championship point in Germany with sixth place. After nine starts he finished the season 18th in the standings.

In 1975 Pryce won the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch from pole position in a Shadow. It was a non-championship race, but it made him the first Welshman to win a Formula One race. At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone he took pole position and led the race, again as the first Welshman to do so. In Austria he claimed his first podium in the rain, and in Germany he finished fourth. He ended the year tenth in the championship, his best final position. In 1976 he took his second podium in Brazil. He finished fourth at the Dutch Grand Prix, his last points finish, and ended the season 12th with ten points.

Pryce started only three races in 1977. In Brazil he was running second when an engine failure stopped him. At the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami on 5 March 1977, he collided with marshal Frederik Jansen van Vuuren, who was crossing the track. Both men died. Earlier in the weekend Pryce had set the fastest time in wet practice. In total he started 42 races, with two podiums and one pole position. In Wales he is remembered by the Tom Pryce Award, the Tom Pryce Straight at the Anglesey Circuit and a memorial unveiled in Ruthin in 2009.

Source: Wikipedia, “Tom Pryce”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.