24 replies to this topic

[John B]

Denny Hamlin's NASCAR victory at Pocono, coming back from a big spun after a tire blowout, inspired this....race winners who survived a spin or minor accident in the course of the race.

Most famous is Danny Sullivan at Indy (classic Andretti luck, finishing 2nd), other NASCAR ones include Harry Gant tying the record for wins in a row at Martinsville in a banged up car after an early accident and Dale Jr. at Talladega with a nose made of largely black tape, granted these guys had 500 miles and time to recover

The F1 which springs to mind is Patrese at Monaco. Vaguely remember MS's brief spin, largely out of boredom, while dominating at Indy....

[Tim Murray]

Bernd Rosemeyer won the 1937 Coppa Acerbo at Pescara after losing a wheel.

Graham Hill won at Monaco 1965 after taking to the chicane escape road to avoid Bob Anderson's limping Brabham, getting out of the car to turn it round, and rejoining.

[D-Type]

Didn't Jim Clark spin at Indy one year and astound the establishment by gathering it up and carrying on?

[Collombin]

Originally posted by D-Type
Didn't Jim Clark spin at Indy one year and astound the establishment by gathering it up and carrying on?

Twice in '66, I was surprised at the astonishment.

[roger ellis]

Not spin & win but win & spin ! - Vittorio Brambilla, March 751, Osterreich, 1975.

[D-Type]

Mercedes won the 1955 Sports Car Championship with three straight wins by Stirling Moss (and co-driver) in the 300SLR. In each of the three races, the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio and TT, the winning car was somewhat battered by the finish.

And of course there is the 1927 Le Mans won by Benjafield and Davis in the Bentley after the White House pile up.

[Xig]

Hakkinen on Spa 2000,

IIRC, he spun while in the lead, and was passed by Schumacher, he recovered and went to pass him again in that famous overtaking on the straight after Eau-Rouge, with Zonta in the middle. I don't know if this is on topic on a TNF thread, but since you mentioned MS spin at Indy, I thought this is on the same league

[Collombin]

Jimmy Bryan's final big car win on the dirt at Phoenix in '57 wasn't made any easier by crashing through a hole in the fence (convenientally created earlier by a helpful rival) with about 4 laps left, driving around the outside of the track and rejoining through another hole.

Not quite a spin and win, but even better in my book.

[Updraught]

Alain Prost spun with brake problems at Imola in 1984 and still won.

[Ruairidh]

Ronnie at Monaco 1974. Didn't just spin but was also hit by Lole

[theunions]

Uncle Jacques Villeneuve, 1985 CART Elkhart Lake.

[Chris Bloom]

Michael Schumacher at Monaco in 1997 went down the escape road at St Devote and had to spin the car around to get out.

[Tim Murray]

During the F2 race at Thruxton on Easter Monday 1968 Jochen Rindt lost it under braking for the chicane and left the road through an advertising hoarding, into a ditch. He spun the car around, re-emerged through the hole in the hoarding and rejoined, without losing the lead. He won, of course.

[James Page]

Another Schumacher one - Spa 1995. He spun coming out of Pouhon, won, but was then disqualified for some sort of infringement with the plank under the car.

Wasn't Fangio's 1957 French GP-winning 250F damaged? IIRC, those famous pics of him coming down through the sweepers show the nose as being a bit bent. Don't know how it occured or whether it counts in the context of this thread!

I like the Jimmy Bryan story by the way!

[green-blood]

Cant remember where but I recall Zanardi pushing through the field with the red mist well and truely down during a CART street race circa 95, he'd hit the wall and bent a steering arm earlier, the car just didnt look straight at all, he simply muscled it past his opposition for win.

anyone recall the venue?

[Teapot]

Originally posted by green-blood


Cant remember where but I recall Zanardi pushing through the field with the red mist well and truely down during a CART street race circa 95, he'd hit the wall and bent a steering arm earlier, the car just didnt look straight at all, he simply muscled it past his opposition for win.

anyone recall the venue?

It was at Long Beach, 1998. Zanardi had his front end ran over in the first laps by Scott Pruett, during a traffic jam at the hairpin caused by a previous accident (Andretti?).

[John B]

As an aside there are a few instances involving early red flags and restarts.....Villeneuve in Brazil in 1997 got a break with a red flag after going off at the first corner, Piquet at Detroit in '84 (a backup car IIRC) after the accident with Mansell.

Could stir things up by citing Senna at Suzuka 1989 ;)

[Arjan de Roos]

Monaco '82: remember everybody spun!!

Le Mans 1980: the winning Rondeau was spun during a sunday shower by either Jassaud or JR.

Champ Car Mexico 2004: Bourdais spun while leading, however kept the lead and won the race and the championship!!

[Chris Bloom]

Not quite a spin. I seem to believe that the winning March, driven by Sarel Van Der Merwe, Graham Duxbury and Tony Martin, in the 1984 Daytona 24 Hours ran out of fuel out on the track and the driver had to run back to the pits and collect some fuel and take it back to the stranded vehicle. I think they lost 15 minutes during this episode. I'm not sure which driver was in the car at the time.

[green-blood]

cheers Teapot, was sure it was earlier than that, but I'm certianly no expert

[bill patterson]

Didn't Keke do a 360 spin on the first lap whilst braking at one of the street circuit US Grand Prix and keep the lead? Can't remember if he went on to win

[Santi]

Jim Clark won the 1967 US GP at Watkins Glen by only 6 secs to Hill, having driven the last two laps with the top link of the left rear suspension broken and that wheel in an impossible angle.

[Penword]

Although I didn't see any evidence of it while recently watching the TV coverage of the race, I have read that Carlos Reutemann had a late spin on his way to winning the 1978 Long Beach GP.

Also, didn't Scott Russell win one of his Daytona 200s after crashing on the opening lap and charging through from the back?

[Gilles4Ever]

Originally posted by bill patterson
Didn't Keke do a 360 spin on the first lap whilst braking at one of the street circuit US Grand Prix and keep the lead? Can't remember if he went on to win

iirc it was Long Beach 83?? and didn't he go on to Tangle with Tambay while fighting for the lead?

edit:

http://www.forix.com...19830002&i=3524

On Sunday, warm and sunny, an excellent crowd saw Tambay jump to the front at the start. Rosberg, immediately behind him, tried to squeeze through the middle of the all-Ferrari front row. He touched Arnoux's right front with his left rear as he swung wide, but both continued, with Rosberg in second, followed by Laffite and Arnoux. At the end of Seaside Way, Rosberg looked inside Tambay as they approached the sharp right-hander, but locked up and spun completely around -- without hitting anything! He lost second to Laffite, but continued again with no apparent damage.

On lap 26, Rosberg could wait no longer and took the inside line entering the hairpin before the pits. As Tambay turned into the right-hand corner, his right rear tire bumped Rosberg's left front, bouncing the Ferrari into the air and spinning it around backwards, stalling the engine. Rosberg continued again, driving around the outside of the disabled car. As he entered the chicane before the start/finish line, he found his teammate Laffite alongside and Jarier almost touching his gearbox behind. The two Williams cars touched briefly, and Jarier ran into the back of Rosberg, who hit the wall, bounced off, and hit it again before sliding to a stop. Jarier continued, but only briefly, as a damaged front wing had spoiled his handling, and he retired in the pits.

[Twin Window]

Didn't Belters spin en route to victory at Monaco, 1972?