18 replies to this topic

[MP4/?]

Please, can you help me?

[Louis Mr. F1]

heart attack, 1993 june, right after the Canadian GP.

[MP4/?]

Originally posted by Louis Mr. F1
heart attack, 1993 june, right after the Canadian GP.

Thank you!!! Was he killed while he was in Canada? He was very young!!!

[arcwulf7]

Distant memory but I remember he was an avid bike rider, and died either while riding or immediately after, in London. Could be wrong ???.

[Louis Mr. F1]

now, here's the Toronto Star newspaper on James Hunt's death.

"James Hunt, who captured the Formula One world championship in 1976 during a season marred by Niki Lauda's horrific accident, died of a heart attack early yesterday morning at his London home. He was 45." i think he died on Monday morning

more.......

i still have his last colume as a Toronto Star F1 contributor. after his death, gerald donaldson took over.

[MP4/?]

Originally posted by Louis Mr. F1
now, here's the Toronto Star newspaper on James Hunt's death.

"James Hunt, who captured the Formula One world championship in 1976 during a season marred by Niki Lauda's horrific accident, died of a heart attack early yesterday morning at his London home. He was 45." i think he died on Monday morning

more.......

i still have his last colume as a Toronto Star F1 contributor. after his death, gerald donaldson took over.

Thank you very much Louis!!! Really I didn't know that...

[Louis Mr. F1]

here's some more on Hunt,

"Typically Hunt had some strong thoughts on the current state of F1 racing but finished the column by suggesting ways the sport could be improved" said Donaldson.

"James came across on TV very strongly and never held back criticism if he felt it was merited. But he always made his point based on deep knowledge of the subject. He was very respected within the F1 circles. In fact, he was a tutor to some drivers behind the scenes"

A fine all round althete, hunt won matches in the junior Wimbledon tennis tournament. He was accepted in medical school, planning to become a surgeon. But on his 18th birthday he attended a sports car race and medical school was forgotten..

He worked as a road digger, store porter and van driver and saved his money to buy parts for a racing Mini at auto wreckers.

"i stuck the parts together at night and when i rebuilt the engine I actually was pleased and surprised when it worked"

In some ways, he kept himself in condition by riding his bicycle all over London. The last time we talked, he told me he had ridden 40 miles (65km) one day last week.

For many years, Hunt had a large aviary behind his Wimbledon home and it often contained 200 budgies. He bred and raised the birds commercially, selling them for mroe than $10,000.

James sold the budgie operation this year because he said he wanted to have more time to spend with his sons, who are seven and five (at the time).


.........

what made you suddenly interested in Hunt's death? just curious.

[Indian Chief]

Originally posted by Louis Mr. F1
heart attack, 1993 june, right after the Canadian GP.

Didn't he die before Canada? I read sometime back that Murray commentated alone for that race.

[doohanOK]

A Murray Walker quote when Murray gave a speech to some fans at this year's Australian Grand Prix, in answer to a fan's request of a memorable moment with James:

"One time at the Belgian Grand Prix, James had come in late, and said he was stuck in bed with the flu. I thought he was stuck in bed with something else!"



regards,
doohanOK.

[MrAerodynamicist]

Only the second F1 champion to die of natural causes. The first being Denny Hulme also suffering a suspected heart attack on year earlier, midway though the 1992 Bathurst.

Only one other driver - Fangio (1995) has died of natural causes (as kindly pointed out by Garagiste & Mickey). Every other champion is still alive, died in a car [both on and off track] or by aeroplane crash.

[Garagiste]

Hold up, what about Fangio?

[Mickey]

Damn Garagiste, u beat me to it!

[pRy]

Another thing to note is James quit racing because he drempt of dying in a race.

[Mickey]

MrA:
"...(as kindly pointed out by Garagiste & Mickey)..."

I wouldn't say "kindly", I was just trying to look good ;)

[b195]

A list of World Champions in chronological order, and their current age, or age at time of death (and cause of). I think it backs up previous claims about causes of death of WCs.

1950 - Nino Farina			59 (1966), road accident

1951 - Juan Manuel Fangio	 84 (1995), natural causes

1954

1955

1956

1957

1952 - Alberto Ascari		 36 (1955), sportscar testing crash

1953

1958 - Mike Hawthorn		  29 (1959), road accident

1959 - Jack Brabham		   75

1960

1966

1961 - Phil Hill			  74

1962 - Graham Hill			46 (1975), light plane crash

1968

1963 - Jim Clark			  32 (1968), Formula 2 crash at Hockenheim

1965

1964 - John Surtees		   67

1967 - Denny Hulme			56 (1992), heart attack while competing at Bathurst

1969 - Jackie Stewart		 61

1971

1973

1970 - Jochen Rindt		   28 (1970), Monza F1 practice

1972 - Emerson Fittipaldi	 54

1974

1975 - Niki Lauda			 52

1977

1984

1976 - James Hunt			 45 (1993), heart attack

1978 - Mario Andretti		 61

1979 - Jody Scheckter		 51

1980 - Alan Jones			 54

1981 - Nelson Piquet		  48

1983

1987

1982 - Keke Rosberg		   52

1985 - Alain Prost			46

1986 

1989

1993

1988 - Ayrton Senna		   34 (1994), San Marino GP race

1990

1991

1992 - Nigel Mansell		  47

1994 - Michael Schumacher	 32

1995

2000 

1996 - Damon Hill			 40

1997 - Jacques Villeneuve	 30

1998 - Mika Hakkinen		  32

1999

[The Swerve]

I think they found James in his bedroom, on the floor not on the bed, in the clothes he wore the previous evening (not had a chance to undress yet) - cause of death was heart attack.

[Garagiste]

No wish to slander the deceased, but do I recall hearing that the state of his heart was not unrelated to his fondness for exotic nose candy?

[Williams]

Gerry Donaldson's bio on JH says that he was a fairly heavy toker at one time and was also involved in coke for a while in the late 70's. There was even a rumour that he crashed at the '78 British GP due to a pre-race toke, but this seems out of character due to Hunt's habit of going onto a total abstinence regime in the days before a race. Hunt denied this rumour, and the interviewer, Mike Doodson said he believed Hunt was telling the truth about this, and so do some other people who were close to him at the time.

James suffered from chronic depression, and possibly drugs and alcohol were used to combat these. The situtation strained his marriage, eventually leading to divorce.

When James began his career in the F1 media, he took it very seriously and began to reform his life. Murray Walker says that at the time he was broadcasting for BBC, he was in the best shape of his life, and both mentally and physically strong. He began to abstain from many of his old habits and eventually fell in love in with Helen Dyson and began making plans for his new life with her. He proposed to her and she accepted the evening before his death. His last evening wasd spent playing snooker with a friend, during which time he complained of some chest pains, which eventually cleared up. Everybody turned in a little after midnight, and James was found laying beside his bed the next morning.

I guess we can only speculate as to whether his death had anything to do with his occasional abuse of drugs and alcohol, but it's very sad that he died when he was turning his life around so successfully.

[SKL]

He was always fun to watch in his prime- only wish we'd had Speedvision back then! His T-shirts were always priceless... afraid too many of his sponsor's (Marlboro) cigs may have contributed?