168 replies to this topic

[Geza Sury]

"I did no physical preparation for this test apart from reduce smoking!" - joked Niki Lauda after he had driven the Jaguar this year at Valencia. This sentence got me thinking. Lauda smokes? That's news to me. It's surprising considering his fiery accindent in '76!

And what about the other great champions? Like Fangio, Brabham, Moss and the others? Did (or do) they smoke?

I read the book of Manfred von Brauchitsch, "Ohne Kamp - kein Sieg". He writes that his brother used to wait him after each race with a lighted cigarette and a glass of cognac!

I also caught Mika Salo smoking when I stepped to him for an autograph.

Your experiences?

[Criceto]

Probably the most defiant smoker in recent years was Keke Rosberg.

And Frank Williams heartily disapproved!

[Brian O Flaherty]

Originally posted by Geza Sury
[BThat's news to me. It's surprising considering his fiery accindent in '76! [/B]

Maybe he holds the cigarette lighter far away from himself when he lights up I'd have a nervous disposition too if I'd gone through what he did

[Frank de Jong]

Well, not a great F1 champion, but "smoking" Jo Winkelhock deserves his name...

[Bernd]

Emmo like myself is a great fan of the Premium Cuban. He also has his own brand which is grown and rolled in Brazil from memory.

[MrAerodynamicist]

James Hunt, not sure about cigarettes as such but I know he had a fondness for marijuana

[twymanj]

Jochen Rindt, there is a famous photograph of him smoking. Schlegenmilch i think?

[LittleChris]

Elio De Angelis & Stefan Johansson plus most drivers pre war.

[SennasCat]

I vaguely remember a story about Willi Dungl and how he helped Lauda back to life and fitness (this was about a year after his accident). Dungl apparently got Lauda to row a boat for some amazingly long period, and as soon as he stopped, Lauda lit up a big cigar, much to Dungl's disgust. So I don't think it is a new habit that Lauda has developed.

I think the Patrick Depailler was a pretty heavy smoker, and saw a photo of Prost looking absolutely drained at Kyalami after the Renault let him down and he lost a reasonable shot at his first championship. Prost was sitting down, overalls tied around the waist and was just staring at the ground with a fag in hand. I think Prost's brother also died from lung cancer at an early age from years of smoking.

I am no angel myself - I have quit after smoking for about 15 years...

[Buford]

Masten Gregory smoked a pipe. Al Unser Jr and Dale Earnhardt are current drivers I know of who smoke.

[deangelis86]

[josh.lintz]

Nannini used to, IIRC, and then quit somewhere in the middle of the 1990 season. Not sure if he continued his habit.

I remember a quote form Depailler (when asked about his smoking) :
"I drive a racing car, I don't run in an 10,000 meter race."

[Wolf]

Moss was occasional smoker too, and he did cigarette ads (Craven A). I have a picture of him from Brands, with a trophy and a fag in his hand (unlit, though, IIRC)...

I heard that someone was actually smoking during the race; any info on that?

[FrankB]

I remember a TV interview from about 20 years ago with Barry Sheene, still sitting astride the bike in the paddock at the end of a race. Someone had given him a cigarette, and it was in his mouth during the interview.

Suddenly the interviewer stepped back in alarm, pointing at fluid that was dripping on to the floor around Sheene's feet, and telling him to be careful with the cigarette because of the petrol all round him.

Barry calmly took the cigarette out of his mouth, looked at it and said "It's OK - it's not alight"...

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Wolf
I heard that someone was actually smoking during the race; any info on that?

I'm sure it happened lots in earlier times, especially in closed cars in events such as the Mille Miglia and Le Mans.
There are photos of Bonetto with pipe firmly clenched between his teeth in the middle of Grands Prix in the early '50s, but whether it was actually lit or not I don't know

[bobbo]

deangelis86:

Can't see the picture. A problem on my side??

I remember seeing a photo somewhere of Felice Bondetto (??) smoking a pipe while driving in a race about 1952 - 53. If I can find it again, I will post it.

That way, I can verify if it is him.

Bobbo

[Joe in LA]

I believe NASCAR driver David Pearson would rather routinely smoke during events. Supposedly he'd get rid of the cigs when it got "serious" late in the race.

[Buford]

I have seen old movies of Nascar drivers in the 50's smoking cigarettes during the race. Jimmy Bryan, 1958 Indy 500 winner always had a little compartment in his cockpit for his cigars, but he did not light up. Just held one in his teeth while driving.

[Michael Müller]

Here's the picture of Bonetto, Nürburgring 1952, Maserati A6GCM.

[2F-001]

I read that Jan Magnussen was / is a smoker.

I have in front of me a picture from the 1927 Tour de France (the cycling version, I mean) which shows at least three riders in the peloton sitting up and smoking. Sorry I don't have the means to post it just now...

[2F-001]

re: that extraordinary pic of Bonetto, I guess the widespread adoption of full-face helmets has put paid to this kind of activity. Pity really: all he needs is some wool tufts and he can do some impromptu aerodynamic testing.

[DOHC]

Damon Hill's interview with HHF (F1 Racing, May 2001, p 64) reveals that one of them is a smoker.

[bobbo]

Michael Muller

That's the photo I was thinking of! Thanks!!

BTW, I used to frequently smoke my pipe when riding my motorcycle back in the early/mid '70s, before I got the full face helmet. I rode a Jawa Californian 350cc with a windshield and saddlebags. Great fun, that bike!!

Bobbo

[FEV]

Jimmy Bryan, 1958 Indy 500 winner always had a little compartment in his cockpit for his cigars, but he did not light up. Just held one in his teeth while driving.

Chewing a non-lighetd cigar during a race was an habit of many american dirt oval racers from the early 1900s up until the sixties. The iniator was I think Barney Oldfield and the purpose was to use the cigar as a shock absorber to prevent the teeth from banging against each others on the often extremely bumpy dirt tracks !
About Rosberg it was always a great pride for Frenchmen to see this living add for Marlboro lighting up a Gauloise (or Gitanes can't remember) after each qualifying sessions !

James Hunt, not sure about cigarettes as such but I know he had a fondness for marijuana

About marijuana, the original outlaw Jan Opperman had a hippie look and was said to be a smoker. The 1980s IMSA racing scene brought us some controversial characters who, if they did not use marijuana clearly made a business out of it More recently in France a whole bunch of young drivers have had licences suspensions for being controlled positive on cannabis (among which IIRC the late Sébastien Enjolras). Word has it that the FFSA soon realised that if they kept on doing these tests on the young up and coming French drivers, then France's future in racing would be put in jeopardy !

[fifi]

yeah i heard the one about HHF as well

wonder if he quit smoking B&H after getting the boot from jordan(if he ever did but what a good promotion it would have been)

[Luís Sampaio]

"I think the Patrick Depailler was a pretty heavy smoker"

only 3 or 4 packs per day...

[deangelis86]

Originally posted by bobbo
deangelis86:

Can't see the picture. A problem on my side??

I remember seeing a photo somewhere of Felice Bondetto (??) smoking a pipe while driving in a race about 1952 - 53. If I can find it again, I will post it.

That way, I can verify if it is him.

Bobbo

I've never been able to get this f*$"%* picture posting thing right, so try right clicking the picture and copying the properties into your browser - and then try to view.

[Michael Müller]

Free-of-charge picture servers like Yahoo, Geocities, etc. do not work for forum postings. They block automatically indirect contacts from other servers like in this case the Atlas server, only direct contact by individual IP adresses (= users) are permitted. Reason is to bring down the download rate, as each opening of a forum thread where a picture is linked will download such picture automatically from their server.

[fines]

Niki Lauda did certainly not smoke while he was a driver, he was very articulate about that! But Achille Varzi did, sometimes even during the actual driving. And about Bonetto, there's this other wonderful picture...

[No27]

Mika Salo only quitted smoking in 1998. He had some troubles with that because he still used nicotine bubblegum in 2000.

[VDP]

And how about Giovanni BRACCO during the MM 1952 smoking cigarette on cigarette with a lot of brandy and winning


Robert

[Keir]

During the 1969 season, when his Ferrari broke down on a regular basis, Chris Amon carried his smokes with him in his overalls!!!

[MrAerodynamicist]

fines, have you got more exact details about that picture?

[Geza Sury]

I never thought this topic would generate that much interest! Fascinating stories, keep 'em coming!

[fines]

Originally posted by MrAerodynamicist
fines, have you got more exact details about that picture?

That's a D46 Cisitalia, 1,100cc Fiat engine, in a race in Italy, maybe 1948? Coppa Nuvolari? Need to check...

BTW, he won afair!

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Wolf
Moss was occasional smoker too, and he did cigarette ads (Craven A). I have a picture of him from Brands, with a trophy and a fag in his hand (unlit, though, IIRC)...

The new Edwards biography mentions Stirling's smoking as his one vice (apart from women ), and the Craven A adverts (wasn't their slogan "Good for your throat"? Or am I imagining that?)

There are also several pictures featuring him with ciggie in hand or mouth, notably one taken at the finish of Le Mans 1953. He's just finished the race and his co-driver Peter Walker has joined him, riding on the outside - Stirling has a very obviously lit cigarette dangling from his lips.

[Pascal]

Originally posted by josh.lintz
Nannini used to, IIRC, and then quit somewhere in the middle of the 1990 season.

I remember that at the time he reached Formula 1, he was an unrepentant chain-smoker.

In rallying, I remember that Timo Salonen insisted that Peugeot fit an ashtray in his 205 Turbo 16, as he had the habit of smoking during the liaisons legs between stages...

[Wolf]

Richard- this one popped up in Moss thread, and I hope whoever posted it (I can't remember) won't mind me posting it here...

[fines]

Hey Pascal, are you now trying to sell your cat???

[Wolf]

BTW, Pascal's rally story reminded me of Adolf Galland, German fighter ace whose Messerscmitt was the only one in Luftwaffe equipped with cigarette lighter and ashtray...

[Roger Clark]

It was me that posted the Moss/Craven A advertisement. I am glad that wolf reposted it, as I couldn't find it again! Mike Hawthorn took part in a similar series of advertisements.

THere a photographs of Moss on a lap of honour at Monaco in 1960, driving the Lotus with a winners garland around his neck and a cigarette hanging from his lips.

In the 1950s, the health implications of tobacco were not as well known as they are today. It is rare to see a picture of a group of drivers where at least on of them is not smoking.

The thing tat always surprises me about stories of drivers smoking during a race is the fire risk. Perhaps the drivers knew that htey were taking some many risks aready that one more wouldn't matter much.

REgarding the picture fies posted of Bonetto in a Cisitalia, is this definitely during the race? He has his goggles raised.

[bkalb]

In the excellent book "The Cruel Sport" (Robert Daley, 1963), there's photo of Olivier Gendebien with a cigar in his hand, and another of Maurice Trintignant with a cigarette holder holding either a cigarette or cigarillo jammed into his mouth. I've seen photos of Achille Varzi with a cigarette in his mouth, and a lot of the Indy drivers up through at least the '60s smoked. Of course, in those days, almost everyone smoked. Moss once said one way he kept in shape was not to have sex for the two days before a race(!)

On the subject of things bad for you (at least while driving a racing car), I recall a quote by Masten Gregory, saying he was once waiting for a Le Mans start at a sports car race somewhere in Europe, it was cold and wet and miserable, and just before the start an official ran down the line of drivers handing out cognacs to warm the drivers up. (I'm not making this up.)

[fines]

Originally posted by Roger Clark
REgarding the picture fies posted of Bonetto in a Cisitalia, is this definitely during the race? He has his goggles raised.

I can't be sure, but the photographer (Corrado Millanta) said so!

[Frontrunner]

I read in a F1 magazine that Keke Rosberg had a hole drilled in the front of his helmet so that he could have a last puff while he was sitting on the grid before the formation lap! This was in what I consider the best F1 magazine out there so I assume it is accurate. Talk about nicotine addiction lol.

[FEV]

I remember a picture of Gary Bettenhausen in the pits at Indy for one of his last tries at the 500 (1992 ?). He was sitting in the car in the pitlane with overalls and helmet on, but still smoked a cigarette through a long plastic tube (similar to those used for drinking water during the race) ! Most incredible is that cigarettes are of course highly forbidden in every IndyCar pitlane due to the use of the highly inflamable methanol - I don't know how he got away with it.

[Kaha]

Originally posted by VDP
And how about Giovanni BRACCO during the MM 1952 smoking cigarette on cigarette with a lot of brandy and winning


Robert

I have read somewere that Bracco actually smoked 7 (seven!) packets of cigaretts during MM '52!
His codriver was acting more as a human cigarett lighter than anything else.

(I found it both amusing and annoying that the Bracco drive in MM '52 was missed in the MotorSport top 100 drives, he came second in a GT car just weeks after the model was introduced, the car had practicaly no race modifications, coming narly straight from the production line. And he still managed to score a second place against a bunch of pure racing sports cars)

[fines]

Originally posted by FEV
I remember a picture of Gary Bettenhausen in the pits at Indy for one of his last tries at the 500 (1992 ?). He was sitting in the car in the pitlane with overalls and helmet on, but still smoked a cigarette through a long plastic tube (similar to those used for drinking water during the race) ! Most incredible is that cigarettes are of course highly forbidden in every IndyCar pitlane due to the use of the highly inflamable methanol - I don't know how he got away with it.

USAC drivers quite frequently smoked in the pits, there are virtually zillions of photographs. Once (I believe in 1967?) the police (!) had a big "NO SMOKING" painted on the wall opposite of the Milwaukee pits, apparently to no good effect. Fags were far more common and more accepted than t*** in the pits...

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by twymanj
Jochen Rindt, there is a famous photograph of him smoking. Schlegenmilch i think?

No need for photos, there are frequent mentions in Motor Sport about Jochen's 'chain smoking'... perhaps one of the reasons Jenks was prepared to bet his beard?

[William Hunt]

I've read that Stirling Moss took great care of his fitness & health during his carreer, in contrast to some of his rivals. Moss was often seen with Craven A cigarettes because he was paid by them but he didn't actually smoke them. Only at the end of his carreer Stirling started to smoke & drink.

BTW : Mike Hawthorn was a pipe-smoker and also well known to be frequenting pubs in his spare time.

[William Hunt]

Alessandro Nannini was a chain smoker. He was criticised by his team, Benetton, for his lifestyle (woman, drinks & smokin').