Sad to hear. I was too young to remember Niki Lauda but one couldn’t avoid the celebrity of James Hunt and Suzy at the time. “Rush” is among my favorite movies.

 

 

Way back in the early '90s I was in Seattle. I was staying downtown. I had an early morning meeting so I left my hotel room early to catch the elevator down to grab a bite.

The elevator door opens and inside was a slight man with a red Parmalat hat on his head. By the time we reached the lobby the elevator was full. No one realized who that man was.

I was seated next to Mr. Lauda both days I was in Seattle. We chatted.

I think he really enjoyed being in a place where no one knew who he was (except for the odd F1 fan). I was a Lauda fan prior to the meeting...more so after our morning chats.

 

Thx for sharing this. I had just started my airline career in late 1990 and began flying B757s in 1994 & B767s in 1996. I had forgotten this tragedy. Niki was an amazing man, driver, businessman, and human being. God rest your soul sir, and comfort your family.

 

What an inspiration to all of us, both in motorsports and in real life. Making the call to not race in the downpour when a championship was on the line shows real conviction and courage, and showed F1 that safety needed to be addressed more than it was. A lot of racers would have just gone round and round to maybe get some points and win the championship but he knew what the right thing to do was and did it. That's the mark of a real hero. Combine that with stating in public that he would willingly fly the same Boeing aircraft that had crashed if Boeing would apply the thrust reversers, knowing that it would crash as it had on all the simulator flights he had done after the crash of one of his planes, caused Boeing to state it was not pilot error, it was their fault. His actions on and off the track have saved countless lives.

 

Dedicated to the losers...

 

Very Wise Man!