Auto Racing: With a Nudge for Luck

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The Ferrari snarled down the straightaway past the finish line, coasted through a slowdown lap, and eased into the pits. What's this? wondered Driver John Surtees when mechanics swarmed round, hugging, kissing, pounding him on the back. Then they began chanting "Campione del mondo! Campione del mondo!" and Surtees finally got the message. "Oh," he said.

"I did it, didn't I?" It was enough to confuse anybody. In one of the wildest finishes in racing history, Britain's Surtees became the 1964 Grand Prix champion—by the humbling margin of a leaky oil line and a bent exhaust pipe.

Going into the tenth and final race at Mexico City last week, three drivers were still battling for the championship, and it would have taken a mathematical wizard to figure all the possibilities. Under the complicated system of Grand Prix scoring (nine points for a first place, six for a second, four for third, etc.), Britain's Graham Hill was leading with 39 points, Surtees was second with 34, and Scotland's Jimmy Clark, the 1963 champion, had 30. Now, if Hill won, it was all over. But if Clark won and Hill and Surtees were out of the money, or if Surtees came in second while Clark and Hill—oh, never mind.

Fist in Anger. The starter's flag had barely fluttered when Clark shot into the lead, opening up a gap of 18 sec.

over the U.S.'s Dan Gurney, who had no chance at all for the championship. Hill was a careful third, and Surtees, off slowly, was fifth, hopelessly out of the running. Or so he thought.

Then luck took a hand—with a nudge from Surtees' teammate, Lorenzo Bandini. Running fourth, unable to pass Hill on the straightaways, the Italian picked the worst turn on the course, a tight hairpin, as a likely spot to make his move. Four times he tried to slip past; four times he failed—coming so close to Hill's B.R.M. that the Briton shook his fist in anger. On the 31st lap he tried again—and this time he slammed into the B.R.M., bounced it clear off the track into a fence. Tail pipes bent, title hopes shattered, Hill limped into the pits and exploded with rage: "Rank amateur driving. Inexcusable." That put Surtees fourth, but after 63 laps, Clark's Lotus was still far ahead, and the championship was surely his.

Suddenly a shout went up. Clark was merely coasting. An oil line had snapped. The Lotus was out of the race —just two laps from victory. Now all Surtees had to do was finish second behind Dan Gurney. Ferrari mechanics frantically signaled Bandini to slow down. Obediently, Bandini lifted his foot and Surtees shot past, crossing the finish line 69 sec. behind Winner Gurney.