He won the world Formula One championship for Ferrari in 1964. Before that he won four world motorcycle championships. He is the only racer in history to win world championships of both two and four wheels. I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting John about 25 yrs ago when he was in Toronto as a guest at an auto promotion. At the time I had a gig as a part time automotive journalist and used to write about vintage cars/racing so I got to hang out with him and have a couple of pints with John and just one other journalist. He had a lot of amazing stories about the Ferrari organization at the time. Enzo hired him for around $6000 a year plus a % of race prize, but as he was a trained mechanic, he was also expected to work in the shop during the week. He was a very modest man, down to earth with a classic British sense of humor. He had a British working class upbringing and never lost sight of his background despite his success. Compare that to the spoiled brat multi millionaire F1 drivers of today.

Everybody has heard of Ferrari, but a lot of the people in the Ferrari story are nearly forgotten. RIP John.


https://www.theguardian.com/...ees-formula-one-dies