#happy birthdaaay chriiiiiiis aaaaaaaaah!!!!!

[a-la-rascasse]

Happy birthday CHRIS AMON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (20/07/1943 - ∞) ⚡

Christopher Arthur Amon was born in Bulls, New Zealand, in a family of wealthy sheep-owners and he was their only child. Growing up on the family farm, he learned to drive at a young age: with the help of a farm worker, at only six years old, he learned to drive the tractor. After finishing his school years, at 17 years old, Chris' fascination with speed manifested itself: first he got his flight license and later he persuaded his father to purchase his first ever car, an Austin A40 special and took part in small local races and hillclimb competitions (and used to practise a lot on the family farm). With his family's support, he later bought a Cooper and then a Maserati 250F; but his talent started shining when he started driving the Cooper-Climax T51 (the same that Bruce McLaren used to win his first ever grand prix). The talented young Kiwi caught the attention of the English driver Reg Parnell, that asked him to join his team back in England, and subsequently a chance to enter in the world of Formula 1

Following a series of tests for the team Parnell, Chris made his debut at the Monaco GP in 1963, but luck didn't seem to be on his side (not even at his debut race ffs): his teammate's car, the French Maurice Trintignat, developed a misfire, so he had to take Chris' car. He stayed with the Parnell team until Reg's sudden passing. In 1965 Chris found himself without a seat so, fellow Kiwi Bruce McLaren, managed to get him to join Ford with him as a test driver, a very important step in his career. In that same period of time, he sporadically raced for different teams, but always as a replacement. But in 1966, he would go on and score his biggest achivement of his career: partnered up with Bruce, at the wheel of a Ford GT40, the two Kiwis won the prestigious 24 hours of Le Mans.

His recent success, put Chris under the spotlight and of course it attracted a lot of offers, but the one that appealed the most the young driver, was the one he got from Enzo Ferrari to drive for the Scuderia. As a Ferrari driver he really managed to show his driving skills, gaining a lot of podiums, but never managing to score a win: he often got let down by his machinery or suffered accidents, and not only in Formula 1, but many other competitions (12 hours of Sebring, 1000km of Monza or Nurbirgring); but in 1969 Chris won the Tasman Series driving for the Scuderia Veloce. After his stay with the Italian team, Chris made what was to be the first of several moves to smaller and newer teams like March, then the French Matra, the Italian Tecno and even tried to create his own team in 1974, the Chris Amon Racing, but unfortunately the car wasn't competitive enough, and later decided to abandon the project. His last F1 race would be the infamous '76 German GP, driving for Ensign: he retired from the race after he stopped to rescue Niki Lauda from his burning Ferrari, he later stated that he saw way too many drivers die in similar conditions and that he wanted to act. After rescuing the Austrian driver, Chris refused to restart the race, Morris Nunn, the team boss, decided to fire him for that, giving Chris a good reason to retire from F1, and go back to New Zealand.

In 1977, after being persuaded by Walter Wolf, he briefly took part in the Can-Am series, but later left his seat for the young and promising French-Canadian driver, Gilles Villeneuve.

After retiring he went back to New Zealand and for a long time dedicated himself in running the family farm, and later in the 80s he would appear test-driving cars in a TV programme called Motor-show. In 2016, Chris would pass away of cancer, at the age of 73.

Despite Gilles being 'discovered' by James Hunt, it was Chris that pushed Ferrari to sign the young driver, after witnessing his talent during the Can-Am series, stating that "No problem, take my word for it…this is your man".

About his 'bad' luck, Chris often stated, on several occasions, that he competed for a decade and a half in Formula 1 and survived some serious accidents, whilst others, including many friends, suffered serious injuries and death, so he actually never considered himself unlucky.

Despite not having won an official F1 race/World championship, he scored 11 podiums and he's regarded as one of the best drivers to have graced the sport, underlining once again that talent is what makes the difference.