Pictured is former F1 Williams and McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya. As a native Colombian he naturally has a nose for sniffing out cocaine. I'm not insinuating JPM was or is a cocaine user, it was just an easy joke due to the picture and him being from Colombia and all... Interestingly no Formula One driver has ever been busted for any kind of drugs, performance enhancing or recreational by random FIA drug testing. Tomas Enge tested positive for marijuana in 2002 after winning the F3000 championship, a year after he did 3 odd GP's with the Prost F1 team but other than that... nothing. The reason I decided to look into the matter was I was talking to somebody about good old James Hunt (F1 Champ 1976) the other day and that got me to thinking, as that dude liked to party. He was an alcoholic and openly enjoyed smoking a spliff as well as a bump of cocaine here and there. To calm his nerves before races it has been said by some that he would have a beer or two early in the day.
The only modern racer that comes close to Hunt-esque acts is Kimi Raikkonen, whom interestingly entered and won a snowmobile race in his native Finland under the assumed name "James Hunt". Räikkönen has openly admired the lifestyles of 1970s race car drivers such as Hunt.
Soon (in the next month or two) I will be unveiling my first new driver biography in a year or two, on the one and only James Hunt.
With that said, I will leave you with a vintage Hunt interview:
Classic!
2 comments:
Years ago, I think around '79-80 or so,American Indycar driver Salt Walther was arrested for cocaine possession, and it pretty much ended his career, as sponsors wouldn't touch him after that.
I'm guessing if it happened nowadays, a publicist would advise him how to "rehabilitate" his image.
That's a damn shame.
If something like that happened today I imagine you are completely correct. It may not end a career and it could possibly help the guy out.
I'm sure one day Kimi Raikkonen will walk out of a titty bar with coke-nose and his career won't be all that hurt.
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