Mika Hakkinen and Adelaide '95

It was while watching Barry McGuire's Car Crazy show on Sunday morning on Speed; he was interviewing the spongy curator of the Crawford Auto Museum, a whale of a working museum. While I say working, this legitimate museum collection of automobiles re-launched in 1970, posesses working automobiles, all of them. Those which aren't- are in progress with full machine shop and fabrication operations on site and a contingent of volunteer restorers. One of the treasures on site was a 1960's Formula 1 car driven by David Hobbs, loveable muck calling F1 races on Speed. This car was enroute to total restoration and our monkish curator tells of their hope that Mr. Hobbs will drive it in an upcoming vintage festival.

The connection is that David Hobbs contributes color commentary to Speed's coverage of Formula One events. He has done so since before 1995, I presume, but it was on an episode of "Formula One Decade" on Speed, inwhich races from 10 years earlier are aired, and David Hobbs, along with present day co-commentators Peter Windsor and Bob Varsha, called the race that day from the city of Adelaide in Australia, 1995.

So many famous names from this showing of the glittering world of Formula 1 racing: Coulthard, Hill, Moreno, and Mika Hakkinen, who would go on to win his own World Championship, and it was during qualifying Mika had a severe "off".

The temporary street circuit in Adelaide was used 51 weeks of the year as a horse training facility. But they sweep the sawdust up and paint the tarmack below and the races come to town. On the long straight section leading up to the pit entrance turn, Mika lost control of his car and swapped ends, leaving the track backwards, sliding over a large section of paved surface, off-track, it was painted with the giant logo of the local sponsor, "Foster's". This runoff area was purposefully installed to give drivers "another shot" at getting control of a car that was driven too deep into the turn and won't have to end their day being dragged from the kitty litter.

But Hakkinen hadn't braked yet, and when he clipped the inside wall during the run up to the braking zone, his car pirouetted slowly, crossing the track, and while in full view of the main straight grandstands, the car turned finally forward and slammed, nose first, into the tire wall below the turn's spectators.

Since the Hans device hadn't yet been introduced to F1, Mikka's head flew unrestrained into the steering wheel. The extent of his injuries, surmised by the first corner worker to reach the wreck, were life threatening. Mikka had collapsed his airway, was not breathing and was unconscious.
The alert corner worker performed a very controversial on-site trachiotomy, allowing Hakkinen to be evacuated to a local hospital and to ultimately recover fully- well, he won a World Championship.


-Katykarter