Formula One legend Niki Lauda died the other day, killed in a racing accident that happened 43 years ago. And, yes, the Blob understands how off-kilter that sounds.
Nonetheless, there is more than a particle of truth in it. Everything that killed him, after all, traces back to a fiery 1976 crash at the Nurburgring, when Lauda spent a minute or so trapped in a hellscape that burned off most of one ear and fried his lungs when he breathed in pure flame.
That he lived through all that, and miraculously returned to the race car just six weeks later, is chronicled in the 2013 Ron Howard film "Rush," about Lauda's duel with British driver James Hunt that epic season. Daniel Bruhl's fine portrayal of Lauda undoubtedly is why far more Americans know who he was than otherwise would have, Americans being the generally parochial lot they are.
In any case, Lauda recovered, but not really. The accident stole some incalculable amount of vitality from him, and it's a virtual certainty that had it not happened he wouldn't have died this week at the relatively young age of 70.
He died as an airline mogul and an F1 icon who won three world championships, the last in 1984. McLaren lured him out of an early retirement that year, an early retirement that was surely another legacy of that nightmare day in Germany. And so when Lauda died Monday, McLaren sent its condolences.
A fair amount of irony attaches to that. Because McLaren could have sent itself a few condolences at the same time.
Lauda's death, after all, came a day after McLaren failed to put two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso in the Indianapolis 500, through no fault of Alonso's. The McLaren Indy effort was a thrown-together clown show from beginning to end, and a major disservice to a driver as accomplished as Alonso. This surely comes as no particular surprise to anyone who's kept track of McLaren's F1 program, which gave Alonso certified mutts to drive last season, and continues to lag well behind the big three constructors -- Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull -- so far this season.
Lauda's death only further illuminates how far a proud and once-dominant team has fallen. If what happened last weekend at Indy didn't already.
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