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I just stumbled across an interesting piece of history...

In the sixth lap of the 1973 South African Grand Prix, Jackie Stewart allegedly overtook Peter Revson under a yellow flag which was waved following to the third-lap crash of Clay Regazzoni. Whilst Hailwood came to the aid of the Swiss driver engulfed in flames, Stewart passed all cars ahead of him on the track went on to take victory. McLaren & Revson entered a formal protest after the race. The stewards originally agreed there had been a violation and issued a reprimand to the winner (who nevertheless remained the winner), but Stewart and his team appealed that decision and were ultimately found innocent as the overtaking manoeuvre was, according to them, completed before the yellow flag zone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlLqlD85IAo#t=8m15s

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‘Ayrton had taken pole and now Alain said to me: “where the f*** did he find that time? How the hell can he be that quick?” In the corner, Senna…he looked up and winked at me. Ayrton had a look in his eye that said, “I’ve done it.”
Jo Ramírez

Interesting scenario, but I'll have to assume the stewards were correct. If it was before the yellow flags then there's nothing wrong with it.

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I also have one of these.

The commentator certainly didn't think it was a legal move although maybe he was more upset on the principle of Jackie's actions.

If it had been a backmarker, and not Jackie Stewart, I wonder if the stewards' decision would have been the same?

Human nature to favour fame/celebrities. Thinking of Fangio's two wins gained after an illegal pitstop (1954 Argentina) and a push-start (1956 Argentina), plus Patrese's totally unfairly getting blamed/banned for the 1978 Monza crash, because two famous personalities, Chapman and Hunt, decided Ricardo was to blame. It was actually the track design that caused the multi-car crash, after which Peterson died. Some of Schumacher's and Ferrari's doings have also been questionably handled/decided on.

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http://grandprixratings.blogspot.com

Very true.

For example, we all have heard people praising Senna stopping his car to aid Comas, but I had never heard of Hailwood's case (first saw it in this video), getting himself on fire while trying to help the other driver...

I think the difference in Hailwood's case was that it was race day, and his car was caught up in the shunt and he was out of the race anyway, whereas Senna stopped voluntarily during Friday qualifying... which begs the question...if they (Stewart and co.) were such safety heroes in those days, as has been suggested (well by Jackie himself at least), why didn't others stop? I guess there were points at stake which were considered more important.......

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‘Ayrton had taken pole and now Alain said to me: “where the f*** did he find that time? How the hell can he be that quick?” In the corner, Senna…he looked up and winked at me. Ayrton had a look in his eye that said, “I’ve done it.”
Jo Ramírez

Hailwood jumped in the fire. To save someone. In them 70's death traps. Can't think of anything more gallant than that. Yet, hardly a mention

Yep, true... Oh well it's been mentioned here now at least....too little too late for that amount of bravery...

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‘Ayrton had taken pole and now Alain said to me: “where the f*** did he find that time? How the hell can he be that quick?” In the corner, Senna…he looked up and winked at me. Ayrton had a look in his eye that said, “I’ve done it.”
Jo Ramírez

Good points raised about Hailwood's bravery that day at Kyalami in 1973. In 1974 Denny Hulme was the first driver on the Revson crash scene at Kyalami, and tried to help, but also hardly got a mention. Imagine the tv news and newspaper front pages if Fangio, Moss, Clark ,Stewart or Senna, Schumacher had stopped to help at a crash scene?

The news media only want to publish what/who SELLS. Who has heard of Hailwood, Patrese, Purley (who tried to right Roger Williamson's car when it was burning at Zandvoort)?

TV/media and the popular fan-base which needs heroes almost as a form of religious worship, have made this the age of the celebrity, the famous. Any others are also-rans (read: 'losers', such an ugly term), which is a shame, because so many very talented, competent people are ignored.

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http://grandprixratings.blogspot.com

Most similar case was when Arturo Merzario, Brett Lunger, Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl extracted Lauda from his burning Ferrari at Nurbrurgring in 1976. They saved his life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piFtNVh-JSA

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I'm a racing driver. Always was, always will be.

Purley was a well documented incident. I agree with the rest

And of course the race-starter not bothering to check if the midfield had actually reached their grid-slots.

According to wikipedia he got the George Medal.

Also according to wikipedia, Regazzoni (67) and Hailwood (41) both died in car accidents involving lorries. To be fair probably half of fatal car accidents involve lorries but still. Weird.

In fact it was a big issue at the time that was much in the news. Hailwood had a massive reputation from when he was a motorcyclist, and that event only added to it. He was the sort of person who wouldn't have hesitated anyway, and he was presented with a medal for it.

Peterson died from an embolism in hospital, which should have been avoidable. So many stupid things happened at race events in those days, of which Roger Williamson was the worst I can remember.

Apologies, I should have been more specific, I meant nowadays. People remember a few selected incidents, but other noteworthy are often neglected.