Eoin Young: Forza Amon! A Biography of Chris Amon

Reviewed by BOB PEARCE

Chris Amon is probably better known these days as Toyota's car tuner in television advertisements than as a Formula One motor-racing star. He was famous before TV started creating instant celebrities.

His achievements were never as celebrated in New Zealand as they were in Europe, where Italian fans would chant the title of this biography as he drove for the famed Enzo Ferrari.

Amon was the name tagged on behind Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme in that glorious era of New Zealand motorsport heroes. McLaren won grand prix and designed his own cars; Hulme was world champion; Amon was famous for never winning a Formula One grand prix.

Bad luck, rather than lack of talent, was the problem and few drivers were more respected by their peers.

Former world champion Sir Jackie Stewart puts it this way in his introduction to this biography: "Chris Amon was one of the best racing drivers I ever knew or saw in action.

"Why Chris never won a grand prix is a conundrum that few people who were around at the time will ever fathom. It was nothing to do with his driving abilities. Somehow he never went to the right team at the right time, never chose the right engineers or team managers to drive with or for.

"Had he found his niche, a lot of other drivers of that period would have had much more to contend with and certainly would not have won as many races."

Eion Young is uniquely qualified to chart Amon's progress from a farm near Bulls to the famous motor-racing circuits of the world and back to the farm, where he resumed country life with his family after retirement in 1976.

Young was there as a journalist most of the way, and has been able to draw on the recollections of other contemporaries.

Amon himself dispels some myths and illuminates some of his most hair-raising moments in the self-effacing style, which has been his hallmark.

There is plenty of technical and racing detail for the motorsport enthusiast, but never too much to discourage the general reader. And there are some very human touches, in particular the letters to the teenaged Amon's parents from Reg Parnell, who ran his first Formula One cars in Europe.

The high point of Amon's motor-racing career came in 1966, when he and Bruce McLaren won the Le Mans 24-hour race in a Ford GT.

Even that was controversial - they had been expected to share an arranged dead heat with team-mates Denny Hulme and Ken Miles, but McLaren's competitive instincts scotched that.

When Amon started racing, there were no seatbelts, flame-resistant overalls or proper crash barriers, and each season took its toll on the top drivers.

As Amon says: "They always said that I was unlucky, but I suppose, at the end of the day, I'm luckier than a lot of them. I'm still here."

* HarperSports, $39.99