LETTERS
I’m excited to have received the June issue, containing articles on two of my favourite motor sport heroes, Hans Stuck [The Motor Sport Interview] and Jarno Saarinen [Motorcycles].
Max Oxley is correct in speculating that motorcycle racing might have been very different had Jarno Saarinen survived his accident. I read an interview with Jarno’s wife, Soeli, in which she stated that Saarinen was contemplating retirement at the end of the season if he lifted the 500cc title – shades of Jochen Rindt, another Monza victim.
Bike racing history might have looked different had
Jarno Saarinen not suffered his Monza crash in 1973
If Jarno had indeed returned to the family funeral business in Finland, it’s likely Giacomo Agostini would have become Yamaha’s second 500cc world champion. Had he continued, I still believe it’s possible Saarinen and Agostini could have been team-mates in 1974. It’s a matter of record that Agostini and 1973 MV team-mate Phil Read didn’t get along and I doubt if the Italian would have fancied another season as team-mate to the British rider.
I believe Hans Stuck’s memories of 1977 are a little fuzzy. I seem to remember it was the 320 Turbo that he crashed at Brands Hatch and not a 2002 as he recalls. He also seems to conflate the two US Grands Prix he contested that year. The events he recounts, leading the race until crashing out due to clutch issues, occurred at his last race for Brabham, the 1977 US Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen, not his first at Long Beach.