The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 204

05 LOTUS 1 JIMMY CLARK: A LEGACY THAT By BOB COLLINS DURING the month of May in Indianapolis party chairmen and would-be hosts and hostesses frantically scour the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, hoping to land a race -any race driver-as the main attraction at their big party. The invitations are many, the acceptances few. Race drivers are busy men. They consider the cockpit of their race cars their offices. They spend the day at the track and when 6 p.m.

arrives they are tired, just like other working men. Thus, they keep their party appearances to a minimum. But the Jim Clark Award committee has no problem landing racing celebrities. The 10th annual Jim Clark dinner will be Thursday at the Indianapolis Athletic Club. The guest list is limited to 200.

And the list of previous winners of the award who will attend reads like the speakers table at an auto racing Hall of Fame dinner. Their names and faces would be recognized anywhere in the country-in some cases, the world. Previous winners were: Johnny Rutherford, Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, the late Peter Revson, Bobby Allison, Peter DePaolo, Wally Dallenbach, Tom Sneva and Clarence Cagle. The 1978 winner will be announced at the RACES ON THE AWARD has little monetary value. The recipient will receive 33 Churchill crowns in a flashed brilliantly, if all too briefly, in auto racing.

At the time of his death, April 7, 1968, on a track persons- -all angry, of course. The irate visitors were shoutContinued on Page 27 leather purse and a scroll. In the at Hockenheim, Germany, he was traditional closing ceremony, the recognized as the greatest racing most immediate past winner will driver in the world. Many said he slip a jacket, made of the Clark was the greatest of all time. family tartan, onto the shoulders of the newest member of one of RACE drivers live with acciauto racing's most exclusive dents and death.

But Jim's fatal clubs. accident sent shock waves Rules for entering are restric- through the racing world. He tive in their simplicity. They read drove with such superb skill, with that the award shall be given such complete control of himself annually "to the person in racing and his machine it just didn't who by his conduct, both on and seem possible that he would die in off the track, best exemplifies the a race car. spirit of Jim Clark." Almost to a man, the racers The man is selected by his said, "Something must have peers, the previous winners.

And broken." It simply didn't enter the vote must be unanimous. (In anyone's mind that Jim would the early years the selections make a mistake. were made by a panel of news Clark was a shy man with media representatives. But each simple tastes. He actually was year one dropped off and was embarrassed by his fame.

He replaced by a Clark Award win- genuinely loved to help people and ner.) The winners take the voting his small acts of kindness and seriously, sometimes agonizing attempts to aid those less successfor weeks before selecting a ful were not forgotten. winner. Jim's funeral at Duns, in the The award ceremony is a poi- Scottish countryside he loved, was gnant moment. And it almost is a attended by mourners from all sure bet the winner will speak over the world. sincerely, sometimes emotionally, I witnessed an incident which about Jim Clark and what the showed the impact he had on Clark was a shy Scot award means to him.

other people. A few months after Who, then, was the man whose Jimmy when accepting honors, but Jim was killed I was in a hotel confident in his name inspires such respect from lobby at Monza, Italy, noted for, racer (top). a group of athletes known for among other things, its auto ractheir go-it-alone philosophy? ing. The hotel had overbooked by Jim Clark was a meteor who what appeared to be 1,000.