1970 The Mighty McLaren
Car racer, designer, and manufacturer Bruce McLaren was killed when his McLaren M8D lost its back end at high speed and collided with an earthen embankment at the Goodwood racetrack in England.
Born the son of a truck driver in Auckland, New Zealand, McLaren contracted a childhood hip disease that would keep him in hospitals for three years of his early life. By the age of 14, he had recovered fully.
His father, a part-time mechanic with an interest in racing, helped Bruce build his first car. Bruce entered his first competitive event, a hill climb, when he was 15.
At 19, McLaren was picked by his mentor, successful Kiwi Grand Prix driver Jack Brabham, to serve as New Zealand's representative in the Driver in Europe Program. Bruce took quick advantage of the exposure, winning the Formula Two section in his first race at the trying Nurburgring track in Germany.
The following year he became the youngest man ever to win a Formula One Grand Prix event, a record that he still holds today. In 1961, he finished a close second in the World Championship race to his team leader at Cooper, Jack Brabham.
But Bruce McLaren didn't make his greatest impact on the track. By 1964, he was building his own race cars and aiding Ford's design team in its highly successful GT program. McLaren exhibited a gift for car design. In 1966, he won the 24 Hours of LeMans for Ford. In 1965, McLaren started his own Grand Prix racing team. He and his close friend and fellow driver, Denny Hulme, won three races in 1968 in McLaren-Fords.
Then McLaren turned his attention to the sports-car racing of the Can-AM Series. As the Can-Am Series grew, so too did the McLaren Team's domination of the event. After four impressive years at the top of the series, in 1969 the McLaren Team posted a clean sheet, winning 11 of 11 races. By entering his car in Formula One, Can-Am, and Indy Car events all in the same year, McLaren established his team as a success in diverse classes of racing. His peers regarded McLaren as a perfectionist.
He summed up his attitude toward the dangers of car racing eloquently: "To do something well is so worthwhile, that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone." In 1970, testing his newest Can-Am car, the M8D, McLaren lost his life pushing the limits of his abilities; the racing team that bears his name survives him as one of Formula One's dominant forces.