F1 legend James Hunt accomplished a slew of things in his career as an F1 driver and as a man in general. He won the 1976 championship, and counted ten career wins as a driver on the circuit. He enjoyed a successful career as a racing commentator, and once said “bullshit” on the air to describe a French driver’s excuse for his poor performance.
Sporting Heroes of Yesteryear: James Hunt
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↵This made him inestimably popular with British racing fans, as you might imagine. He also became a first-rank breeder of parrots and budgies, happily handed Richard Burton his first wife to marry, and often showed up to formal occasions shirtless, drunk, and barefoot without anyone minding too much. (There’s a lot here, especially for someone who died at 45.)
↵Yet this may be James Hunt’s most notable achievement of all. From the Daily Mail, describing the run up to his championship clinching race at the Japanese Grand Prix and his return to his long-suffering girlfriend in England:
↵↵She had been seeing Hunt for nearly a year, but had no idea he’d bedded 33 British Airways hostesses and countless young Japanese fans during his two-week stay in Tokyo.
↵↵Until the tales of Jeremy Shockey’s pre-Super Bowl preparations come to light in memoirs still a decade away, this must stand as the gold standard of preparatory athletic decadence. (He was drinking heavily and doing cocaine, too, but you’d have to in order to keep that pace.)
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