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Home > Junk Male > March 2012 > James Hunt: A Junk Male Tribute (Part 2)

James Hunt: A Junk Male Tribute (Part 2)


During the 1976 Grand Prix season, there was controversy; race bans; allegations of cheating; counter-allegations; and just about every twist and turn imaginable. There was even the wholly dramatic – and almost fatal accident – of James’ adversary, Niki Lauda at the Nürburgring.


But I’m already getting ahead of myself. What of our hero, James Hunt? Well, where do you even begin, in a bid to pay tribute to a legend that was so much larger than life itself? How do you even attempt to distil a mans’ character into a simple blog, when that character was positively labyrinthian in complexity? 


It’s not going to be easy, because to try and understand James Hunt properly, means addressing his foibles and weaknesses too – and not in the lurid pursuit of sensationalism – but because it was precisely those flaws that added to the uniqueness of the man. It’s what gave him his facets, edges, and allure. His addictions and shortcomings gave him even more depth. A complex character? Definitely. Flawed? Unarguably. Boring? Not in a million years.


Here was a man of stark contrasts: One moment he could be flinging a Marlboro McLaren M26 around a rain-sodden Fuji circuit, and the next, he’d be lovingly tending to his prized collection of budgerigars (that he used to take to exhibitions and shows in the back of an Austin A35 van). That’s all true by the way; James Hunt – the committed drinker and hell-raiser was a collector of budgies – and a good one too, by all accounts.


He could vacillate wildly between being charming and rude; sexist and sensitive; thoughtful and obnoxious; over-bearing and unsure – without ever appearing untrue or schizophrenic. He simply seemed to act exactly as he felt at the time. Whilst most of us possess a ‘social-filter’ that makes us moderate our behaviour for polite society… this filter was missing from James. In some ways, this could be viewed as a positive, because you’d certainly know where you stood with him. But it’s nonetheless fascinating to read reports from all the different people that were in James Hunts’ orbit, and to hear how his moods and conduct were interpreted by them at the time, and what effect it had on those around him.


But before we load the paintbrushes and start to flesh-out both the light and the shade of the man – let’s get the sound-bites out of the way. Throughout his career, a certain repetition of key-phrases could be relied upon, to give a snapshot of James Hunt: maverick, bohemian, rule-breaker, arrogant, stubborn, toff, unconventional, alcoholic, substance abuser (cocaine and marijuana), glamorous, hot-head, serial womaniser, non-conformist, eccentric, sensitive, volatile. All of these were accurate, but were lazy epithets that didn’t even begin to scratch the surface.


Murray Walker – who commentated with James Hunt on Formula 1 races for thirteen years, was widely lambasted for issuing a rather controversial ‘tribute’ to James, that borrowed some of the phraseology from above, after Hunt’s untimely death on 15 June 1993. But Walker knew him better than most, and it simply wasn’t pragmatic or truthful to gloss over any of James’ shortcomings – they were for better or worse – what made him the man he was. 


To be continued…


James Hunt ‘Jolly Horny’ Hesketh Racing T-Shirt available in limited edition from Junk Male Clothing <here>
 

by Junk Male on March 06, 2012