Pat Hennen, The First American to Win a Grand Prix, Has Died at the age of 70.
Hennen became the first American racer to win a Grand Prix race when he won at Imatra in 1976-famously the FIM didn't have a copy of the American national anthem to play on the loudspeakers after Hennen's first win.
When Kenny Roberts went to Europe in 1978, he thought that his main rival for the title would be Barry Sheene. Instead, it was Sheene's "teammate" Hennen that Roberts was racing against most weekends.
"Tragedy" is an over-used word in racing today but Hennen's career-ending crash at the Isle of Man TT can only be viewed as a definite tragedy even without the horrible backstories as to why he was forced to race the TT when he was fully capable of winning the world championship in 1978. In fact, he and Roberts were separated by only a few points in the championship when Hennen was forced to race the ultra-dangerous TT.
Hennen suffered a major TBI (traumatic brain injury) in a fast crash on the Island. Over the years a number of stories circulated as to why Hennen crashed-the most popular story was that he was struck by a bird (taking the blow on his helmet) and fell at high speed. After numerous bird strikes at Phillip Island over the last 20 years it's pretty clear that a bird did not cause Hennen's injury, unless it was a Pterodactyl.
Hennen himself had no memory of the crash. The other person involved, Tom Herron, died in 1979.
Years later an eyewitness came forward and said Herron and Hennen collided forcing Hennen to crash.
Later in his life he was able to talk about the politics of the Suzuki team but he never lay blame where most suspected it should be placed when talking about the circumstances of how he was pressured into racing at the IOM TT. (Suzuki UK pulled his GP transporter but said he could have it back if he raced the IOM TT for them. Without a transporter he would not have the support that teammate Barry Sheene had and Hennen's mechanics would be back to working out of a glorified van. So he raced the Isle of Man. )
That Hennen, who was the fastest and most experienced American rider at the time of his crash, ended up disabled and struggling after being forced to race the IOM TT because of dirty team politics ... this, truly, is a tragedy.
13 апр 2024
