"You prepare yourself and your car in order to drive at the absolute limit, to be on the edge. The whole effort is done so that you can reach the point where it becomes dangerous."
—Niki Lauda
"The fear I have is the knowledge that I can be killed any time in a racing car. Because I enormously enjoy life, it makes me very sad that I have to live under that cloud all the time. "
—James Hunt
The two men had chased each other —hare and hound in the fragile cockpits of Grand Prix racing cars—across four continents, ten months, 15 highspeed races. One of them, Niki Lauda, the reigning champion of Formula I, had nearly given his life to the quest in a flaming crash at Germany's treacherous Nürburgring course. The other, James Hunt, racing's brash and rising star, had invested his considerable zest in the discipline needed to hone his talents. Only three points separated them—Lauda leading—in the contest for the World Driving Championship when they came to the final race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix. At the foot of Mount Fuji, the matter was decided, not on the track but in the minds of the two drivers. James Hunt took on the risk of racing through rain into fog-shrouded turns. Niki Lauda could not accept the dangers. Hunt finished the race in third place, scoring four points and claiming the driver's crown. Lauda pulled into the pits after one lap, surrendering his title and, with it, the mystique that drivers never bow to fear.
It was a skidding end to the most dramatic racing duel in recent memory. Lauda is a methodical Austrian whose technical brilliance and unflappable personality had brought stability—and a championship—back to Ferrari after a decade of decline. Hunt is the dashing Englishman who brought the verve of a swashbuckler to staid Team McLaren. Roundhead and Cavalier, a rivalry that seemed fated.
Early in the season, Lauda ticked off victories almost mechanically in South Africa, Brazil, Monaco. But Hunt was closing fast in his McLaren, polishing his driving skills with a newfound concentration. After divorce from Model Suzy Miller (who quickly became Mrs. Richard Burton), Hunt emerged as the only driver seriously to challenge Ferrari's domination. The drivers swapped trips to victory lane while their team managers swapped charges of cheating with wrenches and rule books. Although there was no bad blood between Hunt and Lauda, the rivalry intensified, and the racing world's attention was focused on the two men by the German Grand Prix on Aug. 1.
Nürburgring is the longest (14.2 miles), the most difficult (172 corners), and by far the most dangerous circuit in all of racing (nine Grand Prix drivers have died there). Uneasiness over safety at the track had been growing each year among drivers. Before the race, they met to decide whether or not to boycott the event. Niki Lauda voted not to race. Said he: "I felt that to risk a human life just to please the organizers of the race is not right. But the vote went against me, and I decided that I would go along with the majority."