Happy Birthday Carlos Reutemann!

"Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge)" (thejonnyedge) 04/12/2014 at 20:54 • Filed to: FORMULA 1, FORMULA 1 HISTORY, CARLOS REUTEMANN

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Argentinian F1 driver Carlos Reutemann, one of a number of F1's "nearly men" turns 72 years old today.

Reutemann competed in 146 F1 races, notching up a whopping 45 podiums with 12 wins. By the end of his excellent career he had amassed 310 World Championship points, whilst placing consistently amongst the very top drivers fighting it out for the title. The 1981 season was particularly heartbreaking for Reutemann, missing out on the title in the final race. Notably, he is one of just four F1 drivers to achieve a pole position on his debut when he put his Brabham on pole in front of his home crowd in the 1972 Argentine Grand Prix.

Ferrari, Brabham, Lotus, and Williams F1 cars can all claim to have been piloted by Reutemann during his career, but he also drove in his native Rally of Argentina on a couple of occasions. At the wheel of a Fiat, and later a Peugeot, he drove superbly to take two third places positions. For a long time he was the only driver to score points in both F1 and WRC, until a certain Finn by the name of Kimi Raikkonen achieved the same feat.

After the conclusion of his racing career he became involved in politics, and he was eventually appointed Governor of Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a large and important province of Argentina, and whilst governing the region his profile grew to the point whereby he was being considered as a presidential candidate. To the disappointment of many he repeatedly declined to run for president. During his two stints as Governor of Santa Fe, he was popular with the people, and kept the province stable through difficult economic times, which deserves credit.

Carlos Reutemann appears to be a shining example of the phrase "you never know where life will take you". He could have been both a World Champion and a President. In the end he was neither, but that has never stopped him remaining popular with both the people of Argentina and F1 fans worldwide. It remains to be seen what he will do next, but until then... Happy Birthday Carlos! Have a Quilmes on me! Cheers!

jkm7680 > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/12/2014 at 16:24

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Happy birthday Carlos Reutemann. Have a Beer.

And a Dino for good measures.

And a Stripper. But I'm going to be Sfw here

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > jkm7680 04/12/2014 at 16:25

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I need to get you to organise my birthday parties!

jkm7680 > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/12/2014 at 16:26

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Haha, I've got it all.

Opponauts get free lap dances also.

wbizarre - OEM fetishist > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/12/2014 at 21:53

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That Ferrari reminds me of the Ford Indigo. Yum.

CALUSA > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 09:16

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The 1981 season was particularly heartbreaking for Retemann, missing out on the title in the final race.

Small mistake, Retemann = Reutemann.

Nevertheless, great article! Very informative.

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > CALUSA 04/13/2014 at 09:18

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Thank you for spotting that! I'll edit it now!

Thank you also for reading, I'm glad you liked it!

CALUSA > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 09:20

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No problem!

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > CALUSA 04/13/2014 at 09:24

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I composed this fairly quickly yesterday when I realised it was his birthday, so I didn't think it was particularly good! I'm very surprised it ended up on Jalopnik to be honest!

Kate's Dirty Sister > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 09:33

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"He could have been both a World Champion and a President. In the end he was neither"

macroturner > wbizarre - OEM fetishist 04/13/2014 at 12:13

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ohmygod thank you for turning me on to this

how have i not known about the indigo thus far

this is me right now

wbizarre - OEM fetishist > macroturner 04/13/2014 at 12:16

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Ha, you must not have played Need For Speed 2!

macroturner > wbizarre - OEM fetishist 04/13/2014 at 13:00

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Nope!

wbizarre - OEM fetishist > macroturner 04/13/2014 at 13:07

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Ok, then just in case, let me throw a few of these your way. NFS2 had some weird, awesome, and now-forgotten concept cars.

Isdera Commendatore 112i , probably my favorite of all of them.

Lamborghini Cala, it's like looking a the Gallardo's embryo in 1995.

ItalDesign Nazca C2, what a BMW supercar could have been.

Ford GT90 is pretty well-known, but I'll just throw it in the mix.

macroturner > wbizarre - OEM fetishist 04/13/2014 at 13:09

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<3

I wish the newer NFSes would have the crazy concept cars of autoshows past.

CALUSA > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 15:49

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Jalopnik knows what is good and what is not haha

Grant Leavitt > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 19:21

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my dad went to the 1978 USGP at Watkins Glen, which Carlos won. He has slides from that race and the 1977 USGP at Watkins Glen, as well as Formula 5000, Formula Atlantic (or whatever it's called), and other series, from Bridgehampton to Pocono to Watkins Glen to Lime Rock.

Grant Leavitt > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 19:21

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Happy birthday, Carlos!

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > Grant Leavitt 04/13/2014 at 19:33

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Wow that's fantastic, is it possible to make digital copies of them? I'm not sure how technology works with this kind of thing.

Grant Leavitt > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 19:38

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My father has been hard at work with his Epson scanner, which comes with a slide-holding device that fits on the glass of the scanner, then he closes the lid and let's the software do the work, right from Photoshop. He even printed me out a few to show some friends. I posted a couple to my Instagram, let me see if I can dig them up!

Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > Grant Leavitt 04/13/2014 at 19:39

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Fantastic! I'm so glad that as technology moves forward we can put these things onto out next level of engineering and by doing so preserve them. Technology is so amazing!

Grant Leavitt > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 19:41

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Ronnie Peterson driving the 1977-spec Tyrrell 6-wheeler.

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James Hunt in 1977:

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Niki Lauda, also in 1977:

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Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) > Grant Leavitt 04/13/2014 at 20:36

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Thanks for these Grant they're awesome! But I think you repeated James Hunt twice by mistake there? I'll hit you with a follow on instagram too!

Grant Leavitt > Jonny Edge (@thejonnyedge) 04/13/2014 at 22:05

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you are right... i could have sworn i posted the niki Lauda image... lemme go grab that again

Niki Lauda, 1977, take TWO.

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