Niki Lauda in Balaclava
The years I photographed Formula One coincided with the return of Niki Lauda. Nearly killed in a horrific accident at the Nurburgring in 1976 he still wore the scars of the fire. When I first saw him in 1982 he had already won two world championships and his fierce intelligence and driving skill were legendary. I found his intensity magnetic. Once I gave him some photographs I had taken. He said nothing, looked at the pictures briefly and handed them to an aide. I continued to photograph him whenever I could and he neither acknowledged my presence nor avoided me. A couple of years later Deborah Gregg introduced us. He looked right through me and I had a sense that he was analyzing and classifying. Again, he didn’t speak a word. I got the slightest nod of recognition and he turned away.
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