Car Guy Magazine Car Guy Magazine Issue 1014 | Page 56

Davis was on hand over the
weekend to help Stewart in and out
of the vehicles he would drive in the
parade laps. His respect and loyalty
to Stewart is as strong today as it
was from the outset: “[Jackie] was
unbelievable. He was so smooth,
and easy on the car. He had an aura
about him, you could tell he knew
what he was doing, what he wanted.
Straightaway we could tell he was a
different man to the normal run. We
did our utmost to do everything the
best, to make sure the cars were safe
and as well-prepared as could be.”
Davis, too, is marked out for his belief in relationships. Joining Tyrrell in
1960 he left in 1998, when he retired.
According to Hadfield, motorsport of the 1960s forced close
bonds: “We tend to remember all
the very best of that period, viewing
it through rose tinted spectacles. The
bits that were gruesome we gloss
over. It was frankly dangerous to be
a driver. There was a two in three
chance you would not survive. The
result was a greater element of skill,
a greater element of inter-personal
relationship.”
Davis describes the racing team
of the ‘60s as a family. Stewart agrees:
“The culture was different. It was a
tight group of people. Closer, more
respectful, deep friendships.” That
sense of community spread beyond
individual teams. There was little
secrecy. A naïve or innocent sense
that everyone was in it together and,
even if competitors, together they
could do better, as Davis explains:
“If another team needed to borrow
something they would stop by the

54 CarGuyMagazine.com