Tom Pryce: The Welsh Driver Who Won Formula One's Race of Champions

Tom Pryce, who came from Wales, raced in Formula One from 1974 until his death in 1977. He became Wales's first Formula One race winner, at the 1975 Race of Champions, and he was known for his skill in wet conditions. His career ended at the 1977 South African Grand Prix, when a collision with a marshal killed both men.

Who was Tom Pryce?

Thomas Maldwyn Pryce came into the world on 11 June 1949 in Ruthin, a Welsh town in Denbighshire. Jack, his father, had flown with the Royal Air Force before joining the local police, and his mother, Gwyneth, was a district nurse. Pryce grew up with his parents and was known to friends by the nickname Mald.

His first interest in cars came when he drove a baker's van as a ten-year-old. Like many future drivers, he had a racing hero, the Lotus driver Jim Clark, and he was deeply affected when Clark was killed in 1968. After he left school at 16 his mother pressed him into a tractor mechanic apprenticeship, a safety net if racing failed.

His helmet reflected the same plain approach. It was white until 1970, when his father asked him to make it stand out in a pack of cars. He added five black vertical lines above the visor, and a Welsh flag went on the side in 1974.

Wales's first Formula One race winner, remembered for his wet-weather speed and for the 1977 accident that ended his life.

How did Pryce's early racing career begin?

Pryce's first steps came at Mallory Park when he was 20, where he was coached by Trevor Taylor, a former Team Lotus driver. He moved on to the Daily Express Crusader Championship, a series aimed at racing-school students in Lotus 51 Formula Ford cars, and he won its overall title in 1970.

That title brought a Formula Ford Lola T200 as the prize. The title was decided at Silverstone in a rain-soaked race, and his father recalled that Pryce always loved racing in the rain.

The following year he won the Formula F100 sportscar category in a manner the author David Tremayne called remarkably easy. Next came Formula Super Vee in a Royale RP9 and made his Formula Three debut for the same manufacturer at Brands Hatch.

What did Pryce achieve in the lower formulae?

In 1972 Pryce took an unfancied Royale RP11 to win the Formula Three support race for the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, beating established drivers including Roger Williamson, Jochen Mass and James Hunt. The margin was so large that other teams suspected the car was underweight, although the weighbridge used at the circuit had lapsed, and every car turned out to be underweight.

His season was disrupted at Monaco, when his car stopped in practice for the support race at Casino Square after a loose wire. While he was out of the car, Peter Lamplough lost control and struck the Royale, throwing Pryce into a shop window and breaking his leg. He was back racing within a fortnight.

Pryce also won the Formula SuperVee series by a comfortable margin, and he took pole position for the last three rounds of the 1972 Royale Formula Atlantic programme, winning the final round at Brands Hatch. In 1973 he added three Atlantic wins.

That year he raced in Formula Two with Ron Dennis's Rondel Racing team. He led the Norisring race until a brake failure cost him the lead, and he ended 1973 by winning the Grovewood Award for his efforts, although Pryce himself believed it could hurt a driver's career.

How did the Token and Shadow years begin in 1974?

Pryce reached Formula One at 25 with Token, a team that Tony Vlassopulos and Ken Grob had set up when the original outfit shut. His backing came from Titan Properties. His debut at the BRDC International Trophy was a difficult one, because the car lacked an airbox and an engine cover, and he was the slowest of 16 cars in qualifying.

His first World Championship start was in Belgium in 1974, where he qualified 20th. He stopped after 66 laps, having tangled with Jody Scheckter's Tyrrell. He was then refused entry to the Monaco Grand Prix as inexperienced, but Vlassopulos entered him in the supporting Formula Three race instead, and Pryce won it by 20.8 seconds.

He was then signed by Shadow to replace Brian Redman. He made his debut for the team in the Dutch Grand Prix, qualifying 11th, and in France he qualified third, just 0.32 seconds behind Niki Lauda's pole time. Each of those races ended early after collisions.

His first World Championship point came at the Nurburgring in Germany, the most demanding circuit on the calendar at the time. He finished sixth after starting 11th, and he ended the year tied for 18th in the Drivers' Championship.

What made 1975 a breakthrough year?

At the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in 1975, a non-championship event, Pryce took pole position and then won after a poor start. He passed Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx and closed to within eight seconds of Jody Scheckter, who led until his engine failed while Pryce chased him. That made Pryce the first driver from Wales to take a Formula One victory.

He showed more promise through the season, qualifying on the front row at Monaco and Silverstone, and taking pole position for the 1975 British Grand Prix. He also scored his first World Championship podium at the Austrian Grand Prix, in extremely wet conditions, and scored points on four further occasions that year.

The highest of those points came in Germany, where he finished fourth. Fuel had leaked into his cockpit during the final laps while he ran second to Carlos Reutemann, and the fumes left him in great discomfort. He was later given the Prix Rouge et Blanc award, named after Jo Siffert, for that drive.

The same year he also took part in the Tour of Epynt rally in a Lancia Stratos with Dave Richards. He crashed into a bridge early in the first stage, but he rejoined after his car was rebuilt.

How did the 1976 season go?

In 1976 Pryce added a second podium at the first round in Brazil, where his teammate Jean-Pierre Jarier was caught out by oil from James Hunt's McLaren. The Shadow DN5B then lost competitiveness after regulation changes, although he still scored a second points finish of the year in Britain.

The new Shadow DN8 arrived at Zandvoort, where Pryce qualified third and finished fourth, the last points finish of his career. The 1976 season closed with 12th place in the standings and 10 points, 59 adrift of champion James Hunt.

Before the 1977 season, Jarier left for ATS and was replaced by Renzo Zorzi, an Italian whose arrival brought sponsorship from Italy and eased Shadow's financial position. In the opening race in Argentina, Pryce was ninth on the grid and stayed with the leaders until a gear linkage failure, after which he was not classified.

What were Pryce's plans for 1978?

Rumours linked Pryce with a seat alongside Mario Andretti at Lotus for 1978, as his Shadow contract was due to end. A Lotus mechanic of the era later claimed the signing would have happened had Pryce lived, but Ronnie Peterson was hired instead at the last minute.

Those plans never reached a conclusion. Pryce was still with Shadow for the 1977 season, and his results were limited by reliability problems, including an engine failure in Brazil while he was running second.

What happened at the 1977 South African Grand Prix?

Pryce set the fastest time in the wet Wednesday practice at Kyalami, with a lap of 1:31.57. The track dried for the Thursday session and he dropped to 15th, but his main concern was the race itself. He made a poor start and was last by the end of the first lap, then climbed back to 13th by lap 18.

On lap 22 Zorzi's car stopped on the main straight with a fuel metering fault, and fuel began pumping onto the engine, which caught fire. Two marshals crossed the track to help, and one of them, Frederik Jansen van Vuuren, was 19 years old and carrying a heavy fire extinguisher. Hans-Joachim Stuck, who was ahead of Pryce, avoided them, but Pryce could not see Jansen van Vuuren in time.

Pryce hit the marshal at about 270 km/h (170 mph). The extinguisher was thrown back against his helmet, which was wrenched upward, and he died instantly. His car continued down the straight, struck Jacques Laffite's Ligier and went into the barriers, and Jansen van Vuuren also died in the incident.

Niki Lauda won the race, his first victory since the 1976 German Grand Prix crash that nearly killed him. He had first called it the greatest victory of his career, but once he learned of Pryce's death on the podium, he said there was no joy after that.

How is Tom Pryce remembered?

Pryce is remembered for his ability in wet conditions, and his performances earned him great respect in the Formula One paddock. In a 2016 academic study that modelled the relative influence of driver and machine, he was placed 28th among the greatest Formula One drivers ever.

His memory is kept alive by the Tom Pryce Award, which each year recognises Welsh figures whose work in motoring or transport has been outstanding. The Anglesey Circuit also named a straight after him during its redesign, at the request of Ruthin Town Council.

David Richards chaired a trust, formed in 2006, that set out to build a memorial in Ruthin. Neil Dalrymple, a local artist, designed a plaque measuring 8 by 4 feet (2.4 by 1.2 m). It was unveiled on 11 June 2009, which would have been Pryce's 60th birthday.