After forty years of working in Formula One, former McLaren team co-ordinator Jo Ramirez joins the millions of racing fans who watch the action on TV. Now writing for Atlas F1, Jo follows the 2002 season in a personal column, which comes straight from the heart of a guy who is, after all, just a racing man...

Once again Indianapolis was the setting for the American Grand Prix, and as Bernie said, if you are going to have a Grand Prix in the United States, better to have it in Indianapolis, which is synonymous with motor racing, than anywhere else. Let's hope it stays forever as, incredible as it may sound, the United States went for 8 years without a Grand Prix between 1991 and 2000, and with only one race in Dallas between 1983 and 1989!

I do not believe that there is a Grand Prix team that has not got a sponsor connection in one way or another in the United States, and therefore the F1 circus was crying out for a race there where at one time we actually enjoyed two GPs per year - the West, in Long Beach, and the East, in Watkins Glen. The 60s and 70s when the Grand Prix was at Watkins Glen, New York, were for me the best ones, and I always keep some fantastic memories from those years, although not all very happy ones.

We used to race in NY and then two weeks later in Canada, Mosport or Montreal, and all the teams travelled together and socialised together. Between us we used to organize tournaments in things like golf, tennis, bowling and billiards. I remember a particular year when I worked for Ken Tyrrell in which we won most of the events including the Grand Prix! In the U.S.A. the popular place to stay was the Seneca Lodge, a Hotel-cum-Motel-cum-Pub-cum-Restaurant where everybody used to meet after rebuilding days, or practice days, for food and drink and relaxation.

The owners of the Lodge, Jack, Jim and Mary, used to film all of us having fun and they would show the film the following year in an attempt to embarrass us (not an easy task amongst Formula 1 teams!) The best party was undoubtedly on Sunday night when traditionally the race winner bought the beer, and the Lodge was fired up and everything was unplanned and spontaneous. Maybe that was why they were always great parties.

These days nothing like this happens very often, and the teams rarely socialize with each other. Maybe because they have become so big that just one team on their own will fill up any restaurant! Also, the big teams' bosses sometimes don't like to see their men mixing with other teams' members - perhaps through being afraid of guys being poached from other teams or passing secrets! Myself, when I was the boss in smaller teams, used to encourage our mechanics to mix up with the big boys, to see what they do, to think like them as winners, and try to beat them, at least in the competitions outside the race track.

In later years, when the season used to finish in Adelaide, Australia, and often we (McLaren) won the championship, we always had a party at the Hilton Hotel where we invited all the teams until the place was full and kept it full until 4 am! We did try to establish a rule that the winner of the championship would automatically host the party after the last race, but somehow it did not seem to take on, and now the fun seems to have gone from Formula One.

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Talking about fun, the Grand Prix at Indianapolis last year was my last Grand Prix, and McLaren, together with our top sponsors, were kind enough to organize a fantastic farewell party in the Eiteljorg Museum. Although it was only two weeks after September the eleventh, which meant that a few of the key people who were involved in my racing career were not able to attend, about three hundred people were there, from all the teams and companies involved in the sport, plus a large number of Formula One drivers, past and present (I think I counted nine ex-McLaren drivers alone!) plus 6 of my 7 brothers who took me by surprise, arriving unannounced to the party! As you can imagine, this added considerably to what was already an emotional occasion...

It was really a remarkable and unforgettable event for which I will always remain thankful to the people who made it possible and to the girls in McLaren Marketing and Absolute Taste who organized all. Among the innumerable presents that I received was a 1/12 scale model of the 1991 ex-Ayrton Senna MP4/6 McLaren in silver/gilt from McLaren, with removable body and nosecone shell, and working steering and suspension all in immaculate detail and which I believe took over three thousand man hours to build. Needless to say it will be my most precious possession which I will always show with pride and memories of the 18 years that I worked for McLaren.

I also had a carbon fibre waterski and a full set of golf equipment with which to amuse myself during my retirement life on the Costa del Sol …. Yes, I have been very lucky.

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Last week I was in Spain looking into the progress of our house being built in Mijas and therefore I was not going to be able to watch the Grand Prix, since I believe that in Spain it is not transmitted on normal terrestial TV and you have to have or subscribe to special channels or gizmos. In any case, without even a roof over the head I thought there would be no chance to watch the race, until I remembered the Monza bar in Puerto Banus, a motor racing theme bar owned by the Dalli family whom I met few years back through Martin Brundle, himself a Marbella resident.

The bar, which is completely decorated with Ferrari memorabilia and photographs, except for a couple of Martin Brundle personal items like helmet and gloves, is next to their normal restaurant Dalli's Pasta House. To my surprise and delight, the race was showing on a big 3 x 2 metre screen, in a bar furnished with sumptuous leather chairs and sofas, plenty of beer and pizza, and an overwhelming majority of Ferrari fans. However, I was made welcome and it gave me great pleasure to leap up and cheer on the very few occasions when McLaren appeared to put one over on them, like after David Coulthard's pit stop.

The transmission finished before the press conference, and therefore I never really knew the real reason why the finish was such a cock-up, and not being able to read anything about it since, I am still completely puzzled. We all know that Ferrari will always orchestrate their own finish, since not being used to having this level of supremacy, they are unable to leave the race to unfold in the normal way. This time, however, was totally bizarre. Did Michael try to have neck and neck photo finish as they crossed the checkered flag, something never done? And did it all go pear-shaped as Rubinho saw the opportunity to get his own back for Austria?

I just don't know, I just think that is about time that Ferrari stopped cheating the public by starting racing again. Neither Williams nor McLaren have ever taken away their drivers' right to race in the times when their hard work had given them the supremacy now enjoyed by Ferrari. Once again, well done, Ferrari. Another pat on the back. You are great, you are the best, now you must entertain us again. Let's go racing...

I was delighted by another great drive from David Coulthard which put him first in class(!) and got the last podium place, but with a big warning! We must stop Ferrari from winning the Japanese Grand Prix, as they would then equal the McLaren record of fifteen wins in a season set by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1988. Let's face it, they have already broken enough records this year!

Sayonara, I will talk to you after Japan.

Jo X

About the author:
Jo Ramirez began working in Formula One in 1961, when he arrived to Europe from Mexico with his childhood friend Ricardo Rodriguez. He worked as a mechanic and a team manager with Dan Gurney, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ken Tyrrell and many others, before making McLaren his home for 18 years - where he worked as team co-ordinator between the years 1983 and 2001 and where he made life-long friendships with the sport's top drivers. Jo retired from F1 at the end of the 2001 season. He joined Atlas F1 as a regular columnist in February 2002.