Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Jean-Marie Balestre

Ex-FISA President Jean-Marie Balestre has died last week at the age of 86, as the ex-Motorsports journalist was known as the thorn in Bernie Ecclestone’s posterior…

When I first began following Formula 1, this most vocal Frenchman was the ONLY person of stature on the F1 grid with the audacity to tell Bernie to go stick it where the sun doesn’t shine, or more succinctly; F%%K YOU! Bernie…

Ironically, while Emperor Bernardo’s prodigy, Err, whipping boy Sir Maxxum has been accused of having his jollies while playing War games with some Germans… Jean Marie himself allegedly was in cahoots with the Nazi’s during World War II, which later became the basis of numerous slander-suits against Monsieur BLUSTERY…

As I recall him being a real Horses Arse or as Aunty Harriet sez: “The East end of a Horse going West!” when it came to his high-handed ways of manipulating not only Grand Prix, but those surrounding it, having even infuriated the brash Ayrton Senna.

Yet for all of his strong armed tactics during his reign as F1 supremo, Balestre did manage to get rid of the most UGLIEST and potentially dangerous chassis of Formula 1, when he finally managed to have the 1980-82 sliding skirts, no wings, rock hard suspension cars permanently banned. JMB was also the mastermind who returned F1 to normally aspirated engines as the turbocharged cars were becoming overly powerful…