Shunt by Tom Rubython

Author:Tom Rubython [Rubython, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780956989376
Publisher: The Myrtle Press
Published: 2012-01-30T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 28

Reigning world champion 1976-1977

Vast riches beckon the champion

James Hunt’s championship year really started when he stepped onto the Japanese Airlines Flight 421 from Tokyo to London late on Monday evening. He caught the flight along with most of the rest of the Formula One community after 24 hours of non-stop partying following his world championship victory.

After the flag had dropped and Hunt had done his media interviews, the partying got started – all arranged and paid for by Philip Morris’ John Hogan.

Hogan was a winner no matter what the outcome in Mount Fuji that day. Obviously, he preferred Hunt and his own Marlboro-sponsored McLaren team to win, but, if not, it would not have been a complete disaster. Niki Lauda was a Marlboro-sponsored driver so the cigarette company would still have had reason to celebrate – just with a different driver and a different team.

Hogan had arranged it so.

And he also had some celebrating of his own to do. After nearly five years at Philip Morris, he had turned its Formula One sponsorship into a dominant one. And in turn, sales of Marlboro brand cigarettes were taking off across Europe and the rest of the world. The sponsorship was incredibly successful, and when Hunt won the world championship by one point and then straightaway lit up a Marlboro in the pit lane, it really couldn’t get much better – especially for a marketing man like Hogan.

It all looked like a carefully crafted plan coming together, but Hogan knew it could all have been so different, and kept a detached reality intact around him that day. At least until the chequered flag dropped. When Hunt took third place that afternoon in Japan, Hogan knew that reality would go out of the window for the next few days.

The parties came first. As well as a huge sponsorship budget, Hogan also commanded an equally big activation war chest. That budget covered everything outside the actual running of the team and paying the drivers. In the old days, when Marlboro had first come into the sport in 1972, the activation budget had exceeded the money spent on sponsorship by as much as 500 per cent.

Now it was more modest, but there was plenty for the parties that were to follow Hunt’s victory. Hunt led the celebrations from the front. And if he flagged, another world champion, Barry Sheene, would take up the cudgels. Together, the two world champions celebrated like they never had before. Girls were falling at their feet, and it was the start of a magical 48 hours for both men.

It started as dusk fell at the Fuji Lodge, a hotel adjacent to the circuit. Hogan had booked the hotel’s biggest function room to get things started that night and, although the celebration was principally for the McLaren team and Marlboro guests, everyone in the paddock was invited. There was unlimited liquor and the tables were laden with food.

The festivities went on late into the night. Everyone then went back to the Tokyo Hilton, where another huge room had been booked for another party.

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