Niki Lauda was born into a wealthy paper-manufacturing family in Vienna that disapproved of his interest in racing. Undaunted, he began racing Minis in 1968. In 1971, he secured a loan against his life insurance policy to buy his way into the March Engineering Formula Two team.
It was a bet that perfectly captured the man: cold, calculating, utterly fearless. Lauda didn't race on instinct or bravado — he raced on data, discipline, and a willingness to risk everything.
By 1975, he was dominant, winning five races to capture his first World Championship with Ferrari. In 1976 he was even better. He won four of the first six races, finishing second in the other two. By mid-season he had more than double the points of his closest challenger, and a second consecutive World Championship appeared a formality. Then came the first of August.
On August 1, 1976, during the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring — nicknamed "The Green Hell" — Lauda lost control of his Ferrari, which hit an embankment and burst into flames. He was trapped inside for nearly a minute before fellow drivers Arturo Merzario, Guy Edwards, Harald Ertl, and Brett Lunger pulled him from the wreckage.
The cruelest irony: Lauda had voiced concerns about the unsafe conditions and even called for the race to be cancelled. He was outvoted. He started anyway.
Four brave drivers and a marshal plunged into the towering inferno and hauled out the smouldering body. In hospital, with first to third degree burns on his head and wrists, several broken bones and lungs scorched from inhaling toxic fumes, Niki Lauda was given up for dead and administered the last rites by a priest.
"I got so upset that I put more effort into not dying because of this incident with the priest." — Niki Lauda
Legend has it that the presence of the priest and the final blessing actually spurred Lauda to fight harder. Within days of regaining consciousness, he was demanding updates on the championship standings. His rival James Hunt was closing the gap. Every race Lauda missed, Hunt won.
He sustained burns that cost him his eyelids, half of an ear, and large portions of his scalp. He limited the facial reconstruction surgery because he was impatient to return. Once his eyelids were functional, he began preparing for his comeback.
Ferrari's team had expected Lauda to be out for the rest of the season at minimum. He arrived at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix on 12 September 1976, just 42 days after the fire. Bandages still covered parts of his burns. His racing helmet had to be modified with extra padding to avoid pressing on raw skin. Every gear change sent pain through his damaged hands.
On his first day of practice, fear crept in. When he felt the Ferrari sliding beneath him, Lauda — the man who always drove with his head — admitted he was scared. "It was like a pilot reacting to every air pocket," he said. "Not the way you should feel."
Six weeks after being given the last rites, with blood still seeping from the bandages on his head, he finished fourth in the Italian Grand Prix. Astonished doctors said he had recovered by sheer force of will. Jackie Stewart called it the most courageous comeback in the history of sport.
Lauda returned to racing and clawed back the points gap. By the final race of the season — the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji — he still led the championship by three points. One decent finish would seal the title.
Torrential rain hit Mount Fuji on race day. Standing water covered large sections of the track and visibility dropped to almost nothing. Lauda's fire-damaged tear ducts meant his eyes watered constantly in the wet. His rebuilt eyelids could not blink properly to clear the moisture. He started the race, completed one full lap, then pulled into the pits on lap two. He parked the car, unbuckled his seatbelts, and walked away.
"My life is worth more than a title." — Niki Lauda
Hunt finished third — enough to overtake Lauda's points total and win the 1976 World Championship by a single point. It was a decision only a man who had already died once could make.
The story didn't end there. In 1977, Lauda silenced every critic by winning his second World Championship. He then retired to run his own airline, only to return to racing in 1982. In 1984, he won his third and final World Championship, narrowly defeating teammate Alain Prost by just half a point.
Three world titles. A near-death experience in between. A decision to walk away from a championship in the rain — not out of weakness, but out of the kind of hard-won wisdom that only comes from having already faced the worst.
Niki said the loss of half an ear made it easier to use the telephone. In consideration of those who found his facial disfigurement unsightly, he thereafter wore a red baseball cap — hiring it out to a sponsor for a hefty fee. That was Niki Lauda: defiant, pragmatic, and magnificent to the end.