F1 boss Ecclestone turns 75 but has no plan to quit

By Elmar Dreher Oct 27, 2005, 12:03 GMT

File photo of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone (L) posing with Brazilian soccer player Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid (R). EPA/Gero Breloer

Stuttgart, Germany - Bernie Ecclestone may be one of the smallest people in the pit lanes around the world, but many look up to him.

After all, a shrewd sense for business, authority and vision allowed Ecclestone to turn Formula One motorracing into the third-biggest sports event in the world over the past decades.

Only the Olympics and football World Cup rank ahead.

'I am and will also be a racer. I won't stop until I die,' Ecclestone once said.

When Ecclestone turns 75 years on Friday, he will not have the full support of everyone in the sport, but although manufacturers are threatening with a breakaway series the respect for his work remains huge.

'He is the chief, the one who invented Formula One. We know we can rely on him,' said seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

Born October 28, 1930, in Ipswich, as the son of a trawler captain, Bernard Charles Ecclestone became addicted to racing in his teens and entered motorcycling shortly after World War II at the age of 16.

He later switched to four wheels, but his racing career was already over in 1949 after a Formula 3 crash at Brands Hatch.

By that time he had already set up a spare part and motorcycle business, then joining F1 racing as the Connaugh team owner in 1958.

He later took over the Brabham team and in this function was a driving force in team owners uniting in the constructors body FOCA in 1971 in a power struggle with the ruling body FIA.

And once FOCA obtained the TV and marketing rights in 1981 in the first so-called Concorde agreement, the door was open to turn F1 racing into a highly profitable sport.

Ecclestone has by now sold 75 per cent of his F1 holding company SLEC to a group of banks, but he still rules the sport, partly because the teams are not fully united against him.

'If the teams would own Formula One they would destroy it. They can't agree on anything,' said Ecclestone, who is also a FIA vice-president.

Despite his age, Ecclestone sees no reason to retire, organising the business from his London office.

The Times says that Ecclestone is the sixth-wealthiest Briton with some 2.4 billion pounds sterling (4.26 billion dollars, 3.53 billion euros) to his name.

He nevertheless says that he enjoys a rather simple life 'without glamour and parties' with his wife Slavica and daughters Tamara and Petra in a London Villa.

But Ecclestone readily admits that making money is a main reason for carrying on.

'I would try as a florist as well to cash in as much as possible. But my heart belongs to motorsport,' he said.

Or, when asked whether he would prefer one million dollars or one million friends: 'One million friends - and each one gives me 10 dollars'.