Method 1 within the Nineteen Eighties was a world away from the spectacle you see as we speak. The vehicles have been a lot slower however a lot louder, the drivers principally had nicotine addictions and security peaked with hay bales lining the monitor. You could possibly additionally discover an ABBA drummer lined up on the grid alongside the likes of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost.
ABBA discovered fame in 1974 after profitable the Eurovision Tune Contest with their monitor “Waterloo.” The competitors, which pits mediocre pop acts from throughout Europe towards each other, catapulted the band to fame and their ensuing profession made them one of the well-known bands on the planet.
Alongside their meteoric rise, the band’s title was plastered throughout every kind of merchandise and memorabilia and even discovered its manner onto the Method 1 grid on the aspect of the ATS vehicles that competed within the Nineteen Eighties. That’s not as a result of the band was plowing thousands and thousands into Method 1 sponsorship, it’s as a substitute as a result of their session drummer Slim Borgudd was on the wheel.
Like many drivers of the time, Borgudd’s rise to Method 1 noticed him compete within the decrease formulation, together with F3 through which he raced his personal Swedish race crew, stories Motorsport Journal. As the location explains:
After failing to fund a Method 2 programme when Marlboro pulled out in 1980 Borgudd managed to scrape collectively the price range to hitch the ATS crew run by the idiosyncratic wheel magnate Gunther Schmid in 1981. When he arrived on the Bicester workshops for a seat becoming a number of days earlier than this primary race, he solely discovered two individuals there, the remainder had walked out.
He managed to influence his previous F3 crew boss Roger Heavens to hitch together with a number of mechanics and one way or the other made his Method 1 debut on the ripe previous age of 34 on the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix. He outqualified his team-mate Jan Lammers and ultimately completed thirteenth. There was higher and worse to return. He missed out on qualifying for the subsequent 4 races however then completed a really stable sixth on the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The remainder of the season was scruffy, a tenth at Zandvoort within the Dutch Grand Prix the one end.
Sixth in Silverstone proved to be the Swede’s finest end in Method 1 and he concluded his first season within the sport with only one level to his title, that means he completed in joint 18th place within the 1981 drivers’ standings.
In addition to racing around the globe in F1, Borgudd was a prolific drummer within the Swedish music trade. He offered the beats for bands just like the Lea Riders Group and Made in Sweden, which even earned Borgudd a Swedish Grammy award. Whereas drumming in varied outfits throughout Sweden, Borgudd turned pleasant with ABBA founding members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson and have become a daily session drummer for the band.
Borgudd made buddies with Ulvaeus and Anderson earlier than making the step as much as F1, so ABBA lent its help to Borgudd to boost the profile of his racing profession. It was this transfer that prompted the printing of ABBA’s brand on the aspect of the ATS vehicles in 1981 and, though no sponsorship cash ever exchanged palms, Motorsport provides that the “affiliation was helpful in his quest for sponsorship cash and publicity.”
Sadly, ABBA’s ties to F1 have been short-lived as Borgudd’s F1 profession didn’t prolong to a full second season within the sport. After a number of races with the Tyrrell in 1982, the Swede was dropped and went again to drumming.
Borgudd is much from the one racer to have hobbies away from the monitor. Excessive E racer Catie Munnings can be mad about music and every kind of racers have additionally thrown their weight behind a ardour for drinks in recent times.
