In 1968 the Californian businessman Don Nichols created a racing team to compete in the lucrative Can-Am sports car series and named his cars ‘Shadows’. By 1973, the Shadow team had entered the competitive world of Formula 1 and based itself in the UK where, a few years later, it became the only race team to change nationality, from American to British.
During the first two seasons, its drivers achieved just three third-place podium finishes and for 1975 and 1976 the two drivers were Jean-Pierre Jarier and the talented Welshman Tom Pryce who was considered a future world champion. His victory at a non-championship race at Brands Hatch in 1975 was the first and only F1 race to be won by a Welshman. (His team and mechanics had huge respect for him, referring to him as the ‘Welsh Wizard’). The photograph above is unique as it shows Tom at the wheel of car number 17 which was the car of Jarier; Tom always raced number 16. This is because it was taken in May 1976 during a Goodyear tyre test session when, sensibly, such useful things were permitted, and Tom was swapping cars to test a variety of tyre compounds. Less than year later Tom lost his life in South Africa in a tragic accident but his legacy is still remembered.
From the book ‘Moments in Motorsport’ by Trevor Legate
