Ronnie Peterson feels the adrenaline. It is time for another race at Monza where he's had such great moments before. A couple of hundred thousand fanatic tofosis have gathered mainly to cheer their Ferraris at the 5,8 kilometers long circuit outside Milano. Next to Mario Andretti in pole position is the new star of Ferrari, the Canadian Gilles Villeneuve ( who at a number of races have caused Ronnie great problems with his careless way of driving).The expectations are great. Behind is France's Jean-Pierre Jaboille in the turbocharged car from Renault, and defending World Champion Niki Lauda from Austria. in a Brabham. Ronnie has Alan Jones, the Australian in a Williams next to him. Behind is Riccardo Patrese, James Hunt, Vittorio Brambilla and the rest of the field.

In Sweden, many have gathered in front of the TV. The Swedish TV broadcasts and Ronnie is once again on everyone's lips. The reports of Ronnies crash earlier this day has caused some worrying and everyone hopes for Andretti to have mechanical problems. We all want Ronnie to finally be the World Champion although the prospects could be better.

The 24 cars start moving for the warmup lap. After just a few minutes the lap is compeleted and the first cars are back on the grid. One after another, the cars stops in their startingposition. Slowly the field is filled from behind. Most cars are now standing still and await the flag to drop. Andrettis car moves over the starting line, but he breaks. Before all the cars have stopped the flag drops. 61 year old Gianni Restelli never sees that the cars in the back of the field are not standing still, but drive in 80km/h. He makes the mistake of keeping his eyes on Andretti and Villeneuve, who both have moved a few centimeters. Because of this, five or six cars in the back of the field have good speed when the lights turn to green.

Still most of the drivers make a decent start and rev their engines along the slightly odd start-and finish straight of Monza. The only car clearly breaking the pattern is Ronnies black Lotus. Everyone sees that. Everyone at Monza and every Swede watching TV.Our eyes are focused at Ronnie and we cannot help not noticing what happens. Everyone sees except our Swedish TV-commentators. It really takes some time before Jan Svanlund and Gunnar Palm have understood the situation. Ronnie makes a poor start and perhaps we will never know why. He simply doesn't seem 100% ready when the start goes and this is very unlike Ronnie. Through his career has made himself famous for being a fast starter. Ronnie immediately falls behind. Is it possible that he had his eyes on Andretti, who also got a bad start since he had to break his false start? Ronnies mother May-Britt had a good analysis:

"This time it was a false start. I think Ronnie for the goahead signal and this is why he falls behind in the start."

Ronnie is quickly passed by Alan Jones, John Watson and Jacques Laffite. Jody Scheckter is the next man trying to pass Ronnie, you can see how he crosses the runway from left to right to pass Ronnie's Lotus and Hunt's McLaren (who has come up on Ronnies right side). It seems like Ronnie steers a little to the right.

The 22 meters wide starting straight narrows after 200 meters into maybe half of the width. This has for a long time been critizised by a number of drivers but nothing has been done to meet the demands. The first cars run through the bottleneck, but then the problems arise.

Local boy Riccardo Patrese, driving his first season in Formula 1, tries to pass as many as possible directly in the start. Driving in very high speed outside the white lines Patrese comes on the liong straight. When he is alongside James Hunt Patrese realizes that he has to get back onto the track again if he is to make it through the needles eye. He throws his Arrows in behind jody Scheckter, but immediately in front of Jamed Hunt. Hunt has no room. Some say that Patrese touched Hunts right front wheel, but whatever the reason, Hunts McLaren is thrown out to the left and towards Ronnie. Regardless if Patrese touched Hunt or not, is is certain that the accident never would have happened if Patrese hadn't been in the race. Competely irresponsible driving without any regard for the rest of the field. Later investigations showed that Patrese held almost 200 km/h and James Hunt 211 km/h when his left front wheel hits Ronnies right rear wheel. The black Lotus heads for the right barrier. It is also visible how Hunts McLaren is thrown into the air. In a fraction of a second a burst of flames come from the Lotus. Immediately thereafter it hits the barrier.

Ronniescar is thrown in an almost 90 degrees angle to the right. The speed is maybe 120 km/h when he hits the barrier. Despite the fact that the fueltanks have special protective elements to prevent explosive fire, the Lotus catches fire and bounces back onto the track again. One of the fueltanks is torn off and explodes. It is the punctured extra tank mounted down at the pedals of the Lotus-78. The front of the car is demolished from the impact with the barrier, and the car is furthermore demolished when, blinded by the smoke it is hit by Italian Vittorio Brambilla in his Surtees (Brambilla is and knocked uncountious by the crash). In a moment the catastrophy is a fact. Ronnies car stops 90 meters from the crash, 200 meters from the starting line. A total of 10 cars are involved in the inferno. Hunt's McLaren, Reutemann's Ferrari, Daly's Ensign, Lunger's McLaren, the two Shadowcars with Stuck and Regazzoni and the Tyrrells with Depailler and Pironi. Only nine cars are not involved.

James Hunt is thefirst man out of his car and he rushes towards Ronnies Lotus. The front of the car is torn off and Ronnie is jammed in the burning wreck. Ronnie opens his six point belt and tries to get out but fails. Without a thougth of his own safety Hunt grabs the yokes of Ronnies yellow overall and tries to drag him out of the car. 

Ronnie is halfway out of the wreck but is stuck with one leg. Hunt manages to kick away the steeringwheel so that Ronnies left foot comes loose. 

A single brave official tries to fight the fire as best he can. After a few more seconds Clay Regazzoni aids Hunt and together they can drag Ronnie to safety. Oncoming officials help to put out the fire in his overall.

Arturo Merzario kneels at Ronnie, still no doctor is there. James Hunt, who pulled Ronnie out of the wreck looks.

While Ronnie is taken care of lying on the track, the fire is put out.

"I In a moment like that there's absolutely no fear. I acted purely on instinct. My only thought was that the man in the burning car must get out, James Hunt explained to the Swedish newspaper Expressen's reporter Lennart Eriksson just half an hour after the accident. 

Ronnie though seriously injured, is still consious. The horrible TV images clearly show his deformed legs.

"I was there before the rescueteam and saw a gap between the flames and rushed in. Ronnie was out of the car with half of his body, but his left leg was stuck. I saw the flames on his legs. I tried to pull him out, but it was not possible. The steering wheel had jammed his legs and I called for the official to help me. We kicked on the wheel until it gave in. Then we pulled Ronnie away from the fire."

In Gerald Donaldsons biography it is obvious that James Hunt was very shaken when he dragged Ronnie out of the car. It is his girlfriend Jane Birbeck who says:

"When he looked Ronnie in the face he said it was filld with fear. He saw that Ronnie that it was bad and he was terrified."

After that Ronnie is left lying on the track waiting for an ambulance with a doctor to arrive. During the whole time Ronnie is consious and speaks to those who are there.  

James Hunt, along with many other drivers is very disturbed after the crash. James immediately talked about retireing from racing. Depailler had lost his interest in continuing and when a restart is announced, a number of drivers initially refuse to race.

Later Hunt is awarded the gold plaque of Kungliga Automobil Klubben (the Royal Automobile Club of Sweden) for his efforts in saving Ronnie from the flames. In the middle of practicing for the Monaco Grand Prix 1979, Hunt steps out of his Wolf and forever leaves the Formula 1 circus as a driver...