Bernie turns 90!

Bernie Ecclestone turned 90 yesterday, and he’s still as sharp as ever. He started selling second-hand bikes and then sold used cars while having a brief career as a racing car driver. As his business expanded he went into team ownership and drivers management.

He twice quit Formula One when one of his drivers died – Stuart Lewis-Evans in 1958 and Jochen Rindt in 1970 – but in 1972 he bought the Brabham team and made it a major player and title winner.

Ecclestone meanwhile formed the FOCA (Formula One Constructors’ Association) and took control, along with friend and associate Max Mosley, of the sport’s finances and organisation, turning it from a fairly amateur sport into a multi-billion dollar business and one of the major sporting series in the world.

Picture above: He’s seen on the pit wall surrounded by drivers David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello in 2001.