CMHF Chair pays tribute to the Late Charlie Whiting

IN MEMORIAM:  Charlie Whiting

The entire world of motorsport was shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death of the iconic Charlie Whiting of a pulmonary embolus on the morning of Thursday, March 14 in Melbourne, Australia, the day before the first Formula One race of 2019.

Charlie devoted his entire adult life to all aspects of motorsport. He was a mechanic with the Hesketh Team in 1977.  He joined the Brabham Team owned by Bernie Ecclestone in 1978, working his way up to becoming Chief Mechanic, being instrumental in Nelson Piquet winning F-1 World Championships. When Bernie became involved in his phenomenally successful promotion of Formula One, Charlie was appointed FIA Technical Delegate in 1988, becoming ever more involved in the technical and safety aspects of motorsport.

Recognizing his great knowledge and experience, and his dependable poise and calm under pressure, he was appointed F-1 Race Director , Safety Delegate and Permanent Race Starter in 1997.  Over the next 22 years, Charlie earned the respect and admiration of drivers, constructors, team owners, race promoters, circuit builders, the international race media, race rescue and medical teams and organizations and national and international motorsport organizations.

I first met Charlie in 1978 when he was a mechanic with Brabham {together with Herbie Blash and Alan Woollard}. We became comfortable friends over the past 40 years.

In my many travels with my great friend, Professor Sid Watkins, we often had conversations with Charlie about medical and safety aspects of motorsport…particularly F-1. He was a determined supporter of reinforced tubs, wheel tethers, the HANS device, head surround protection and the HALO.  He was a consistent participant in the deliberations of the joint engineering / medical discussions of the FIA International Institute for Motor Sport Safety in Paris from 2007 through 2017.  At the ICMS in 2017, he generously accepted our invitation to be a special speaker at our Annual General Meeting in Indianapolis.

Charlie Whiting was aware of the volatile politics in Formula One, but his was a constant voice of calm and reason.  He was an iconic and charismatic ambassador for all of motorsport. He will be missed by all.

Hugh E Scully, BA, MD, MSc, FRCSC, FACS, FCCS,

Professor of Surgery, University of Toronto,

Chair-Emeritus, ICMS,

Former Member, FIA Medical Commission,

Former Member, FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety,

Chair, Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame continues to recognize the achievements of those individuals and institutions that have realized significant accomplishments and have made outstanding contributions to motorsport in Canada by preserving, recording and displaying to the widest possible audience via virtual format, the appropriate information, materials and artifacts relative to them. During the conversion of the Hall into a virtual entity most of its physical assets were either returned to donors (whenever possible) or liquidated with the full agreement of the donors. Unfortunately, after many years of storage, some items were in poor quality and beyond restoration. This transformation has occurred over a number of years under the guidance of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame Board of Directors using accepted governance procedures. While the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame has a treasure trove of images videos relating to our inductees achievements in Canadian motorsport, we know we don’t have the whole story. If you have images or stories that others should be aware of we encourage you to contact: info@cmhf.ca

The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame continues to move forward, guided by a Board of Directors with a wide range of expertise, experience and motorsport knowledge, which has assured an informative website, an innovative virtual museum, and a secure financial future.

Hugh E Scully, Chairman, Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame

Celebrating the Canadian Motorsport History

The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame was founded in 1993 to honour those who have contributed to, or excelled in Canadian Motorsports. This organization is developing Canada’s leading collection of virtual racing memorabilia and is working to become the primary source of historical motorsport information. The CMHF is home to the archival history of a proud Canadian Motorsports story, one still being written on most weekends, here in Canada and around the World.

The inaugural induction ceremony was held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, August 19, 1993, and has been held annually since.   Since its founding, the organization has grown, developed and matured into a national charitable institution, operated by a volunteer Board of Directors in trust for all Canadian motorsport fans.  We invite you to look around the CMHF website and to marvel at the accomplishments of our motorsports heroes on the global stage.

CMHF Inductees

The Hall of Fame now has over 200 inducted honourable members, who have been recognized for their accomplishments and contributions to Canadian motorsports. READ MORE >

The Itinerant Museum

In a country as big as Canada with a proud and colourful motorsports history, only an online museum could truly reach the public and properly represent the great of the sport.  READ MORE >

Be part of it

While the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame has a treasure trove of images, items and memorabilia related to motorsport, we know we don’t have the whole story. READ MORE >