Wattie

John Watson went to Caesars Palace dreaming of the number one, but in the event he rolled a two. How many Las Vegas high-rollers have come up a single digit short and watched the richest prize curl like smoke from their grasp? The rewards could have been fabulous, although the odds were always long – Watson needed to finish first and hope other results went his way. In his pursuit of the Formula 1 World Championship at the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in 1982, second might as well have been 22nd.

I ask the now 75-year old John Watson – or Wattie, as he was and remains known – if he gets enough credit for all that he achieved in motor racing. ‘That’s not for me to say,’ he tells me in his musical Northern Irish lilt. ‘I think it’s for the press to assess what I achieved.’ Which means us. So let’s do it.