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before, Jane Birbeck. Hunt seemed out of it and unaware of the urgency of Hogan’s mission, and even less cognizant of the fact that his entire future was on the line.
    Hunt behaved petulantly and refused to talk to Hogan alone, insisting he had no secrets from Jane Birbeck, even though the two hardly knew each other at that stage. On any other day, Hogan might have left and driven home. But he humored Hunt and, against his better judgment, laid out the deal in front of Birbeck. Hogan knew that if the details of a deal got out, Hunt’s chances of the McLaren drive would be stone dead. But still, Hunt insisted that she remain present, as he clearly trusted her.
    Then Hunt surprised Hogan again. He tried to tell Hogan he had other offers and wasn’t particularly interested in the drive. He said that he was about to sign a contract with Lotus. But Hogan knew better. As he recalls: “He tried to convince me that he had a Lotus offer on the table, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.”
    It turned out that Hunt was overawed by the offer of a McLaren drive. One of Hunt’s biggest anxieties was whether he would be able to beat his new teammate Jochen Mass. Mass had a formidable reputation in Formula 3, and Hunt’s fears were not as irrational as they may now seem.
    Ignoring Hunt’s anxieties about Mass, Hogan spelled out what was on offer: three contracts with Marlboro, McLaren, and Texaco and a retainer of $50,000 a year. Hunt knew vaguely what Fittipaldi was earning and told Hogan that his offer was laughable. But Hogan was deadly serious.
    Hogan simply reiterated that Hunt was in no position to bargain and that the retainer was $50,000 plus success bonuses, prize money, and extra fees for personal appearances. And that, he said, was that; take it or leave it—knowing all the while that Hunt could not afford to leave it.
    Hogan said later, “It was very low on the money; I pushed him down to as low as I thought he would go. We realized he didn’t have an option. We played it cool. I was desperate to sign him, but I didn’t tell him that.”
    Hunt looked at his old friend and decided not to call his bluff. He nodded ascent, and with that, Hogan drove back to Reading.
    The following morning, Hunt sobered up and telephoned his brother Peter with the news. Peter Hunt was delighted, as well as secretly relieved.
    McLaren was the most successful Formula One team of the past five years. It had been founded by Bruce McLaren, a New Zealander who entered Formula One in 1966 and who had been killed testing a sports car at Goodwood in 1970. The team survived its founder’s death and carried on, being run by Mayer from a factory at Colnbrook, near London’s Heathrow Airport. By the end of 1975 the team had won 15 Formula One grand prix races, the Indianapolis 500, and the Can-Am sports car series in America several times.
    On Monday, November 24, Peter Hunt rang Hogan and accepted the offer on behalf of his brother. Hogan immediately set to preparing the contracts and convincing his bosses at Marlboro in Lausanne. Hogan said, “I managed to slip and slide it through, partially on the grounds that it would give us a good story—the Brit [Hunt] against the German [Lauda].”
    But Hogan still had to convince McLaren. Team manager Alastair Caldwell did not want Hunt under any circumstances. Caldwell could nix the deal if he had a mind to, as could Mayer.
    Neither Mayer nor Caldwell rated Hunt, although they recognized his achievements with the small Hesketh team. So Hogan invited Caldwell to a local hotel and ordered a bottle of Absolut vodka. They drank it between them, and Caldwell was persuaded.
    Afterwards Caldwell said, “We had no racing driver, and James had no seat. No option for him and no option for us.”
    But Caldwell said he still didn’t like Hunt and insisted, “James was an ordinary driver to me. We were fairly hard-bitten, we were a professional racing team, and the golden boy–hype business at Hesketh