1975 was the turning point when overseas drivers took command of the Safari Rally

This weekend, the skies over the dusty roads of Laikipia will be filled with the roar of powerful sports car engines as the KCB Safari Rally keeps up its inexorable career in search of a return to World Rally Championship status. I will be there, too.

What I am not sure about is what I will be doing most; cheering the crews or remembering the old East African Safari – “the greatest test of man and machine” – which brought the world’s best drivers to our land.

Think of some iconic sporting events in the world: The 143-year-old English FA Cup and the Ashes, the America’s Cup and the Super Bowl.

If ever this country had an annual event that had the world stop and look in this direction, it was the Safari. We failed to build on a great heritage and we are the poorer for it. There only once was an East African Safari and there shall never be another.

But the memories live on. Some religious purists frowned upon the fact that it was held during the Easter holiday, desecrating Christendom’s holiest season, they said.

But those were lonely dissenters and the world was united in awe by the magic of the Safari. Although it was East African, it started only once in Kampala and Dar es Salaam. KICC was the natural start and finish venue and the President of the Republic is the gentleman who always flagged off the first 10 or so cars. In salute to this heritage, this weekend’s rally started there Friday.

I was a Safari fanatic and I think I will always be. The current rally is the first to take place since the death of Swedish legend Bjorn Waldegaard, whose four Safari wins were sandwiched between Shekhar Mehta’s all-time record of five victories and Joginder Singh’s three.

Waldegaard, who knew our roads just as well as those of his homeland, was the one overseas driver who came closest to being regarded as one of our own. And whether formally or just in the hearts of motor sports lovers, this weekend’s Safari will pay homage to his memory.

Between 1953 and 1972, the Safari was the fiefdom of local drivers. Overseas drivers came here with powerful, factory prepared machines; locals assembled theirs mostly in their backyard garages. Overseas drivers were professionals who were hired by manufacturers to test and drive their cars; locals were businessmen or farmers who drove part time.

Overseas drivers came with back-up crews that made the whole operation resemble an army going to war. They are the ones who introduced chase helicopters. Local drivers used their buddies for service crew. So how was it that local drivers maintained a stranglehold on the gruelling 6000-kilometre Safari for so long? Answer: local knowledge.

Overseas drivers only began to make serious headway in the Safari when they learned to tame the speeds packed by their mighty machines and drive how Coast fans would call taratibu (carefully).

In fact, when Finland’s Hanu Mikkola won in 1972, he was not the first across the finish line; Kenya’s young ace, Vic Preston Junior, was. And when Waldegaard brought his Ford Escort RS home for his first Safari victory in 1977, he was to all practical purposes a local driver.

I believe I can pinpoint the turning point year when overseas drivers started to dominate the Safari. It was 1975. That is when Sweden’s Ove Anderson and Arne Hertz won it in a Peugeot 504.

The top four positions in that rally were taken by overseas drivers. After Anderson came Italy’s Sandro Munari. Third was Bjorn Waldegaard and coming up at number four was Andrew Cowan, nicknamed the “Flying Scotsman” and reigning London-Sydney marathon champion.

The locals were led by Tanzania’s Bert Shankland at number five followed by countryman Zully Rhemtulla.

DELIRIOUS RECEPTION

It was a momentous year. Two hot favourites for a win, Mikkola and fellow Swede Harry Kallstrom were knocked out of the race shortly after departure from KICC. Kallstrom was an unlucky man. In 1973, he had come within a hair’s breathe of winning the Safari.

He and Shekhar Mehta were tied at 406 points at the finish line, the first time this had happened in the history of the event. Safari officials retreated to a closed door meeting. Crews of photographers and reporters hovered anxiously around event headquarters. Mehta told them: “I don’t know whether we have won yet.”

Around the world, people waited with bated breath. At great length, officials emerged to announce that according to Safari regulations, the competitor who had completed the greater portion of the event from the start with the lesser penalty would be the victor. That is how Mehta, driving a Datsun 240Z beat Kallstrom in a Datsun 1800SSS.

In the 1975 rally, Mikkola and Kallstrom came to grief in different ways. Mikkola, driving a Peugeot 504 and starting off at number seven, rolled at Kilome, only four hours after departing KICC. The car rested on its roof. Kallstrom, driving a Datsun 710, made it to Kibwezi where his engine packed up shortly after midnight.

But even with Mikkola and Kallstrom out, the race was still looking very good for the overseas competitors.

The new favourites to take it now were Waldegaard and Hans Thorselius driving car number eight, a Lancia Stratos. Breathing down their necks were locals Shekhar Mehta, Joginder Singh and Vic Preston Junior. Mike Kirkland’s Datsun car number 17 developed gearbox problems.

It was impossible to get away from the radio as reports came through that blinding dust on rugged roads with hair-pin bends were taking a toll on the crews and their cars. In fact tragedy struck the rally. Three members of a service crew died in a fatal crash involving them and a lorry at Bachuma, near Voi.

The crew were following car number 57, a Datsun 160J driven by local driver Kim Gatende and navigated by Ashok Joshi when they smashed head-on into the lorry. Gatende and Joshi promptly withdrew from the Safari.

Back in Nairobi after a hellish first leg, Joginder Singh was given a delirious reception by crowds who had waited all day and part of the night and were still going nowhere. He said: “It was a very interesting route. It was tricky in many places. It was very dusty and dry.

Unfortunately, we had a stone thrown at us at Mbooni but it did not damage our windscreen. We were leading the cars into Malindi but we had a puncture early this morning which delayed us. That happened at 6 am and Waldegaard overtook us. We stayed behind him until Machakos when we overtook him again in the hills.”

Actually, if you go by Sandro Munari’s story, you may conclude that this rally was won by punctures. He was roaring ahead of Ove Anderson when not one, two or three but nine punctures put paid to his challenge. Lofty Drews, his co-driver, told journalists: “We lost it by only one puncture. Had we got eight punctures instead of nine, we could have ended up as winners.

“We ran out of spares. At Mt Kenya Safari Club, we lost 49 minutes as I had to get a taxi there near Nanyuki and get to my service team to get the spares. It was tough and it kept us on our toes.”

In the end, just 38 points separated Munari’s 756 points lost to Anderson’s 718. Waldegaard and Thorselius, who had set a very hot early pace, were 81 points adrift. But two years later, Waldegaard would begin his era of conquest until a 1992 crash broke his arm and forced his retirement.

The 1975 rally was rich in authentic Kenyan culture. At the starting ramp, Vic Preston Junior’s Lancia Stratos was a marvel. It was sparkling clean and, in the words of one reporter, “looked more like a power boat than a rally car as it roared up the ramp.” There was a curious item on its front bumper – a plastic monkey. Asked what that was all about, Preston replied to loud laughter: “Uganga!” (Witchcraft).

FASCINATING CAST

The famous husband and wife team of Prem and Pauru Choda always drew enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Pauru told newsmen: “We leave everything in God’s hands.” (Very Kenyan). “And I want my husband to win, even if it is in the International Women’s Year.”

Joginder Singh, the previous year’s winner, gave President Jomo Kenyatta a copy of his book, The Flying Sikh. And, without elaborating on how exactly it was done, the Daily Nation of the following day reported that “he also received a special blessing from Mzee.”

As far as I know, 1975 is the year overseas drivers took command of our Safari forever. But it matters little now as we hope for a return to World Rally Championship status even when know that our Safari, with it fascinating cast, is gone forever. Best wishes to the drivers and service crews of the KCB Safari Rally this weekend.

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Who will tell our politicians and bureaucrats to stop treating 40 million Kenyans as if they were all small children who can be quieted by one fake promise?

Mid last month, soon after Harambee Stars were booted out of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers by Lesotho and banished from competitive football for two years, Mr William Ruto, the Deputy President, indignantly told a local television station: “We have to do something. We certainly have to do something. We will have to take tough decisions. Our football is in disgrace.

“We took the national team to watch the World Cup as a pointer that we as the government are concerned with the poor state of soccer in this country. We still are concerned about that and Kenyans should rest assured that some tough decisions will be made.”

Sports Minister Hassan Wario said he would release a statement in the coming days and if the actions it outlined offended Fifa, “so be it.”

Those warnings have now disappeared into the mists of a distant yesterday and it is business as usual.

Kenya is a good place to stay unaccountable when you are handling public resources.

In the unlikely event that I will ever lead our football governing body, my first act in office will be to record a message in our official telephone line that will tell you this when you call: “You have reached the answering service of Kenya football’s top honchos. We are not able to take your call at the moment. If you wish to make your usual idle threats via voice mail, press one. Thank you-uuuuu...”

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