Roger Williamson

Roger Williamson (February 2, 1948 – July 29, 1973) was a talented racing driver from England who was killed during the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix.

Williamson won the 1971 and 1972 British Formula Three Championship titles. In 1973, Formula One returned to the Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix, after an absence of a year due to extensive safety upgrades to the race track which amongst others included new asphalt, installation of barriers and building a new race control tower. This race was only the second Formula One start for the March team and the second Grand Prix race for the promising Williamson.

During the race, Williamson suffered a sudden tyre deflation, which pitched him into the barriers at high speed and catapulted his car 300 yards (275 metres) across the track against the barriers on the other side. Williamson's car came to a rest upside down and the driver was unable to extricate himself from the burning car. Fellow driver David Purley came to Williamson's aid but he was unable to overturn the car. Initially some people, like the commentators on Dutch tv, race control and some of the other drivers participating in the race, thought that Purley was the driver that belonged to the burning car, and thus thought that the driver had gotten away safely.

The fire marshalls stationed at the corner where the accident occurred were both poorly trained and badly equipped, with Purley snatching the only fire extinguisher available to try and extinguish the fire. The marshalls, without flame retarding gear, stood by as the fire grew stronger, awaiting the arrival of the fire truck that had to navigate across the track while the race was still in progress. The police pushed back some spectators who had climbed the fences on to the track with the aim of assisting Purley's efforts.

It was arguably the darkest day and most confronting moment in the sport's history insofar. The incident encapsulated the senseless nature of so many fatalities in the sport in that era, while it was the first time that such a dramatic event was televised directly to so many people. The accident also publicly exposed that safety measures in and around Formula One circuits in that era were insufficient.

Williamson participated in 2 grands prix, debuting on July 14, 1973. He did not score any championship points.

Photographs taken by Cor Mooij of the reaction of David Purley got awarded the World Press Photo for sports in 1974. In 2003, on the 30th commemoration of his fatal crash, a bronze statue of Roger Williamson was presented in Donnington, UK.