by Royce Radcliffe

Created on: August 05, 2008   Last Updated: November 24, 2008

Former Formula One racer David Purley was proof that sometimes heroism is simply being able to keep smiling after battling through great adversity. He lived a life that would make a daredevil proud but the price for this was encounters with pain most mortals would not be able to endure. Through his life he took many big hits and even while his luck seemed bad he persevered in impressive fashion and helped cement his legend along the way.

His family's moderate wealth (his father was the owner of a very successful refridgerator repair company) allowed him room to dream about lifestyles beyond the reach of the ordinary human being and dream David Purley did. He and his good friend Derek Bell would often talk about growing up to be professional drivers. His addiction to adrenaline was evident even at an early age. He showed this by putting his dream of racing aside for a few years upon turning eighteen to join the British Army and enlist in the special Paratrooper regiment.

It would be here that David would have his first brush with death. While operating with the Parachute Regiment in Aden on a training exercise, he was freefalling and pulled his cord. The chute opened but only partially. Thus he hit the ground at an extreme speed. Miraculously, he survived.

When he got out of the Army he found out that his longtime friend Derek Bell had already made good on his promise to be a racecar driver and became eager to follow in his footsteps. His very first races were in the Formula Three circuit and he was mildly successful those first few years, starting in 1970. In each 1970 and 1971 he won a major race, his first seminal win being the prestigious Grand Prix des Frontieres at Chimay in Belgium.

He then moved up to in Formula Two to gain experience before trying out the top circuit, which was his burning desire at this point. His sponsor at this time was the oddball foreign millionaire Bob Harper. His first racing machine was an AC Cobra that he quickly crashed and damaged beyond repair. It was soon after this that he bought the Chevron he would be most known for driving, with the sponsorship of his father's refridgerator company.

His first major race was the 1973 Monaco Grand Prix. This first attempt was largely unsuccessful and he pulled out of racing soon afterward to ponder on how to improve his results. He decided to enter one more race, the Ducth Grand Prix of 1973, before taking some time off. This would be the race where he cemented his legend... though not in

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