“Seppi”, as his family and close friends would call him, was a Swiss racing driver. Born on July 7, 1936 in Fribourg, Switzerland, Joseph Siffert began racing 350cc motorcycles in 1959. A Formula Junior driver, Siffert graduated to Formula One in 1962, in a four cylinder Lotus-Climax.With Scuderia Filipinetti also getting a dose of his talent, in 1964, he joined Rob Walker’s team that went by the name of its owner. In the following years, he beat Jim Clark in a few non-Championship events and from 1964 to 1967 and later stayed on to race with the team without being on top of the charts. His best finish being a third place at the 1964 American Grand Prix.In 1968, Siffert won his first race at Great Britain. His race was highlighted by the fact that he beat Chris Amon’s Ferrari, the fastest car on track. Siffert was more famous for his efforts in winning the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in a Porsche 907. In 1969, he earned two podium finishes for the Rob Walker Racing Team and the following year, he raced for March Engineering without any credible performances. Another race victory came in 1971 for Seppi, racing for Yardley-BRM in the Austrian Grand Prix and a second place in the American Grand Prix followed.His career was cut short soon after that race, while racing in the World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch, when suspension problems caused his car to crash. Siffert could not escape from his burning car and died a tragic death.Not just one of the drivers in Formula One who lost their lives, Siffert was just getting up there, slowly working his way up through the charts when a twist in destiny took that chance away from him.-Anup Pareek