Vienna — Austrian motor racing great Niki Lauda, whose comeback from a near-fatal crash made him a global symbol of resilience and determination, has died at the age of 70. Lauda was so badly injured in that accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix that a priest gave him the last rites as he lay in a coma. His Ferrari had slammed into a barrier and then burst into flames as it spun back on to the track, where an oncoming car hit it again. By the time he was pulled from the wreckage, his face, scalp and right ear were severely burnt and his lungs scorched. Just six weeks later, his burns bandaged and raw, he was racing again, vying to retain his Formula One world title. It remains one of the sport’s most memorable acts of courage and defiance. “It was the most terrifying weekend,” he told Reuters in 2013, in a late admission about how scared he was to race so soon after cheating death. He finished fourth that day. But he would rarely indulge in such sentiment, even long after a racing ...
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