Jacky Ickx protested the old Le Mans start by walking to his car in 1969. Instead of sprinting across the track with the other drivers, he moved deliberately, entered his Ford GT40, fastened his safety belts, and only then pulled away.
The traditional start placed cars along the pit wall while drivers waited on the opposite side of the track. At the signal, they ran across, started their engines, and launched immediately. Ickx believed the procedure encouraged dangerous shortcuts, especially drivers setting off before securing their harnesses. His protest sent him to the back of the field.
The danger became tragically apparent on the opening lap. John Woolfe crashed his Porsche 917, and the accident killed him. Ickx’s cautious approach did not prevent the crash, but it became a lasting symbol of the safety problems surrounding the running start. Ickx went on to win the race with Jackie Oliver in a Ford GT40.
Le Mans changed the procedure soon afterward. Drivers started seated in 1970, and from 1971 the event used a rolling start. Ickx’s action is therefore linked both to the end of the old tradition and to one of the race’s most famous acts of sporting protest.