During the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix, The New York Times’s F1 correspondent Brad Spurgeon conducted a fascinating interview with Bernie Ecclestone, the man who rules the racing series.

Spurgeon’s work was published in the Times over the race weekend but if you’re in the mood for a lot of direct quotes from the man who has made F1 what it currently is, Spurgeon has uploaded a transcript of his chat. Here’s a choice bit or two:

On people he admired or considered role models:

I’m a big, big, and have always been a big, big supporter of Mr. Ferrari, when he was alive, he was a special person. But in those days, I mean, they were entrepreneurs. So you know, he had the same sort of background as I had. He was a good used car dealer. And like Colin [Chapman, founder of Lotus]. All those people when we started Formula One bringing it to what it is.

On racing in the first F1 race at Silverstone:

Yeah, I was in the race. In a Formula 3 car. With Stirling Moss and Harry Schell and Peter Collins. But I used to race motorcycles. So I’ve always raced something.

Read the rest at About.com, including his thoughts on leaders versus dictators.

Photo Credit: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

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