At the tender age of 24, Amon was good enough to be lead driver for F1 giants Ferrari, a position he held for three years. He finished fourth in the championship in 1967 and, while dogged by notoriously bad luck, was good enough to achieve five pole positions in his 95 Grand Prix starts. He also won the Daytona 24-hour race and Le Mans (1966).
They were known as the Trio at the Top; now it feels like the next triumvirate are tracking well. For a long time I've wanted to see someone from this country with a chance at a shot at F1," Amon told the Herald on Sunday.
"We have had people like Scott [Dixon] and Brendon [Hartley] knocking on the door. Now, with these three, it certainly raises the chances. There is a long way to go but more than ever before, I think there is a great chance of an F1 breakthrough." "The talent is definitely there," says Bob McMurray, who spent three decades with McLaren in various roles, "and they are all polished in terms of performance, on and off the track.
Of course so much depends on getting the finance together - and they will find that the next rung on the ladder can be pretty slippery - but they all have the desire and ability to keep on delivering." Although early days, the parallels between the 1960s trio and today's threesome are there. Hulme, McLaren and Amon proved themselves at home against tough international competition, mainly in the Tasman series, while today's young guns are all alumni of the Toyota Racing Series.
"As in my era, there is now quite a high level of competition here," says Amon. "The TRS has done a great deal for international opportunities; it gives a yardstick against overseas talent, allows them to develop in a formula not too dissimilar to Europe and gets team owners looking at our talent."
All three have also benefited from the Elite Motorsport Academy in Dunedin, which has drawn favourable comparisons with the FIA's own school. Cassidy and Stanaway were also recipients of the annual Speed Sport Scholarship and have been heavily supported by Tauranga motorsport identity Maurice O'Reilly.
Stanaway has managed un-paralleled dominance of the German Formula Three series this year; the 19-year-old has won nine of 12 races to lead the championship - and has even outdone Michael Schumacher (who learnt his trade in the series, as did current F1 pacesetter Sebastian Vettel). "Apparently I have won more races in the series than he [Schumacher] did," says Stanaway. "It's just a statistic but quite cool anyway."
The chatter about Tauranga-born Stanaway increased last month after his maiden appearance at GP3 level at Spa. He finished eighth first up before blowing the field away to take the second race of the weekend. "We exceeded our expectations," admits Stanaway. "I knew there was pressure to step up but once I am driving, I am able to forget about everything outside the car; you just fall into a rhythm." "I think winning that race put him on the world stage," says McMurray. "That kind of performance makes people that matter sit up and take notice."
Stanaway races for Gravity Motorsports, effectively a feeder team for the Lotus Renault F1 team. He estimates there are currently four other young drivers ahead of him on the ladder to a coveted spot in F1.
"I just need to keep winning races - and championships if possible," says Stanaway. "It's a constant battle and I have a lot of work to do but I feel like I am well on my way." As a 16-year-old, Stanaway raced in the national Formula Ford Championship, winning 14 races across 2008 and 2009, including nine on the bounce.
Apart from exhibiting early talent, he also showed the other precious commodity all young Kiwi drivers must have - an intense desire to overcome the financial hurdles off the track. While still at school in Year 12, Stanaway estimates he spent 95 per cent of his time making hundreds of phone calls looking for prospective sponsors, as well as attending countless meetings. Being part of the Gravity stable means the financial burden has eased somewhat, though it still remains the greatest barrier to success.
"I need to show that I am commercially viable to an F1 team," says Stanaway. "Unfortunately it is not just about on-track results - you need to also be politically and commercially attractive to a team." That reality is why a Brazilian supermarket tycoon's son has been jostling for an F1 seat, along with the son of a Russian oligarch. "It's quite frustrating but part of the game," says Stanaway. "It is a playground for wealthy people but in a way, it helps us Kiwis fight a lot harder." "These young guys like Mitch, Richie and Nick are so well presented and they say all the right things," says Amon. "Denny [Hulme] and I were lucky if we could string two words together back in the day. We weren't even vaguely able to present ourselves but I guess we weren't trying to impress sponsors. The team manager was all important and all that mattered was racing."
If points were awarded for raw-boned determination, Cassidy would already be near the top of the tree. A proven performer on the track, having finished runner-up (to Evans) in the 2011 TRS in his rookie season, he has had to do a lot of his own fundraising. He recently spent an entire weekend fixing and preparing a family friend's car for sale, after being told he could bank any money made above the cost price.
From another family connection, he was given a container-load of surplus stock - including underwater cameras, plastic mugs, key rings and 40,000 pens. He has been selling pens to all and sundry - even at school - until he was called into the headmaster's office to be admonished. Upon hearing his story, the principal promptly agreed to buy a box of pens.
"I'm prepared to do everything possible to chase my dream," says Cassidy. "I don't want to be left wondering what I might have achieved." Cassidy has been offered a two-race deal with Ma-con Motorsport, a German race team running in the ADAC Formel Master Championship, the support class to German F3. It is the same team that Stanaway represented with aplomb in 2010 before being offered the F3 deal; Cassidy will be hoping to make a similar impression at Assen (the Netherlands) over this weekend and Hockenheim (Germany) in late September.
Evans is a huge talent who has redefined success at a young age. He is a two-time TRS champion and starred in Australia Formula 3. When he took out the New Zealand Grand Prix in February, he was believed to be the youngest winner of an international Grand Prix anywhere in the world. F1's Mark Webber is his mentor and he has just completed a season racing for the MW Arden team in the GP3 championship. Finishing ninth in his rookie season in Europe - in one of most competitive classes with usually up to 30 drivers in the field - would please most but Evans ended disappointed after a bullish start.
He was in contention for the title after a brilliant opening to the year, including an impressive win at Barcelona, but faded in the second half, often beset by mechanical problems. Still, having barely turned 17 and with over 140 races under his belt, he has time on his side and will look ahead with confidence to 2012. He will race the TRS if time and budget allows, then look to head back for another season of GP3. "It's been far too long since a Kiwi has been on the F1 scene," says Stanaway. "With a few of us on the scene, it is important that one of us makes it."
