Ken Tyrrell, who founded the Tyrrell Racing Team and launched the career of triple World Champion Jackie Stewart, has died at the age of 77, his family said.

Tyrrell, one of the most influential and popular figures in Formula One in the 1960s and 1970s, died in the early hours of Saturday morning at his home in Surrey, England.

Its a very sad day in motorracing to see that Mr. Tyrrell is gone.
My understanding is that he had been suffering from cancer for some time, so in a way I guess its a relief to hear that he is no longer suffering.

I for one will miss you, Chopper.

Truly a great motorsports man. Anyone that has speedvision should look out for the program that chronicles his F1 career. It is an amazing story about how he basically started and sucessfully ran an F1 team out of a backyard shed.
He will be missed.

I think this extract from the book written by Denis Jenkinson (jenks) sums up Uncle Ken, as everyone knew him.

When "uncle" Ken Tyrrell rings you up and says : "Can you come over, I've got something to show you", you don't ask: "What?" or "Why?". One thing about Ken, and I have known him for 40 years, is he never called a spade shovel; you know exactly where you stand with him, right or wrong. So one morning in September 1975, having just got back from Monza, I got on my motorcycle and rode over to Ken's house in West Clandon, and after a welcoming cup of coffee he said: "Come out into the garden". Totally unprepared for what to expect, I followed him out to the lawn and my mouth fell open, and a look of total disbelief came upon my face. Ken roared with laughter as I stood there speechless, and to this day he still has a chuckle at the memory of "Jenks speechless".

Denis Jenkinson describing the first time he laid eyes on the Tyrrell P34.

I was lucky enough to meet Ken back in 1995 when he was hosting a charity event at Slverstone jointly with Jackie Stewart. Jackie and Ken had organised a day for the general public to race the grand prix drivers in karts to raise money for the grand prix mechanics charity. This is a charity to support the families of mechanics and course workers should they be injured at the track. I was one of the lucky few to get a place.

Ken did a lot of work behind the scenes to support the people who are usually forgoten. He was never afraid to try something new and radical and he gave so many drivers their first chance in the sport. I dont think we will see the likes of him again.

One of the great men of Motorsport, RIP Uncle Ken.