Denny Hulme was born on June 18, 1936 in Motueka, on the South Island of New Zealand. His father Clive was a World War II hero who won the Victoria Cross for bravery as a sniper during the bloody battle on the island of Crete. His family had a tobacco farm as well as trucking business. Denny learned to drive a truck while hauling sand and sitting on his father’s lap. By the age of six was driving solo around the farm. As a youngster he preferred trout fishing, hunting or working on his father’s trucks, learning the intricacies of diesel motors. At 17 he left school when his father became temporarily incapacitated due to a workplace injury and Hulme became a full-time driver and mechanic, hauling sheep and other cargo over long distances on New Zealand’s winding roads. If that wasn’t enough, Hulme also started working in a local garage repairing both road and farm vehicles. Hulme would never forget the value of hard work.
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