was won by Jim Clark, a close friend of Rindt's. It was Clark's final Formula One race; he died three months later at a Formula Two race at Hockenheim. Rindt was deeply affected by his death, telling Austrian journalist Heinz Prüller: "If Jim Clark is not safe, what can happen to us?" His second podium finish came in heavy rain and fog at the Nürburgring at the , a race dominated by Stewart, who finished four minutes ahead of Hill in second place. Rindt had closed on Hill in the latter stages of the race after the Englishman spun, and finished just four seconds behind after a close battle during the last lap. His eight points placed him twelfth in the championship at the end of the season. During these years, he also raced in the Indianapolis 500 in both 1967 and 1968, but finished only 24th and 32nd, completing only five laps in 1968 after finishing slightly more than half of the 1967 race. In an interview in 2014, Heinz Prüller recalled Rindt speaking about Indianapolis in 1967: "In Indianapolis, I always feel like I am on my way to my own funeral." At another occasion, he said about the track: "It is catastrophic, I only drive there because of the money." Team Lotus (1969–1970) 1969 season For the 1969 season, Rindt signed for the 1968 World Constructors' Champion Lotus, where he joined the defending Drivers' Champion Graham Hill. Rindt felt uncomfortable with the move, owing to the notorious unreliability of the Lotus car; in a twenty-month period between 1967 and 1969, the team was involved in 31 accidents. Hill alone had nine crashes between 1968 and 1970, which led him to joke: "Every time I am being overtaken by my own wheel, I know I am in a Lotus." When Rindt joined Lotus, his friend and de facto manager Bernie Ecclestone, who had negotiated the deal, remarked that they were aware that Brabham may have been a better choice of team but the speed of the Lotus gave Rindt a chance to win the championship. Rindt commented: "At Lotus, I can either be world champion or die." Because of his uncertainty about the wisdom of joining the team, Rindt did not sign the Lotus contract until shortly before the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix. Rindt's hesitancy appeared justified when both he and Hill suffered high speed crashes at the