He was born on a tobacco farm belonging to his parents in Motueka in the South Island of New Zealand. His father Clive Hulme was awarded a Victoria Cross, as a sniper, while fighting in the Battle of Crete in 1941. Whilst growing up on his family's farm in Pongakawa (near Te Puke), Hulme learned to drive a truck while sitting on his father's lap, and by the age of six, he was driving solo. He left school and went to work in a garage. He saved up enough money to buy an MG TF, promptly entering this in hillclimbing events. After that his father brought a MGA for him. After making impressive progress he purchased a F2 Cooper-Climax, subsequently being chosen for the New Zealand Driver to Europe program, along with fellow Kiwi, George Lawton. The pair of young New Zealander began competing in Formula Junior and Formula Two across Europe, in a Cooper-BMC and Cooper-Ford respectively. Hulme won the 1960 Gran Premio di Pescara for Formula Juniors, but the newspapers back in New Zealand made no mention of this, as they wrote only about Bruce McLaren. However, the year, 1960 ended in disaster, when Lawton crashed during a race at Roskilde (Denmark) dying in Hulme's arms. As the New Zealand press were ignoring Hulme, he hired a 2 1/2  litre Cooper from Reg Parnell and entered it in the 1961 New Zealand Gold Star Championship. He won the title straight away. He appeared at Le Mans for the Abarth team, taking a class win in S850 the class (partnered by fellow Kiwi Angus Hyslop), before Ken Tyrrell invited the likable (but sometimes gruff) New Zealander to race in his Formula Junior and Formula Two team, in 1962, when Tony Maggs was unavailable due to his Formula One commitments. Once there, basing himself in London, he worked as a mechanic in Jack Brabham's garage in Chessington and began to pave his way on his motor-racing path. It was Brabham who gave him drives in his Brabham sportscars and single seaters. During the 1963 season, he won seven International Formula Junior and after some impressive performances there, it was his old boss Jack Brabham who gave Hulme the call and he joined the Australian legend's F2 team. In 1964, the pair set about dominating the Championship that year, resulting in a one-two finish in the FFSA Trophees de France series. The pair also finished one-two in the 1966 series . During this spell in F2 between 1964-1966, Hulme won a total of three races in the series, plus two non-championship events (the 1964 Grote Prijs van Limborg and the 1965 Spring Trophy). Hulme was rewarded with some non-championship Formula One races. Away from single seaters, Hulme also raced the occasional saloon car. In appalling conditions, on 6 July 1963, Hulme won his first major saloon car race. The second Motor-sponsored Six-Hour, a round of the European Touring Car Championship, saw the pre-race favourite, a 7-litre Ford Galaxie driven by Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham flounder in the wet and the Jaguars dominated the race. Hulme would win, partnered by Roy Salvadori, after the winners on the road were disqualified for engine irregularities. CANNOTANSWER

Answer this question "Did Denny Hulme ever crash in his early career?" by extracting the answer from the text above.

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