Clay Regazzoni: Fateful day 40 years ago 🎥
ACCIDENT IN LONG BEACH On March 30, 1980, the Ticino native had such a serious accident that he was confined to a wheelchair from then on. In the SRF documentary "Clay Regazzoni - Life at the Limit" he is portrayed sensitively. Swiss television SRF dedicated an elaborate documentary to Clay Regazzoni on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death in December 2016. It was after [...]
Swiss television SRF dedicated an elaborate documentary to Clay Regazzoni to mark the tenth anniversary of his death in December 2016.
It was the fourth Formula One race of the season, following the Argentine and Brazilian GPs in January 1980 and the South African GP on March 1. The 51st lap was underway at the USA West Grand Prix in the street canyons of Long Beach when the brake pedal broke on Clay Regazzoni's Ensign.
Safety deficiencies unimaginable today
In the run-off zone after the fastest section of the street circuit, the Ticino driver in his 132nd Grand Prix first crashed into the parked car of a competitor - unimaginable today - and then with full force into a concrete wall that was half-deficient in tire piles. Regazzoni miraculously survived, but suffered serious vertebral injuries as well as broken bones in the collision.
Paraplegic, "the indestructible one," as he was reverently called, was confined to a wheelchair ever since. Nevertheless, Regazzoni, who would have turned 80 on September 5, 2019, never lost his love of life and driving.
Cinematic tribute
On December 15, 2006, Clay Regazzoni died in a traffic accident in Italy that was never fully resolved. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death in 2016, a sensitive portrait of the exceptional talent marked by fate was created. AutoSprintCH reported after the premiere in this Online contribution about it.
You can watch the film "Clay Regazzoni - Life at the Limit" in the comfort of your own home on YouTube. In the current lack of motorsport, the most successful Swiss Formula 1 driver of all time deserves all the more to be remembered in this way 40 years after that fateful day in California.
