OT: Clay Regazzoni
10-10-2004, 01:26 AM
#1
Race Car
Thread Starter
OT: Clay Regazzoni
Some of you may remember the Swiss Italian racing driver, Clay Regazzoni. One of my tennis partners is a good friend of Clay's (who is unfortunately paralyzed from the waist down after his horrible Long Beach accident...).
He accompanied Clay for many years around the formula one circuit and has many stories about Clay. Clay was really a break-neck guy. A couple of stories:
Clay had a Ferrari Daytona he was nuts about. Once my friend was riding in Clay's car coming back from Germany on the autobahn after the German Grand Prix. Traffic was extremely heavy at a given point and all lanes were blocked with traffic going at about 40 miles an hour. Clay was in a hurry to get home to Switzerland and he suddenly pulled out to the right and drove along the right shoulder of the road at well over 120 miles an hour... My friend almost passed out...
Clay and three other friends were driving back to their hotel in Brazil, after he had been training for Sunday's Grand Prix. His Brazillian contact had lent him a powerful souped up American muscle car which was not overly well-suspensioned. My friend was riding beside him. They were zooming along the highway, when suddenly the highway forked and Clay realized too late he had taken the wrong arm. He immediately floored the accelerator and changed direction so radically that the car literally flew through the air and landed in the other highway, but so heavily that the wheels flew off! Luckily, nobody was hurt -though everybody except Clay was as pale as a sheet. A car stopped and picked them up, driving them back to the hotel. When the Brazlillian guy met up with them at the hotel and asked them how everything went, Clay coolly answered that they had a minor problem with the car and left it on the road.... Next day, when the Brazillian found out that Clay had practically totaled the car, he flipped out..
Clay once for a bet drove his Daytona in Italy over 200 miles in reverse!
He accompanied Clay for many years around the formula one circuit and has many stories about Clay. Clay was really a break-neck guy. A couple of stories:
Clay had a Ferrari Daytona he was nuts about. Once my friend was riding in Clay's car coming back from Germany on the autobahn after the German Grand Prix. Traffic was extremely heavy at a given point and all lanes were blocked with traffic going at about 40 miles an hour. Clay was in a hurry to get home to Switzerland and he suddenly pulled out to the right and drove along the right shoulder of the road at well over 120 miles an hour... My friend almost passed out...
Clay and three other friends were driving back to their hotel in Brazil, after he had been training for Sunday's Grand Prix. His Brazillian contact had lent him a powerful souped up American muscle car which was not overly well-suspensioned. My friend was riding beside him. They were zooming along the highway, when suddenly the highway forked and Clay realized too late he had taken the wrong arm. He immediately floored the accelerator and changed direction so radically that the car literally flew through the air and landed in the other highway, but so heavily that the wheels flew off! Luckily, nobody was hurt -though everybody except Clay was as pale as a sheet. A car stopped and picked them up, driving them back to the hotel. When the Brazlillian guy met up with them at the hotel and asked them how everything went, Clay coolly answered that they had a minor problem with the car and left it on the road.... Next day, when the Brazillian found out that Clay had practically totaled the car, he flipped out..
Clay once for a bet drove his Daytona in Italy over 200 miles in reverse!
10-10-2004, 02:06 AM
#2
Rennlist Member
I saw Clay win the inaugural F1 Long Beach GP in 1976. That was a shame what happened to him in 1980/81.
In 1996 or '97, I saw Clay in the paddock area at Long Beach and my wife got his autograph and she also got a picture of him. I don't think many people recognized him, so we were lucky to get that autograph when he wasn't mobbed by fans.
In 1996 or '97, I saw Clay in the paddock area at Long Beach and my wife got his autograph and she also got a picture of him. I don't think many people recognized him, so we were lucky to get that autograph when he wasn't mobbed by fans.