Clay Regazzoni

Clay Regazzoni

Nation:	Switzerland
Automobile world championship
First start:	1970 Dutch Grand Prix
Last start:	1980 USA Grand Prix West
Constructors
1970–1972 Ferrari  • 1973 BRM  • 1974–1976 Ferrari  • 1977 Ensign  • 1978 Shadow  • 1979 Williams  • 1980 Ensign
statistics
World Cup balance:	Vice World Champion ( 1974 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 132 5 5 15th
World Cup points :	212
Podiums :	28
Leadership laps :	349 over 1,803.7 km

Gian-Claudio Giuseppe "Clay" Regazzoni (born September 5, 1939 in Porza , † December 15, 2006 near Fontevivo near Parma , Italy ) was a Swiss automobile racing driver . He started in Formula 1 from 1970 to 1980 and was runner-up in 1974.

Career

Clay Regazzoni began his career in 1963, drove in Formula 3 from 1965 and moved from Brabham to the Italian racing team Tecno in 1967 . The following year he got into Formula 2 . In 1969 he already drove Ferrari for a short time , but went back to Tecno. In 1970, at the advanced age of 30, he began his Formula 1 career with Ferrari and immediately finished third in the drivers' world championship. At the same time, he drove in Formula 2 at Tecno that year and became European champion there.

Regazzoni 1971 in the Ferrari 312PB

Regazzoni 1976 in a Ferrari 312T2

Clay Regazzoni grave in Porza

After a short interlude at BRM in 1973 , Regazzoni returned to Ferrari together with his teammate Niki Lauda . The duo Lauda / Regazzoni led the then unsuccessful "Scuderia" back to the top in the following years, in three years Lauda won twelve times and Regazzoni three times. After a collision he caused with Niki Lauda at the 1976 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch , Regazzoni had to leave the Ferrari team at the end of the year. He switched to Mo Nunn's Ensign team in 1977 , scored five championship points with the monoposto and missed second place in the Fuji race due to an engine failure. In 1978 he became a member of the Shadow team, with which he could not achieve high placements. His teammate there was Hans-Joachim Stuck .

For 1979 he was signed by Frank Williams as the second pilot alongside Alan Jones . After initial difficulties, Regazzoni finished fifth in the drivers' championship with the Williams FW 07 and scored the first GP victory for the Williams team at the Silverstone race . Nevertheless, Williams signed Carlos Reutemann as a new driver for 1980 because, according to his own statement, he didn't want the best, but the fastest number two in the team. Regazzoni then returned to Ensign.

But in the fourth World Championship race in 1980, a serious accident ended his career. At the Long Beach Grand Prix , Regazzoni was in fourth place when his titanium brake pedal broke in the braking zone after the Shoreline Drive straight (the fastest part of the track) . He raced unrestrained in the run-off area standing Brabham BT49 by Argentinian Ricardo Zunino and in the behind of car tires poorly protected concrete wall. The recovery of the Swiss from the totally crumpled Ensign took a long time. Regazzoni was transferred to St. Mary Hospital with multiple lower leg fractures and head and spine injuries. The vertebral injuries turned out to be so severe that he has been paraplegic ever since .

As early as 1973 Regazzoni narrowly escaped death when his BRM went up in flames at the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami after an accident with Mike Hailwood and Jacky Ickx . However, Hailwood quickly rushed to help and dragged the unconscious man out of the burning cockpit. Regazzoni got away with burns like this. How lucky he was in this accident became evident just weeks later at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort , when the Briton Roger Williamson also had a fire accident, but all help came too late.

Regazzoni contested a total of 132 Grand Prix, achieved 5 pole positions , 5 wins and 212 World Championship points and drove 15 fastest laps. His greatest success was the runner-up in the 1974 World Cup. Because of his indomitable stamina, he was soon called The Indestructible .

His last years

Despite his paraplegia, Regazzoni continued to race. With a hand throttle, he took part in the Paris-Dakar rally and other similar races several times in the 1980s and 1990s . Also in the new millennium he drove various kart, bicycle (on special tricycles) and car races (GP Tunis 2004 on a 1964 Ford Mustang 289, Tour de España 2004 on a Lancia Aurelia BT20 2500 GT etc.). At the same time, Regazzoni was involved in medical research projects for paraplegics and worked as a television commentator. In 1996 the FIA refused his application for a license for the sports car world championship.

On December 15, 2006, Clay Regazzoni collided with the rear of a truck in his Chrysler Voyager on the expressway near Fontevivo, west of Parma in northern Italy . According to the Italian news agency ANSA , he was immediately dead. The cause of the accident is unclear; The road and visibility conditions were excellent at the time of the accident, and there are no indications of excessive speed, technical or health problems. Clay Regazzoni left behind his life partner, his wife and their two children. He is buried in the Porza cemetery.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

Grand Prix victories

1970 Italian Grand Prix ( Monza )  1974 German Grand Prix ( Nürburgring )  1975 Italian Grand Prix (Monza)

1976 US Grand Prix West ( Long Beach )  1979 Great Britain Grand Prix ( Silverstone )

general overview

• 1970 - Formula 1 at Ferrari - 8 GP races, 1 GP victory, 33 World Championship points, 3rd World Championship
• 1971 - Formula 1 at Ferrari - 11 GP races, 13 championship points, 7th world championship
• 1972 - Formula 1 at Ferrari - 10 GP races, 15 championship points, 6th world championship
• 1973 - Formula 1 at BRM - 14 GP races, 2 championship points, 17th world championship
• 1974 - Formula 1 at Ferrari - 15 GP races, 1 GP victory, 52 World Championship points, 2nd World Championship
• 1975 - Formula 1 at Ferrari - 14 GP races, 1 GP victory, 25 World Championship points, 5th World Championship
• 1976 - Formula 1 at Ferrari - 15 GP races, 1 GP victory, 31 World Championship points, 5th World Championship
• 1977 - Formula 1 at Ensign Ford - 17 GP races, 5 championship points, 17th world championship
• 1978 - Formula 1 at Shadow Ford - 16 GP races, 4 championship points, 16th world championship
• 1979 - Formula 1 at Williams-Ford - 15 GP races, 1 GP victory, 32 World Championship points, 5th World Championship
• 1980 - Formula 1 at Ensign Ford - 4 GP races, 0 championship points, serious accident in the US West GP in Long Beach, since then paraplegic

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1970
					4th		4th	DNF	2	1	2	13	2
1971
	3	DNF	DNF	3	DNF	DNF	3	DNF	DNF	DNF	6th
1972
	4th	12	3	DNF	DNF			2	DNF	DNF	5	8th
1973
	7th	6th	DNF	9	10 *	DNF	9	12	7th	8th	DNF	6th	DNF		8th
1974
	3	2	DNF	2	4th	4th	DNF	2	3	4th	1	5	DNF	2	11
1975
	4th	4th	16 *	NC	DNF	5	3	3	DNF	13	DNF	7th	1	DNF
1976
	7th	DNF	1	11	2	14 *	6th	DNF	DNF	9		2	2	6th	7th	5
1977
	6th	DNF	9	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNF	7th	7th	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNF	5	5	DNF	DNF
1978
	15th	5	DNQ	10	DNQ	DNF	15 *	5	DNF	DNF	DNQ	NC	DNQ	NC	14th	DNQ
1979
	10	15th	9	DNF	DNF	DNF	2	6th	1	2	5	DNF	3	3	DNF
1980
	NC	DNF	9	DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1970	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Ferrari 512S	Arturo Merzario	failure	accident

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1972	Ferrari	Ferrari 312PB	Brian Redman	failure	battery

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11
1970	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 512S	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
										DNF
1971	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312PB	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
						2	DNF	8th		DNF		DNF
1972	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312PB	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
			2	4th	DNF	5	1	2		DNF
1973	Autodelta	Alfa Romeo T33	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
									DNF		DNF

literature

• Marco Marcacci: Clay Regazzoni. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 18, 2012 , accessed May 9, 2020 .
• Clay Regazzoni's obituary in LaRegione December 16-18 , 2006.

Web links

Commons : Clay Regazzoni  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Clay Regazzoni website (Italian and English)
• Aiutiamo la paraplegia - Club Clay Regazzoni Onlus (Italian)
• Clay Regazzoni on swissinfo.ch/ger/
• Clay Regazzoni's reminder on srfsrf.ch/sport/motorsport/formel-1/

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pierre A. Gränicher, Sandro Brotz, Alexander Sautter: In Clay's coffin lies a yellow rose. In: SonntagsBlick . December 16, 2006.
2. ↑ Clay Regazzoni's career at destobesser.com/article/