Clay
Regazzoni

Clay Regazzoni, whose full name was Gianclaudio Giuseppe Regazzoni, was born in Mendrisio on 5 September 1939 and grew up in Porza in Ticino. He began racing cars in 1963 at the age of 24. Many of his early races took place in Italy, because motor racing in Switzerland had been banned after the 1955 Le Mans accident. His first races were in his own Austin-Healey Sprite, and in 1964 he moved to a Mini Cooper. From 1965 he contested European Formula Three and made his way into Formula Two through Tecno, with whom he won the European Formula Two Championship in 1970. He also drove sports cars for Ferrari in 1971 and 1972, winning the Kyalami 9 Hours with Brian Redman and the Monza 1000 km with Jacky Ickx.

Regazzoni's Formula One career began at Ferrari in 1970, and he finished fourth in the Dutch Grand Prix. He won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in that first season and took his first pole position in the final round in Mexico, ending the year third in the championship. He was seventh in both 1971 and 1972. In 1973 he drove for BRM and finished 18th, although he did start the Argentine season opener from pole. He crashed heavily in the South African Grand Prix, and Mike Hailwood pulled him from the wreckage, an act for which Hailwood was later awarded the George Medal.

From 1974 to 1976 he was back at Ferrari alongside Niki Lauda. In 1974 he won in Germany, reached the podium seven times and finished second in the championship, three points behind Emerson Fittipaldi. In the final race in the United States, finishing ahead of Fittipaldi would have given him the title, but a faulty shock absorber left him 11th. In 1975 he won the Italian Grand Prix, in the year Lauda took the title and Ferrari the constructors' championship. In 1976 he won at Long Beach from pole position. Ferrari replaced him with Carlos Reutemann at the end of that season.

He went on to drive for Ensign in 1977 and Shadow in 1978. In 1979 he partnered Alan Jones at Williams and won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the team's first Grand Prix victory. He returned to Ensign for 1980, but a serious crash in the United States Grand Prix West at Long Beach ended his Formula One career after four races. In total he made 132 starts, with five wins, 28 podiums and five pole positions.

After the accident Regazzoni campaigned for greater opportunities for disabled people. Using a hand-controlled car, he competed in the Paris-Dakar Rally and the Sebring 12 Hours, and his last race came in 1990. He also worked as a commentator for Italian and Swiss television. He died on 15 December 2006 in a road accident on the A1 motorway in Italy, near Parma.

Source: Wikipedia, “Clay Regazzoni”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.