We got an e-mail this morning from our buddy Peter:
Clay Regazzoni was killed in a motorway accident near Parma, Italy, today. Sad, sad, was one of the major moustaches of the early 70'ies, where he was with British Racing Motors and then later twice with the Ferrari team ( 1970-1972 and 1974-1976), together with later 1975 World Champion Niki Lauda. Clay Regazzoni was severely injured at Long Beach 1980, and was paralyzed hip-down. I will miss him.
One of our first F1 remembrances was watching Regazzoni battle Emerson Fittipaldi during the season of our kindergarten year. Fittipaldi ultimately prevailed, but only by a few hard-earned points. Despite his paralysis, Regazzoni continued to race, though non-competitively, using adapted cars. The above video was from an onboard camera, as Regazzoni raced the Ensign-Ford entrant at South Africa's Kyalami Track. Click through for his part in the Acura NSX star turn.
Regazzoni killed in a road crash [Autosport.com]
Related:
Nurburgring '67: A Grand Prix Practice Session [internal]