Clay Regazzoni - the comet that burned up in 1980 ...

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Clay Regazzoni - the comet that burned up in 1980 ...

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Created on September 26, 2019

Text:

Thomas Suter

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

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George Boron

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Klaus D. Lehmann-Gräve

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Archiv

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Clay Regazzoni won the Silverstone Grand Prix at the wheel of Williams - podium ceremony

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Clay Regazzoni as Ferrari works driver at the Canadian Grand Prix in 1970

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Clay Regazzoni as a Ferrari driver in 1970

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Winner Clay Regazzoni after the "Race of Champions" in 1971

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Ferrari Dino 166 V6 (1969) with Clay Regazzoni at the Eifelrennen 1969

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Tyrell 001 (1971) - Jacky Stewart, Dennis Hulme (McLaren) and Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari 312 B3) at the start of the 1971 "Race of Champions"

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Ferrari 312 B3 (1971) - Regazzon at the Race of Champions in 1971

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Ferrari 312 P (1972) - 3rd round, Regazzoni ahead of Schenken and Andretti at Daytona

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Ferrari 312 P (1971) - Clay Regazzoni in the Ferrari cockpit

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Ferrari 312 PB (1972) at the 6 Hours of Daytona 1972 - Clay Regazzoni finished in 4th place, 15 laps down

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The racing drivers Siffert, Regazzoni, together with de Grafenried, Blancpain, etc. in 1970

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Clay Regazzoni demonstrated the chassis qualities of the Dino 308 GT4 to journalists in 1974

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BMW M1 Procar (1979) - Regazzoni's retirement at Monza

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Clay Regazzoni driving the BMW M1 Procar in 1979

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BMW M1 Procar (1979) - Regazzoni leads the race in Zolder

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BMW M1 Procar (1979) - Regazzoni ahead of Surer in Dijon

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Regazzoni visits Foitek on the occasion of Garage Foitek's twentieth anniversary

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Klausen Bergrennen Memorial 2006 - Clay Regazzoni auf Ferrari Daytona

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Summary

If he had lived to see it, he would have turned 80 in September 2019! We're talking about Gianclaudio "Clay" Regazzoni, the most successful Swiss Formula 1 driver with five Grand Prix victories and a runner-up in the World Championship. The British called him the "indestructible" because he survived many serious accidents seemingly without a scratch. But at some point, his luck ran out ... This racing driver portrait looks back on Clay Regazzoni's career and shows him in many pictures from back then.

This article contains the following chapters

Dangerous times
Late entry into motor racing
From rising star to relegation
Fight back to the top
Tragic accident
Almost indestructible
Key points from Clay Regazzoni's life

Estimated reading time: 6min

Preview (beginning of the article)

If he had lived to see it, he would have turned 80 in September 2019! We are talking about Gianclaudio "Clay" Regazzoni, the most successful Swiss Formula 1 driver with five Grand Prix victories. His rise from Formula 3 and Formula 2 to Formula 1 and then straight into the cockpit of a Ferrari was comet-like. His career continued at the same breathless pace: debut in the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix with a fourth place (he was already in third place when he had to let team-mate Jacky Ickx past), victory in the Italian Grand Prix in Monza two and a half months later - in what was only his fifth Formula 1 race. And the crowning glory of the season: European Formula 2 champion, at that time a fiercely contested racing series in which the wildest and toughest young racing drivers competed. Formula 1 had a new hero, and thanks to his looks, a charismatic one at that.

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