The "indestructible" Clay Regazzoni died 15 years ago at the age of just 69. In his honor, a permanent exhibition called "Clay Regazzoni Honor Room" with racing cars and other memorabilia from Regazzoni's racing career was opened at the Autobau-Erlebniswelt in Romanshorn on October 16, 2021.
The career
Gian-Claudio Giuseppe "Clay" Regazzoni was born in Lugano on September 5, 1939. His father Pio was mayor of the municipality of Porza and owner of a successful body shop in Mendrisio, where Clay worked after attending school in Lugano.
His great love of motor racing was already well developed. But it wasn't until 1963 that he started racing himself, taking part in several Swiss Automobile Championship races in an Austin-Healey Sprite. In 1964, Regazzoni switched to a Morris Cooper S. In 1965, he drove his first Formula 3 racing car, a De Tomaso, which he quickly replaced with a Brabham. In 1966, he drove the Brabham of the Martinelli & Sonvico Racing Team.
Between two races, Clay found time to marry his girlfriend Maria Pia. At the end of the 1966 season, Regazzoni signed a Formula 3 contract with Tecno. His daughter Alessia was born on January 5, 1967. In the same year, he took part in the Buenos Aires Grand Prix and the Formula 3 European Championship.
On April 28, 1968, the day his son Gian Maria was born, Clay scored his first victory in Formula 3. On December 31, 1968, he signed a contract with Ferrari for Formula 2 for the following season, but poor results prompted him to return to Tecno.
The leap to Formula 1
In 1970, he won the Formula 2 European Championship. It was a truly triumphant year in which Regazzoni also made his debut in the premier class with Ferrari. Although he was still alternating between Formula 2 and Formula 1 races, Regazzoni took his first victory in his fourth Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monza. At the end of the season, he finished third in the world championship standings behind Jochen Rindt and Jacky Ickx with just seven Grand Prix starts.
A dry spell of three years followed until he was back in a Ferrari in 1974 - after a year with BRM - and was suddenly able to fight for the crown. He won the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring and scored points so regularly that the world championship was only decided at the last round, the US Grand Prix in Austin - unfortunately in favor of Emerson Fittipaldi in the McLaren, whose fourth place was enough to snatch the title from the Ticino driver. It was definitely not down to the driver of the Ferrari, but rather the car. After a serious test accident, Regazzoni's Ferrari 312/B3 was unfortunately not completely rebuilt.
In 1975 he still won the Italian Grand Prix and in 1976 the first (western) of the two US Grand Prix in Long Beach, but then Regazzoni, now in the shadow of Niki Lauda, said goodbye to the Italians.
In 1977 and '78 at Ensign and Shadow, he lacked the material to continue fighting for victories. But in 1979, now under contract to Williams Grand Prix Engineering, he did manage to get one more: At the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, Regazzoni took the first victory for Frank Williams' team, which was founded in 1977. However, the British team's joy was limited, as they would have preferred to see their favorite Alan Jones on the podium. In 1977, he also competed in the Indianapolis 500 in a McLaren, but had to retire after 25 laps.
Serious accident in Long Beach
Then came March 30, 1980 in Long Beach. On the 51st lap, Clay Regazzoni tried to brake at 250 km/h at the end of the Shoreline Drive straight, but found nothing under his foot and stepped into the void. The brake pedal had broken off. Regazzoni's Ensign N180 crashed into Ricardo Zunino's Brabham, which had been parked at the side of the track after an earlier accident, and finally into a concrete wall protected only by a stack of tires. That was the end of Regazzoni's Formula 1 career. After 132 Grand Prix appearances with five victories, 13 second and ten third places, five pole positions and 15 fastest race laps, the chapter came to an abrupt end with paraplegia.
After four long years in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics and more than 60 hours of surgery, it became clear that Clay would never be able to run again. Regazzoni, who was also known as the "indestructible", lived up to his nickname, began to develop driving systems for the disabled, gave driving training courses for the handicapped and co-founded the International Foundation for Research in Paraplegia. He himself took part in the Paris-Dakar Rally several times.
On December 15, 2006, Clay Regazzoni died near Parma - in a car accident, of all things.
A room in Regazzoni's honor
Clay Regazzono was one of the greats and, alongside Jo Siffert, was one of the biggest stars of Swiss motorsport in the early 1970s. The two were on the front row of the grid more than once, and in Monza 1971 they led the race together for several laps. Despite a healthy rivalry, they shared a close friendship - something that is unthinkable today.
15 years later, Fredy Lienhard, the undisputed greatest promoter of national motor racing, has remembered the Ticino native and opened the "Clay Regazzoni Honor Room", a special exhibition open to the public in the "Autobau-Erlebniswelt" in Romanshorn, where many trophies, racing suits and helmets from Regazzoni's career can be seen alongside some of his cars.
The 1965 Ford Mustang in the collection dates from the time after Clay's serious accident. The 440 hp Ami can be driven without foot pedals; the accelerator and brakes are operated by hand. Thanks to such converted models, Clay Regazzoni managed to get back into racing in 1984 - at the age of 45.
Daughter Alessia Regazzoni expressed her enthusiasm at the opening of the Regazzonis Room: "We were looking for a place where my father's legacy could be taken up with passion and of which the whole of racing-loving Switzerland could be proud. The wealth of memories of dad is perfectly housed in the Autobau Erlebniswelt. Here it is brought back to life."
Clay's last public appearances in Switzerland were in the spring and fall of 2006. At the racing drivers' meeting in Roggwil on April 8, he was naturally the star of the day among all his more or less successful colleagues. On September 24, he took part in the Klausen Memorial in the Ferrari Daytona he had rebuilt and which can now also be seen in the "Honor Room". He was buried in the small cemetery in Porza just three months later.
You can find more information about the "Clay Regazzoni Honor Room" at autobau.ch
