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| Ayrton Senna and Emerson Fittipaldi (source: gavkiwi.blogspot.com) |
So I’ll probably get harangued for mentioning this – as it’d somehow slipped my mind of what May 1st commemorates; NOT to mention has another two years already slipped by since my last scribbling on the matter... Albeit I can still tell Y’all where I was exactly when I was told the news... A la what another generation says ‘bout somebody called JFK...
Thus, I was snapped out of this serenity, Err stupor? By running across the Official Indy Car blog’s story written by Arni, whom I’m assuming is the ‘Juan ‘N Only Firestone Indy Lights Media Relations Guru - Arni Sribhen, eh? As it’s a good story about how some of the IZOD IndyCar drivers are paying their respects to arguably Brazil’s greatest racing driver – none other then ex-Formula 1 Triple World Champion Ayrton Senna da Silva...
And don’t forget that Ayrton tested one of The Captain’s racecar’s nearly two decades ago, when he ran a “Secret” test at Firebird International Raceway on December 20, 1992 – thanks largely with the encouragement of his countryman “EMMO,” (Emerson Fittipaldi) whilst some other guys named PT (Paul Tracy) and a “Scruffy” (bearded) Rick Mears were on hand...
And although Senna was indeed behind the wheel of a BAD HABITS Penske PC21-Ilmor, way back on that day in December, reputedly clocking-in a faster time then EMMO - I never took the test seriously, just assuming it was part of Senna’s ongoing negotiations with McLaren’s Ron Dennis, as I believe Senna ended up doing a Race-by-Race deal with The Ronster for a cool $1m per race! (In what would be his final season with McLaren International...)
Recall that 1993 was the year that Michael Andretti ran the bulk of the season as Senna’s teammate in Formula One, before leaving the team and being replaced by somebody named Mika Hakkinen...
As it was also the year that McLaren was forced to run customer Ford V-8 lumps after having passed upon Chrysler’s “LamborGenie’s” (Lamborghini) V-12’s – having to run essentially year old Ford HB V-8 power units as Benetton was then the Ford “Works” team with some Cat named Michael Schumacher as its Numero Uno driver; but I digress...
Thus as almost everybody knows, after the ’93 season, Ayrton moved to arch rival Williams in his planned reclamation on the throne of Formula 1, where Senna firmly believed he belonged as World Champion, before sadly perishing in Imola, Italy that bleak weekend known forever as Black Sunday...
Just DON’T forget about Roland Ratzenberger who was killed the previous day; April 30, 1994 behind the wheel of a Simtek Grand Prix S941/Ford V-8 during qualifying when his front wing broke... As I’m guessing then Team Boss Nick Wirth will gladly take his criticism over his 100% CFD design approach for Virgin F1 over the horrors of San Marino
As its worth noting that Senna was prepared to fly an Austrian flag he’d tucked away in his cockpit upon his victory cool down lap in Ratzenberger’s honour...
And I’m also guessing that perhaps HVM Racing Boss Keith Wiggins mind may have some bad memories too, albeit his Pacific Grand Prix cars were simply Back markers those days instead, albeit he only had one car racing that day – the misunderstood French-Belgian Bertrand Gachot, as Paul Belmondo failed to qualify.
Thus, I know it’s for the wrong reason, but! I most certainly hope that the just released Senna documentary will make it to the Big Screens here in the states very soon – as if anybody knows if this will happen, please let me know...
And you’ll probably want to check out the images in the story below: