Product Description

This title includes a foreword by Sir Frank Williams. Clay Regazzoni, a cult figure in a glorious period of motorsport history, spent six seasons with Ferrari from 1970 to 1975, gave Williams its maiden Grand Prix victory in 1979, and drove Le Mans and the Indy 500. When he crashed so badly at Long Beach in 1980 that he had to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, the indomitable Swiss-Italian went on to compete in adapted vehicles. This first English-language biography reveals a man of heroic temperament who continued to relish adventure, delight fans and terrify co-drivers right up to his death in December 2006.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121289 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

About the Author
Christopher Hilton, a highly respected motorsport author, has written more than 30 books for Haynes, including all the biographies on Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. He lives at Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.

Customer Reviews

Regga - a courageous story with lots of F1 nostalgia
Clay Reggazoni

This a very human story of supreme motor racing achievement by an extraordinary individual who then overcomes horrendous adversity with undimished charm, charisma and passion. Larger than life is an apt phrase for Clay Reggazoni in both halves of his extraordinary existance.

For anyone reliving this very different era, the evocative photographs, the race reports and the names of his illustrious competitors creates a wave of nostalgia as Reggazoni climbed and crashed his way through the formula ranks.

Drivers he was scrapping with through F3 and then F2 were a host of future world champions. In those glorious days drivers were encouraged to be versatile and the F1 drivers were not too precious to put their reputations on the line against less experienced drivers in the lower echelons.

Regga was an amateur in spirit and attitude bemoaning, after a move to Ferrari, that it was all too professional.

Nicki Lauda said that if there was a talent in Regga superior to other men it was that of thinking positively - as later events unfolded he would need that gift in plenty!

The book charts his incredible rise to F1 heights, giving Williams their first F1 victory at Silverstone and a win for Ferrari at Monza, which elevated him to Italian national hero status, through to the horrendous crash at Long Beach in 1980 in which he broke his spine.

After many operations around the world his understandable depression then turned to resignation and eventual acceptance that he was a paraplegic and that he would have to "grow old disgracefully in a wheelchair".

Six years after Long Beach he did just that competing in the toughest of world rallies including the Paris-Dakar in trucks and his "battleship" Mercedes all fitted with hand controls and driven at racing speeds. His reputation for crashing regularly and spectacularly was also resurrected!

From his wheelchair he experienced difficulties and discrimination first hand and became a champion for the disabled, intent on rectifying injusticies which he approached with his usual charm and passion but now with an intense personal aspect.

An enjoyable read, the superb photography is a perfect accompaniment.

David Butler

regga
if you were a fan of clay you will love this book in your collection, it gives a great insight into the life of the man who once said if they want to get by me they have to race by me, most enjoyable and i recommend you buy it