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Roland Ratzenberger: The Tragedy Formula 1 Forgot After Ayrton Senna’s Death
Published: April 28, 2014
The next day, during the race itself, Ayrton Senna was also killed.
Although Senna and Ratzenberger were born less than four months apart, their career paths were completely different.
For Ratzenberger, a 33-year old Austrian, the race at Imola was only the third grand prix of his career, having spent a decade slowly climbing the ladder from Formula Ford to F1. Senna, in contrast, was in his 11th F1 season, already a three-time world champion and universally regarded as one of the greatest racing drivers ever.
Understandably, if somewhat unfairly, the Brazilian champion's death overshadowed that of his lesser-known colleague.
Now, 20 years later, I spoke with two drivers who knew Ratzenberger well to get their memories of the man: Anthony Reid, who raced against Ratzenberger in Japan, most notably in the 1993 Japanese Formula 3000 season, and David Brabham, son of Australian triple world champion Jack Brabham and Ratzenberger's teammate on that terrible weekend at Imola.
* * *
Reid got to know the Austrian during the early 1990s, when they both had their sights set on F1. For the European drivers in Japan the time, "It was quite a close-knit community, compared to, say, racing in Europe," Reid remembers. "We used to meet up and go out for meals together—a whole group of us."
Ratzenberger, Reid said, "was a really nice, approachable guy. Very affable...a very sociable guy. We used to talk about racing, or life back in Europe. We enjoyed going night-clubbing together, and stuff like that."
But Reid remembers Ratzenberger for a much more poignant and personal reason: In 1992, the Austrian saved his life.
"I'd just wo...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1
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