Some champions – usually the most popular – think it could never happen to them
Fate seems to have certain drivers in its glare. And they’re usually the ones the public loves best. Because their courage makes them seem immortal. But that’s an illusion…
Luca di Montezemolo compared Marco Simoncelli to Gilles Villeneuve. I knew both and I have to say I agree with his analysis. Both men had their own, completely unique styles and sought out situations that for anyone else would have been impossible. Simoncelli was able to coax absolutely unthinkable performances from his bikes just as Villeneuve had from his cars. Or rather they brought them with them into incredibly terrifying accidents. I think that they really did believe they could do anything and ended up convincing themselves they were immune from danger.
In my racing career, I had other friends like that too. One in particular was a young guy I was so fond of that I asked him to be my best man at my wedding. If he hadn’t died tragically right in front of my eyes, he would also have changed the path of my professional life as we were organising a team for his next season. His name was Giovanni Salvati, although everyone called him Giovannino. He came from the south of Italy, but lived in Milan and raced in Formula 3. He was the only man capable of beating the other up-and-coming young talent of the day, Ronnie Peterson, a real first class champion who also lost his life in the 1978 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Salvati, like Simoncelli and Villeneuve, always tried to do the impossible and was impressively good at it. Just like Sic and Gilles, he died at a time when he just shouldn’t have, because, like the others, he’d done plenty more dangerous things. We were at a Formula 2 race in Brazil. A two-parter. In the first part, he’d been halted by a problem with the car and had the choice of not bothering with the second half. But he decided to go ahead anyway, started from the last row and began working his way up through the pack rather pointlessly given that the standings were to be decided on the positions from the two races. He got as far as Wilson Fittipaldi and tried to brake at an impossible point to get past him. He crashed and just lay there, not moving. Just like Simoncelli and Villeneuve. No hope that he would survive at all.
These great idols (and Giovannino was one too) don’t go in for half-measures. Normally, that’s a good thing. Until that cruel moment that takes their lives.
Thanks Marco, thanks Gilles, thanks Giovannino.
PUBLISHED IN EDITOR'S CORNER BY ANTONIO GHINI ON 10.30.2011
Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)
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