Ayrton Senna earned his place in history long before his death, but as often is the case when someone dies young, especially in their prime that legend grows and runs deeper with each passing year. It has been 20 years since the great Ayrton Senna was killed in an accident. On that fateful May Day in 1994 Senna was leading the Grand Prix of San Marino at Imola when something went wrong with steering of the car. Senna was killed the final casualty of an already deadly weekend. Earlier that weekend Roland Ratzenburger would also lose his life in qualifying and a horrific crash would injuring Rubens Barrichello.
Like a lot of young Formula One fans Senna was my favorite driver. He dominated on the track. His passion and desire to win like all great champions saw him push the line of clean racing. His competitors hated him, his fans loved him. From Brazil Senna was a champion of the poor and often worked to fight against poverty. As a testament to Senna as a person over 3 million people lined the streets of Sao Paulo for his funerals motorcade.
Senna’s death would change F1. All future tracks were designed differently. Crash barriers were improved and run off areas increased. Also equipment and car designs were improved for safety. Ayrton Senna was the last death on an F1 track.
It’s been 20 years since Sennas pasting and judging by my Facebook feed I was not the only fan of Senna growing up.