Regga: The Extraordinary Two Lives of Clay Regazzoni

by Christopher Hilton

Clay Regazzoni was a complete gentleman off the track, but tough on it. He was a pure racer and dedicated himself to that. He was a Grand Prix driver throughout the 1970s, during which time he spent six seasons with Ferrari, where he partnered such as Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti and Niki Lauda. He also drove Le Mans and the Indy 500. In 1979 he gave the Williams team its maiden Grand Prix victory when he won the British GP at Silverstone. At Long Beach the next season, driving an Ensign, he crashed so badly that he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. From the wheelchair he helped develop hand-controlled cars which he could race and he taught others to drive and race too. He also became a champion of the disabled in general and an inspirational figure to them. He regained a competition license and, incredibly, took part in the Paris-Dakar rally as well as sports cars at places like Sebring. He also commentated on Swiss and Italian television.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2009

About the author

Christopher (Chris) Hilton was a former sportswriter with the Daily Express.

Hilton had begun his career in journalism at The Journal in Newcastle, and then worked at the Express‘s offices in Manchester before moving to London in the mid-1970s when recruited by then sports editor Ken Lawrence to cover Formula 1.

Hilton was a key member of the sports desk editing staff, as well as covering ice skating for the paper during the period when Torvill and Dean were winning world and Olympic ice dance titles.

For the past two decades after leaving the Express, Hilton has freelanced, especially in F1 and writing his books, including biographies of Ayrton Senna, James Hunt and Michael Schumacher, as well as a novel. As recently as last month, his latest book, about F1 team leader Ross Brawn, was published.

Chris Hilton leaves a wife, Jean, and daughter.