Late Show with David Letterman
Bruce Martin
FOX Sports -
MAY 01, 2015 10:00a ET
Before David Letterman became
a comedian and late-night talk show host, the Indianapolis native was a big fan
of the drivers who competed in the Indy 500. But Letterman’s favorite driver
was not one that ever competed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or in an
IndyCar.
“It’s not an IndyCar driver
but he could have been great and that was Ayrton Senna,” Letterman said.
Ayrton Senna
The motorsports world
commemorates the death of the great three-time Formula One Racing champion, who
was killed in a crash in the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola on May 1, 1994. He
was just 34 years old.
Friday is the 21st
anniversary of his death and, to date, Senna is the last driver to die in a
Formula One race.
As Letterman prepares to end
his 33-year career as a late-night television talk show host, first on NBC’s
Late Night with David Letterman and since 1993 as the host of “The Late Show
with David Letterman” on CBS, he reflected on his favorite driver.
David Letterman
“I just like what he did,”
Letterman said. “I like that he was a gifted driver but also a brat. Often, if
he thought he was treated unfairly he would take it out on the track. It seemed
like a more innocent version of racing than we have now. I like what he
represented to the people of the world and the people of Brazil.
“My wife and I got to meet
him at a Formula One race in Phoenix. Ron Dennis invited us into the motorhome
and Ayrton – a kid – very sweet and kept handing out helmet pins. I was touched
by that.”
Ayrton Senna's helmet pin button
Letterman is long-time
co-team owner in the Verizon IndyCar Series along with three-time CART champion
and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and South Chicago industrialist
Michael Lanigan. Graham Rahal is the driver on Letterman’s IndyCar team.
Gregg Ellman / LAT Photographic
David Letterman, seen here at the 2015 Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg, currently co-owns the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team in the
Verizon IndyCar Series.
Twenty-one years ago that
ugly day at Imola changed the sport of Formula One forever. It was just one day
after Austria’s Roland Ratzenberger was killed in a crash during Saturday’s
qualifying when the front wing broke off his car in the Villeneuve corner.
On May 1, 1994 Senna rounded
the high-speed Tamburello corner on Lap 7, his car left the racing line at
around 191 miles
an hour, continued at high-speed in a straight line off the track, and hit the
concrete retaining wall at around 145 mph , killing the Brazilian that many
consider the greatest race driver ever.
“When he died it was almost
too poetic that the greatest, most beloved is killed at what he is best at,”
Letterman recalled. “It was too perfect an ending. Almost destined. Maybe for
not all the right reasons but that is what I would say.
“I always admired Jimmy Clark
and Jackie Stewart. Bobby Rahal reminded me of Alain Prost. Smart guys. One
year Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti were chasing each other for the
championship and Bobby was unable to finish the race and that meant Michael
would win the championship. The first thing Bobby did when he got out of the
car was go to Andretti’s pit and congratulates the crew. That’s a guy so I
can’t take him out of the equation of favorite drivers.
“But in terms of romanticism
of racing, the emotional appeal and mysticism that has enveloped his legacy it
would be Ayrton Senna.”
***********************************************************
About Ayrton's death, in the
opinion of Letterman was poetic, a perfect ending, well, as Ron Dennis and Jo
Ramirez told: "there is not advantage in die young. The Formula 1 circle and
the world missed him a lot (specially brazilian people)"
Date: 05/20/2015
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