Ayrton Senna Essay, Research Paper

Often in people?s lives an event can happen that is forever remembered as one

of the most important. Be it a family story, or something that has absolutely

nothing to do with the person, the event is deeply engraved in the

individual?s mind and will always stay with him or her. This happened when I

was twelve years old. I have been a car-racing fan since the age of nine and

ever since I started getting into the world of the Formula 1 World Championship,

one driver started capturing my attention more and more. His name was Ayrton

Senna, of Brazil. A three-time World Champion, whom I saw in 1994, after two

seasons of driving for the same mediocre team (while still managing to win a few

races), poised to win his fourth title, driving for the best team in the sport,

Williams-Renault. Even after crashing in the first two races of the season,

everybody, including me, saw him as the main contender. Then came the third race

of the season, in a little country of San Marino, in the small city of Imola?

The racing weekend started off on April 29th, 1994 on a very sour note. During

free practice, the Jordan of the new Formula 1 star, Rubens Barrichello, crashed

at a speed close to 150 miles per hour, slamming headfirst into a wall of tires.

The driver was knocked unconscious and transported to a hospital, where Senna,

his countryman, was the first person Rubens saw when he came to. Next day,

during the qualifying session, a promising Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger

was killed when a wing on his Simtek ripped off on a speed of about 170 miles

per hour. The car then hit a concrete wall, Roland suffering extensive damage to

his head. He died on the spot, forcing Senna to say to a friend and rival of

his, Frenchman Alain Prost, that if he could avoid racing the next day, he

would. Nevertheless, unable to do much himself, Senna won the pole position and

was to start first in Sunday?s race. Sunday?s race started off on a tragic

note as well. A young Portuguese driver, Pedro Lamy, did not see the stalled

Benetton of a Finn Yurki Yarvi Lehto, slamming his Lotus into Lehto?s car at a

high speed. The debris flew all over the spectator?s stands, injuring five

people. One of them was hurt so bad, he went into a coma. The race was halted,

then restarted, and on Lap Six, Senna was leading his title contender, Michael

Schumacher by over two seconds ? a fairly substantial lead. Meanwhile, in the

pits, the crew of the veteran of the sport, Michele Alboreto, of Italy, did

something wrong with his car, resulting in a wheel flying off his Minardi as he

was speeding off, injuring four mechanics of Ferrari and Lotus. Then came Lap

Seven. While calmly watching the race with my friend, I remember seeing a

blue-and-white Williams enter a high-speed curve at about 200 mph, then hammer

sideways into a concrete wall. I have to admit I am a prejudiced person. The

thought that went through my head was this: ?Dear God, let that be Hill.?

(Damon Hill, Senna?s teammate) Granted, the wish was not one of a

philanthropist, but what can I do?When I saw the yellow helmet bobbing

lifelessly in the cockpit I thought: ?Maybe he is just unconscious, he will be

all right.? A helicopter airlifted him to the nearby hospital, but my friend

and I were hopeful. The race went on but then two people all of a sudden just

drove into the pits, pulling themselves out of the race. Those were an Austrian

driver, Gerhard Berger, Senna?s ex-teammate, and Frenchman Eric Comas, who

were the first one to arrive on the accident scene. As I learned much later they

went on to check on Ayrton because of something they learned over the pit radio.

Next day, I was still hopeful. After practicing some soccer moves early in the

morning, I ran up to our apartment and was going to call my friend, when the

phone rang. It was Tony, that same friend of mine. He only said but three words,

but by the grave atmosphere that was in the air, he need not have said one.

?Senna is dead.? Apparently he stuck around late at night to watch the news,

then called me first thing in the morning. Stunned, I turned around and repeated

the words to my mother. While never a sports fan, she knew who Ayrton Senna was

practically as well as she knew my name. Her always happy face turned the same

pale color mine was. My father, who could really care less about my sports

enthusiasm, cam up to us and asked what in the world happened. To my great

surprise, he took the situation very close to heart. Him and my mom both knew

how much I was into the sport and how much Senna meant to me as a role model. I

spent the next two hours practicing soccer shots by myself thinking: it is just

not fair. Senna?s devotedness to God and religion in general was unsurpassed.

Why him, then? He was only 33! Age of Christ, I remember thinking to myself.

While never a religious person, I then realized how much faith and devotedness

mean in a person?s life. Senna?s death as like thunder during a sunny day

for me. I really felt like a part of my life has been taken away by a huge

vacuum of space. While never actually knowing the guy, I still felt like he was

a part of my life, for I knew so much about him. I never had a brother, but

losing Ayrton was much like losing a brother to me. He was a model of

devotedness to his God, his sport and his family. Never in my life have I had

such a vivid example coming from the outside of my own family, and Senna, even

now still means a lot to me as a role model.