I'm a little late on this one but, what can be said that hasn't already? His determination, focus, and complete commitment to being fastest and winning championships was on a different level. I discovered Ayrton Senna in June of 1997-I was 18 and regret not learning of Formula 1 until I was laid-up in my house after having my wisdom teeth removed. My Dad drove me to Blockbuster video (remember those?) and I rented 3 games for my new Playstation-one was Formula 1 95 (didn't even know what F1 was), I can't remember the other 2. Coincidentally I had just bought my second car days before the surgery, a pristine Dr.-owned 94 Integra GSR with 18K on the clock and it would sit outside for several days (my teeth were impacted and my head swelled up like a turnip after they were removed). Inside, I was playing F1 and really getting into it. Coincidentally, I went downstairs to get some non-solid food in the afternoon, and my Dad had left ESPN on while he worked in his home office. They happened to be running a piece on F1 (still had the TV rights to it in 97) chronicling the greatest drivers, I sat down and watched. The last one was Senna but I went back upstairs to play before it was over-not knowing he had been killed. I recognized the different car teams from the game but when I went back upstairs to play, I couldn't find Senna as a driver in either the Williams or Mclarens that I had seen on TV. A day or two later and the latest Car & Driver shows up in the mail. On the bottom of the cover-"what killed Ayrton Senna?". I read the article, which at the time was also covering the manslauter trial in San Marino. It really was one of those chill-factor moments for me, and I ordered both VHS documentaries from a magazine ad: "Racing is in my blood" and "A star named Senna".
Now, I'm 34, and I wish I had started go karting when I was 4! I think of Senna in some way almost everyday. In my 91 NSX, on the top right center vent, resides a yellow Senna helmet pin as a tribute to the lead development driver for these amazing sports cars and the Honda engineers that made it all possible. Has anyone here ever met anyone that had to do with Senna? I have twice-once on 05 at a Lotus Club International meet here and last month at Putnam (my first outing in the NSX on track).
