Written by Sabine Demosthenes
MONTREAL – In life, we are sometimes lucky enough to witness a real-life superhero in action.
My superhero was so special. His turf was the race car circuit. It was his area to protect. Every race was an occasion to showcase his special powers.
One of his powers was being invincible. He was a true warrior driving against the elements in the pouring rain. For other drivers, this is a pure nightmare. But for him, it was his heaven on Earth.
Like every superhero, an encounter with a fearless advisory is necessary. Someone who is not afraid of proving he can beat our hero. This person is the Ying to the superhero’s Yang in a good story.
For my superhero, Ayrton Senna, his was The Scientist, Alain Prost. During their rivalry, while on the same team or against each other, it was like watching Batman versus The Joker.
It was a dance like we have never seen before between two drivers.
They were teammates (in the real term of the word) when they were driving for McLaren, but during the Estoril’s race in 1988, even if they were racing for the same team, they became rivals.
They were so different, yet so similar.
Looking up to the vanilla sky on this May 1st, 2019, I am missing Ayrton dearly. For some of us, we have lost our superhero. For others, a brother, an uncle, a mentor, a friend or an angel has been lost.
He was very involved in the safety committee for the drivers, he did create many charities in his native land Brazil and he wasn’t afraid to show his spiritual side even if it wasn’t on trend in the ’80s and early ’90s.
The beauty with legacy is that they are never truly lost.
Ayrton has inspired a legion of race car drivers, like his nephew Bruno Senna, as well as Lucas Di Grassi and Lewis Hamilton.
He has also inspired a lot of people to be true to themselves and to keep fighting the good fight, no matter what. Her niece, Bianca Senna, is a good example of making sure his legacy is still alive.
Senna: Keeping his brand and legacy alive
I guess we can all be superhero like Ayrton Senna.
