May 1st will forever be etched in my memory. That is the tragic day back in 1994 that the racing world lost its' legend Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix.

I still can vividly remember the course of events now 15 years later. At that time I was feverishly preparing to graduate from the Cleveland Institute of Art with hopes of landing a design position at one of the Big 3. I was so entrenched in completing my work for the I.D. Spring show that I missed the race. I was a hard core F1 fan even back then so you know I was buried in work to miss a race! In fact, I didn't watch any TV at all that weekend because I was barricaded in my basement sketching so I had no idea of the tragic event that had transpired.

It wasn't until I arrived at school the following Monday morning that my friend Rich Scheer asked if I heard what happened. Needless to say I was shocked. I knew even then that would be a milestone in my life that I would always remember.

I had the honor of experiencing the magnitude of Senna's reach a few weeks later when I went to his hometown of Sao Paulo Brasil to visit my future wife. Even though the funeral had already occurred the palpable sadness and grief that still hung over the entire country was staggering. I had never in my life witnessed an event that had touched so many.

I never always agreed with Senna or approved of some of his more infamous on track antics but there is no denying that he will go down in history as one of the few true legends of racing. Even today, fifteen years later, he is still the standard of excellence by which others are compared.

Labels: F1, Racing, Videos