Ronnie Peterson

[Crowthorne]

Today it is 26 years since the death of Ronnie Peterson. I can still remember hearing the news as a 12 year old that Monday morning and writing a note in Doug Nye's book, Great Racing Drivers in which a chapter on Peterson's career appeared.

A sad, sad day in the history of Grand Prix racing.

[bgeorge104]

I remember I was in School too, I cried, that was an awful day. I remember I didn't like Mario Andretti because Ronnie had to finish 2nd to him because of team orders. Years later I came to really like Mario, & saw him race at Le Mans.

[climb]

was just a child, but still remember, what a sad day it was!

RIP Ronnie

[BootsOntheSide]

That was a terrible one, especially as it looked certain that he would be okay. It seems as if medical blunders caused his death, rather than purely the crash itself.

[jonbryant]

I don't think medical blunders had anything to do with it. According to Dr Sid Watkins he died of fat embolsims ob the lungs caused by the multiple fractures in his legs. No way to predict or prevent.

RIP Ronnie.

[Neil C]

A friend of mine is from Milan, now living in Detroit. He is the son of a physician at the hospital in which Ronnie was treated. In fact, my friend Guillermo was at the hospital as an 18 year old, with his father when Ronnie was brought in. Although his dad was not an attending physician, he recalls how the excitement of having RP come in with non-life threatening injuries, turned to horror and grief when things went bad.

I have the feeling that, given the state of the medical art at that time, Ronnies passing was unpredictable and unpreventable.

A sad loss for all F1 fans.