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Despite crashing and bruising a wrist in practice for the 1993 Monaco Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna qualified third in the McLaren MP4/8 and went on to take his record-breaking sixth victory. Photo: Motorsport Images Archive
It’s been 30 years since Ayrton Senna lost his life at Imola’s San Marino Grand Prix, May 1, 1994.

Naturally, given such a milestone, Ayrton graces the cover of RACER No. 328, our annual Heroes Issue.

The Brazilian’s Formula 1 career stands among the all-time greatest, but accomplishments aside, he had a charisma and a complexity that continues to resonate not just with motorsports fans, but with a wider audience in a way that few sports stars attain.

Inside the issue, we explore two chapters from opposite ends of his F1 career: The bidding war for his F1 services that saw him test for four different teams in a frenetic few weeks in the summer and fall of 1983 — and choose a less than obvious destination for his ’84 rookie campaign — and his final McLaren season in 1993.

With McLaren on the back foot after losing factory engine partner Honda and forced to run customer-spec Ford HB V8s, it was touch and go if Senna would even drive for McLaren in 1993. But once committed, and taking on the role of underdog to a rampant Williams-Renault team, Ayrton delivered one of his finest F1 seasons.


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Our heroes are of a current nature, too, beginning with Kyle Larson.

In an era when so many of motorsports’ stars tend to “stay in their lane” and concentrate exclusively on their destination championship of choice, Larson is a refreshing throwback to a time when the top drivers of the day would shuttle between series as a matter of course.

Sure, 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ Larson’s decision to run the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s longest race, Charlotte’s Coca-Cola 600, on the same day is an extreme, yet not unprecedented example of old-school versatility, but keep in mind that this is a racer whose norm is to run a whirlwind schedule of sprint car races in between the Cup Series “day job.” Add in the 2015 Rolex 24 At Daytona win on his resume, and we’re impressed by his desire and his ability to switch disciplines and perform at the highest level. On May 26, it will be fascinating to see how Larson performs in his quest for “The Double.”



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