ATTILIO BETTEGA was a champion. A true champion. A special man that has been able to do of his humility, his
loyalty and his honesty his winning weapons, qualities these that belong only to
a great men. He has gone soon, too soon, in a clear morning in spring while
he was doing the thing that he loved more in his life: racing in a car. That
accursed curve, perhaps too much clammy because of the damp of the morning or
perhaps because faced to too speed, has been fatal.
It seems to be so unbelievable and impossible. That LANCIA 037 was a car that
he "felt" from the moment that he had developed it, that same car that he knew
in every small detail but that betrayed him twice, the second time in a
definitive way. Everything is simply absurd.
ATTILIO BETTEGA had courage. Courage to be sold. In slopes he was unbeatable,
on the dirty he didn't have rivals. He knew how to drive over the limits but
always in the total respect of the danger. Only the death has stopped him.
He was born in MOLVENO, a small town in the mountains of the TRENTINO, a calm
zone, quiet as his character. A man of few words but of great modesty, he had
known how to infuse on each adversary that sense of total respect that every
man nourishes towards his rivals. ATTILIO didn't have enemies. Many
adversaries, as every champion, but anyone hostile. It was impossible to have
feelings of hate in his comparisons. His class was immense. And he showed it in
quite a lot occasions. Like that time that, gone down by the small A112 ABARTH,
with which he won the TROPHY and gone up on the official LANCIA STRATOS, he put
in crisis the "DRAGON" SANDRO MUNARI reaching his shoulders in the competition
"premium" in AOSTA. In Corsica ATTILIO desired to win to all the costs. He had
an account open with the destiny, that two years before stopped him. The
terrible accident, the double fracture to the legs and the long convalescence
away from the fields of competition, fed in him a feeling of love-hate for the
rally of the Napoleon island, that he defined the "more beautiful in the world"
but that at the same time he hated. A feeling this that ATTILIO would never
have expressed, because in the heart of a true mountaineer there is no place
for resentment. The law of the mountain is hard, such as the one of the
sport and, aware of this, he knew that soon or later the destiny would have
issued its hard sentence. Who races in car knows that the accident can be
always behind the corner and ATTILIO knew that the risk had to be faced to open
face, otherwise it is not possible to be a fast and winning driver. He
sustained that only the fate could determine the worse... And the fate, without
pity, awful and perverse decided to stop his race on that accursed island where
ATTILIO was able to express his own abilities of driver at the maximum levels.
Only a moment, not even the time to understand what was happening and to warn
the friend MAURIZIO, companion of thousand battles, and here is the terrible
breaking against the tree of the destiny. ATTILIO was looking for his revenge
but the destiny pretended its one at the higher price. It is today still
difficult after twenty years, to quantify the void that he left in the world
of the rallies, even if the time cancels the memories. However, we didn't
forget. Our memories are always alive and we jealously preserve them. An
important thing must finally be remembered. The law of the rallies imposes that
only the greater drivers are able to win the stage of the "TURINI", the most
difficult, the most selective, the most beautiful special stage of the world in
the most beautiful rally of the world: the MONTECARLO. We want to remember him
while, on board of a small Fiat RITMO 75 ABARTH, flies toward the finishing
line of the "TURINI", with courage and mastery, entering in that way from the
main door in the legend of the rallies. Today ATTILIO BETTEGA is a champion. A
true champion, a special man that has been able to do of his humility, his
loyalty and his honesty his winning weapons, virtues these that belong only to
a great men. ATTILIO is an example for everybody.
.:: The memories album... ::. |
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AUTOBIANCHI A112 ABARTH1977 - 1st place end AUTOBIANCHI A112 ABARTH trophy |
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LANCIA STRATOS1977 - 2nd place end RALLY VALLE d'AOSTA1978 - 2nd place end RALLY ANTIBES1978 - 2nd place end RALLY HUNSRUCK |
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FIAT 131 ABARTH1979 - 1st place end RALLY VALLE d'AOSTA1979 - 1st place end RALLY COSTA SMERALDA1979 - 1st place end RALLY della LANA1979 - 1st place end RALLY 4 REGIONI1979 - 2nd place end RALLY ISOLA d'ELBA 1980 - 8th place end ACROPOLIS RALLY1980 - 6th place end RALLY di SANREMO1981 - 1st place end RALLY del CIOCCO1981 - 2nd place end RALLY VALLE d'AOSTA1981 - 3rd place end ACROPOLIS RALLY |
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FIAT RITMO 75 ABARTH1979 - 2nd place end GIRO d'ITALIA1980 - 6th place end RALLY MONTECARLO Winning at COL de TURINI SS. |
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LANCIA RALLY 0371983 - 4th place end TOUR de CORSE 1983 - 5th place end ACROPOLIS RALLY1983 - 3rd place end RALLY SANREMO 1983 - 3rd place end RALLY NUOVA ZELANDA1984 - 5th place end RALLY MONTECARLO1984 - 3rd place end RALLY del PORTOGALLO1984 - 7th place end TOUR de CORSE1984 - 4th place end ACROPOLIS RALLY1984 - 2nd place end RALLY di SANREMO1984 - 3rd place end RALLY SANMARINO1984 - 1st place end RALLY di MONZA |
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02-05-1985 - TOUR de CORSE the last race ... |
Pictures www.rallyclubattiliobettega.it |
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