The name Rossi, in Italy, is a bit like Smith in English – a very common name that could trick you into thinking the people who carry it are very common people too.
But in the case of Valentino Rossi and his family, things are seldom what they seem.
An exposé on Valentino Rossi from the monthly Riders magazine reveals there are enough differences between him and his father Graziano that you could write a book about them.
The magazine’s August issue has dedicated a piece on the Rossi family that is unlike any other previously published.
The feature on Rossi and his father shows off a continual tit for tat between the two, including family stories and anecdotes about a young boy who felt too tall.
Valentino, now a man, admits: “I would like to be a father.
But I would like a girl rather than a boy.
Why? I don’t know, I like the idea.
” Valentino is never what you expect, always full of surprises.
Joking, he puts on the braces his father always wears, while Graziano pretends to wear a Fiat Yamaha Team outfit.
The interview reveals two men incapable of expressing their feelings and saying “I love you”.
But as Graziano says, “It’s better that way because if I said it to Valentino he would say ‘me too’, but if it was the opposite I would look at him and say ‘Vale are you feeling okay?’”Things have changed in the last year, especially with Valentino’s tax scandal.
As he says: “Graziano, lately our relationship has become closer.
Even before, we got along well, but you understood before me that something had to change.
You were right.
You are now a fundamental part of my organisation: you are the general manager of Vale 46 and my mentor.
”But here are some more of the funnier anecdotes:On women: Graziano doesn’t beat around the bush here: “You and I were perhaps equal here when I was 40 and you were 16.
A month ago I looked around for you for three days in vain and then some photos came out of you and a brunette on the boat and I said ‘finally I get where the f… you were!’”The beginning: how could there not be a link with the man who contributed to the making of a motorcycle legend? Graziano remembers how it all started: “At three years old you were a total victim of my craziness.
In an industrial zone you made a little obstacle course and attached your toy car to a scooter.
“You sat in the car which, obviously, at every bend would go sideways and you were already learning how to control a wheel and you enjoyed yourself like crazy.
In this image is our life, or the fast part of our life.
”Tantrums: from Graziano this time, during the days of the minimoto, when Vale gave up at the difficult part.
As Valentino relates: “He took the minimoto and he threw it in the car and he said ‘now we’re going home because you can’t give up here, this is not a sport for cowards.
’”Races: For Valentino the best race from Graziano was at Imola in ‘79, in the Cup of Nations with the 500 “when you beat even Kenny Roberts”.
Graziano replies: “In your races the one that I prefer is the 500 debut at Donington.
I knew then that you were seriously good.
”Hard times: Not only good memories, but bad ones too, are always told with a smile.
As Rossi junior says: “One time you thought that there were two laps to go but there was only one.
And scared that your competitor was going to overtake you, you gave too much gas and 500 metres from the finish, you fell.
”But Graziano vendicates himself reminding Valentino of the first time he tried a real bike – a Cagiva 125, at 13 years old: “You fell twice in two laps, on the same bend.
When you returned to the garage you asked us ‘are we sure this is the job for us?’”.