JULY 17: A TRIBUTE TO JUAN MANUEL FANGIO

July 17: A Tribute to Juan Manuel Fangio

3/2/2015

For our 2015 "Marques of Italy" Celebration we pay tribute to Grand Prix Legend Juan Manual Fangio with an honorary dinner on Friday July 17, 2015 and a series of special displays are the Cortile Italian Car Show the weekend of July 18 -19 2015. Juan Manuel Fangio was born June 24 1911 and died at the age of 84 on July 17 1995. Nicknamed El Maestro ("The Master"), he was a racing car driver from Argentina, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing. In conjunction with the Tribute we will be airing broadcasts of the Formula One Germany Grand Prix, Practice, Qualifying and Race during the Cortile Event.

Fangio won the World Championship of Drivers five times—a record which stood for 46 years until beaten by Michael Schumacher—with four different teams: Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati; a feat that has not been repeated. A member of the Formula 1 Hall of Fame, he is regarded by many as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time and holds the highest winning percentage in Formula One - 46.15% - winning 24 of 52 Formula One races he entered. Fangio is the only Argentine driver to have won the Argentine Grand Prix, having won it four times in his career—the most of any driver.

For all his talent behind the wheel, Fangio’s first passion was football (soccer), not racing. Besides the nickname El Maestro also had another nickname, “El Chueco,” or “the bowlegged one,” in reference to Fangio’s ability to twist his legs while taking shots on goal. Life, it’s often said, is what happens when one is busy making other plans. Though Fangio did receive at least one offer to play football professionally, a growing passion for automobiles and racing soon re-directed his attention. In 1934, at age 23, Fangio entered his first race, driving his own a 1929 Ford Model A. He would go on to race a variety of cars in numerous venues (including grueling cross-country endurance races over the Andes, where breaking down in isolated locations was an even bigger concern than crashing), and in 1940 Fangio claimed his first Argentine National Title. He’d repeat this again in 1941, but then the grim reality of the Second World War intervened. Fangio wouldn’t resume his racing career until 1946, and his repeated success in South America ultimately earned him sponsorship from the government of Argentina.

From childhood, he abandoned his studies to pursue auto mechanics. In 1938, he debuted in Turismo Carretera, competing in a Ford V8. In 1940, he competed with Chevrolet, winning the Grand Prix International Championship and devoted his time to the Argentine Turismo Carretera becoming its champion, a title he successfully defended a year later. Fangio then competed in Europe between 1947 to 1949 where he achieved further success.

Fangio’s first F1 race was the 1948 French Grand Prix at Reims, where he started from 11th place on the grid but retired early. The following year, now driving a Maserati 4CLT/48 sponsored by the Automobile Club of Argentina, Fangio took his first F1 victory at Sanremo, Italy, beating the competition in a two-heat race by more than a minute. He’d go on to race in six more F1 races in the 1949 season, winning four of them.

His skill behind the wheel earned him a place on the Alfa Romeo factory team for the 1950 season. Driving alongside Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Fagioli, Fangio would go on to post three wins in six races, enough to put him in second place in the driver’s standings at year end. In 1951, Fangio would again put up three victories (this time in seven races), but a pair of second-place finishes (and four pole positions) were strong enough to earn the 40-year-old driver his first championship.

Changes to the Formula One regulations in 1952 left the Alfa Romeo team unable to run their existing cars, and Fangio found himself sidelined until June. Following a drive in a BRM at Dundrod (a non-championship race), Fangio was to drive for Maserati at Monza the following day, also in a non-championship race. A missed flight prompted Fangio to drive all night to reach Monza in time for the race, arriving just half an hour before the green flag. Just two laps in, Fangio made a rare (and likely fatigue-related) error in judgment, and the ensuing crash nearly claimed his life. Recovering from a broken neck and other injuries, Fangio would sit out the remainder of the 1952 season before returning to Maserati for 1953.

Ferrari proved to be the dominant team in 1953, but Fangio still managed to finish second in points at the end of the season. The 1954 season began with Fangio winning the first and third races of the year for Maserati before switching to the Mercedes team, which had returned to Grand Prix competition for the first time since the Second World War. Of the six championship races that remained, Fangio would win four for the new Mercedes-Benz squad, finishing no worse than fourth in the remaining events. Fangio dominated the 1954 season, taking the championship by a 17-point margin over fellow Argentinian driver Jose Froilan Gonzalez.

Fangio driving the 250F Maserati in Modena, Italy in the 1950s

The Cars

1950 - 1952

in front: Juan Manuel Fangio, Alfa Romeo 159A center: Nino Farina, Alfa Romeo 159A in the back: Luigi Villoresi, Ferrari 375

The Alfa Romeo 158/159, also known as the Alfetta (Little Alfa in Italian), is one of the most successful racing cars ever produced. The 158 and its derivative, the 159, took 47 wins from 54 Grands Prix entered. Following World War II, the car was eligible for the new Formula One introduced in 1947. In the hands of drivers such as Nino Farina, Juan-Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli, it dominated the first two seasons of the World Championship of Drivers.

Fangio raced Alfa Romeo variants during the two seasons including 158, 158/159, 1589A, 159B &159M

1953

Juan Manuel Fangio (Maserati A6GCM) leads Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari 500) at the 1953 German Grand Prix.

The Maserati A6GCM is a single seater racing car from the Italian manufacturer Maserati. Only 12 cars were built between 1951 and 1953. With 151 race starts and 81 race finishes, with 23 podiums and 6 Grand Prix race wins

1956

1956 Juan Manuel Fangio Lanica-Ferrari D50

When Lancia withdrew in 1955, Ferrari inherited its material, putting the modified D50 on the track for 1956 and, above all, a driver of Fangio’s ability. The Argentine returned the world championship title to Maranello at the end of an extremely hard-fought season. Fangio had three victories, taking the drivers’ championship thanks to the generosity of Collins (who won two races). The Englishman gave him his own car for the last race at Monza, allowing him to come second and fight off Stirling Moss’s challenge.

The car (designed for Lancia by Jano, who continued to perfect it for Ferrari) is characterised by the two side tanks originally for fuel, but then reduced to the sole function of wheel guards. It also has a trestle-type chassis, where the engine is part of the resistant structure.

1954; 1957 - 1958

Juan Manuel Fangio (Maserati 250F) races en route to winning the 1957 German Grand Prix. (Photo: Tony Smythe/LAT Photographic)

The Maserati 250F was a racing car made by Maserati of Italy used in '2.5 litre' Formula One racing between January 1954 and November 1960. Twenty-six examples were made. The 250F first raced in the 1954 Argentine Grand Prix where Juan Manuel Fangio won the first of his two victories before he left for the new Mercedes-Benz team. Fangio won the 1954 Drivers' World Championship, with points gained with both Maserati and Mercedes-Benz; Stirling Moss raced his own privately owned 250F for the full 1954 season.

In 1956 Stirling Moss won the Monaco and Italian Grands Prix, both in a works car. In 1957 Juan Manuel Fangio drove to four more championship victories, including his legendary final win at German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring (Aug. 4, 1957), where he overcame a 48 second deficit in 22 laps, passing the race leader, Mike Hawthorn, on the final lap to take the win. In doing so he broke the lap record at the Nürburgring, 10 times.

Fangio picked up his third consecutive championship in 1956, narrowly beating out Maserati’s Stirling Moss. Perhaps seeing the dominance of the Maseratis in competition, Fangio returned to his old team (Maserati) for 1957, where he would ultimately earn his fifth world championship (and fourth consecutive title). Most fans consider Fangio’s performance at the 1957 German Grand Prix to be the best of his career, if not the best in all of Formula One. A late mid-race pit stop left Fangio in third position, some 50 seconds behind the Ferraris of Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn. As the race wore on, Fangio continued to set lap times faster than his qualifying effort in order to catch the Ferraris. On the next-to-last lap, Fangio succeeded, passing an astonished Collins and Hawthorn and taking the checkered flag with a scant three-second lead. The win would prove to be Fangio’s last in Grand Prix competition, but it was enough to deliver another world championship.

Most fans consider Fangio’s performance at the 1957 German Grand Prix to be the best of his career, if not the best in all of Formula One. A late mid-race pit stop left Fangio in third position, some 50 seconds behind the Ferraris of Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn. As the race wore on, Fangio continued to set lap times faster than his qualifying effort in order to catch the Ferraris. On the next-to-last lap, Fangio succeeded, passing an astonished Collins and Hawthorn and taking the checkered flag with a scant three-second lead. The win would prove to be Fangio’s last in Grand Prix competition, but it was enough to deliver another world championship.

After retirement, Fangio presided as the honorary president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina from 1987, a year after the inauguration of his museum, until his death in 1995. In 2011, on the centenary of his birth, Fangio was remembered around the world and various activities were held on the occasion of his birthday.

Portions of this article originally appeared in the following web pages:
Racing Heroes – Juan Manuel Fangio Kurt Ernst Jun 25th, 2013
Scuderia Ferrari 1955 D50

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