Balcarce, 1911 – Buenos Aires (Argentina), 1995

By Pablo Alabarces

At ten years old, Juan Manuel Fangio began working in a small mechanical workshop, where he helped carry tools, and by thirteen, he became an assistant mechanic at a Studebaker company agency. Between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, he was already responsible for delivering cars to customers. He started racing with a Chevrolet, as a co-driver. In October 1936, he prepared a borrowed taxi (a Ford) to debut as a racer. His talent motivated the people of Balcarce to cooperate in purchasing a six-cylinder Chevrolet, a gesture Fangio never forgot. In 1940, he achieved his first major victory in the Gran Premio Internacional del Norte, a 9,500-kilometer round trip between Buenos Aires and Lima, Peru. He was the Turismo Carretera champion (the most popular category in Argentina) in 1940 and 1941. The following year, due to World War II, competitions were suspended, and Fangio feared that when they resumed, his best years might have passed. However, when he arrived in Europe in 1949, his golden era had yet to come.

Fangio won his first world championship at forty years old, in 1951. He then won four more, setting a record of five world titles. He participated in 51 Grand Prix races and won 24, another unprecedented feat. He reached his peak during what may have been the most thrilling race of all time: the 1957 German Grand Prix, on the 22.8-kilometer Nürburgring circuit. Fangio, who was 48 seconds behind leaders Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, pushed his Maserati to the limit in the final stretch of the race, breaking the lap record ten times and overtaking Hawthorn on the penultimate lap. He won the race and secured his fifth world title.

He had such international prestige that in 1957 he was kidnapped by Fidel Castro’s guerrilla forces during the Cuban Grand Prix to draw attention to the revolutionary cause. In July 1958, he retired from racing at the age of 47. He returned to Argentina and took a managerial position at Mercedes-Benz. He passed away in July 1995, at the age of 84.

Content updated on 07/06/2017 15:20.