Argentinian ace chalked up incredible record

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 12

Argentinian ace chalked up incredible record

By GEORGE TANNER As sure as night follows day, there will always be arguments about who is or was the greatest racing driver of all time. I am convinced that the matter can never be resolved because in their era, each champion driver was faced with rather unique challenges and circumstances. However, one driver who must rank near the top is the Argentinian ace, Juan Manuel Fangio. His incredible record of five world championship titles may never be broken. Many drivers have tried, but only four, Sir Jack Brabham, of Australia, Jackie Stewart, of Scotland, Niki Lauda, of Austria, and Nelson Piquet, of Brazil, have come anywhere near Fangio’s impressive tally, with three titles apiece. Fangio’s career began in 1929 when he codrove a converted Chevrolet taxi in a dirt-road race. He rose to prominence in 1940 by winning a gruelling road race over the Andes mountains, from Buenos Aires to the Peruvian capital, Lima, a return journey of over 12,000 km. It was not until 1948 that Fangio drove a proper grand prix car, a Maserati 250 F. By 1949, Fangio had made his European debut, win-

ning seven races at the wheel of three different marques, Ferrari, Maserati and Simca Gordini. Fangio’s grand-prix career began when he was 38 years old, an age when most racing drivers contemplate retirement. He contested 51 grands prix between 1950 and 1958, was victorious on 24 occasions and started from pole position 28 times. He was also credited with 23 fastest laps. In 1950, the first year of the world driver’s championship, Fangio signed up with the Italian Alfa Romeo team and a year later won his first world drivers’ title. A bad accident, in

which he suffered a serious back injury, during a non-championship race at Monza, Italy, kept the plucky Argentinian, who had signed up with Officine Maserati, out of the cockpit until 1953. The following year, Fangio won his second drivers’ title. The first part of the season had him at the wheel of a borrowed Maserati, as he eagerly awaited the new Mercedes Benz. Fangio successfully defended his crown with Mercedes Benz in 1955, but when the German manufacturer withdrew from racing, Fangio was snapped up by Ferrari for the 1956 season, and once again proved almost invincible, adding a fourth world drivers’ title to his credit. In 1957, Fangio changed his allegiances, leaving Ferrari to rejoin Officine Maserati. He won his fifth title that year and in 1958, following the French Grand Prix at Rheims, “El Cheuco,” as he was affectionately nick-named, decided to retire. He was 47. With the passing this year of the Italian doyen of motor sport, Enzo Ferrari, Fangio, aged 76, must surely head the list of the few surviving motor-racing identities that can truly be classed as legendary.