Juan Manuel Fangio was born one hundred years ago today
06/24/2011
There is hardly a racing driver from the forties and fifties who is and was better known. Juan Manuel Fangio (speaking to Louis Rosier in the picture, Fangio is the man in the coat on the left) was alreadya legend during his lifetime, winning five Grand Prix world championship titles and also being successful in sports cars. But above all, he survived while many of his (slower) colleagues lost their lives on (or off) the racetrack. He died in 1995 at the ripe old age of 84.
His unspectacular driving style, which was extremely fast but at the same time gentle on the material, was also unique. But his departure at the zenith of his success was also impressive. Adriano Cimarosti wrote on the occasion of his 60th birthday in 1971: "One day he realized (in 1958, he was already 47 years old) that a race was exhausting him far more than before, that his concentration was increasingly tiring, that everything was no longer as easy as before. 'It's time,' Fangio said to himself, and put down his crash helmet for good. That was also greatness."
This retirement from active motorsport is particularly noteworthy because just one year earlier, he had delivered a race at the Nürburgring that went down in the annals of motor racing. In that race, he made up a 45-second deficit after a refueling stop, improved the lap record from the already unofficial best time from practice by an incredible 8 seconds to 9:17.4 and won what was probably his most spectacular race ever.
We are fortunate to be able to publish a review of his life, written by Adriano Cimarosti.
Still not read enough about Juan Manuel Fangio? A search of the extensive Zwischengas archivereveals 645 articles/pages that report on Fangio in some form or another. Even the coming weekend will probably not be enough to read it all!
