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  affectionately known as "bandy legs" by his many fans, was born in Balcarce, Argentina the son of an Italian immigrant in 1911. After military service he opened his own garage and would race in local events. These "local" events were not the weekend meetings that occur all over England but long-distance races held over mostly dirt roads up and down South America.  Fangio's first race at
eighteen was in a Ford taxi. One particular race which he won in 1940, the Gran Premio del
Norte was almost 10,000 kilometers long. This race between Buenos Aires, up through the
Andes to Lima, Peru and back again took nearly two weeks with stages held each day. No
mechanics were allowed and any repairs would have to be completed by either the driver or
co-driver at the end of each stage. Following many successes driving all makes of American
modified stock cars, Fangio was sponsored by the government and sent to Europe to continue
his career after the end of World War II. It was not until 1949 at the age of 37 that he
achieved regular success on the European circuit. In 1950 he was given a drive at Alfa Romeo. Battling with his teammate Nino
Farina he ended up in second place but the die had been cast. The next year Fangio won the first of his five titles. 1952 saw him
suffer his first major accident, at Monza, when he broke his neck and had to miss the rest
of the season. In 1954 he moved to the Mercedes team and won his second World
Championship. Fangio drove twelve Grands Prix for Mercedes winning eight times. This began
a string of four straight titles. |
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He had promised to race
at Monza following a race in Belfast but due to missed connections he found himself
driving all night from Paris only to arrive at the circuit one half hour prior to the
race. Having to start from the back of the grid he made a rare mistake and the Maserati he
was driving went into a big slide. Being extremely tired his reactions were not what they
would normally have been and he could not regain control of the car before it hit a
earthen bank and somersaulted in the air. Fangio was thrown out and would spend the next
few hours hovering near death. The following year he returned at the wheel of a Maserati
and finished the season in second place. Fangio always made it his policy to garner the
loyalty of the team mechanics. He told them that they would receive ten percent of any
winnings. During practice for the Italian Grand Prix he complained of a severe vibration
but come race day the problem had completely disappeared. The mechanics had switched cars
in the middle of the night and given Fangio's vibrating car to his teammate Bonetto.
