Racecar Articles

The Rise and Fall of Caracciola

Casey Annis
Rudolf Caracciola

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t Monaco, the first significant race of the 1933 season, a new Grand Prix team made its debut: Scuderia CC, with Rudi Caracciola and Louis Chiron as its principals.

Two of the finest, most successful drivers in the world, they each had broken away from their established works teams. The Monagesque Chiron was forced out of Bugatti because of personal conflict. The German Caracciola was abandoned first by Mercedes, then Alfa Romeo, because of the economic doldrums that had swept the United States, then Europe. Supporting a Grand Prix team was simply too expensive. “You know,” Chiron said to his good friend Caracciola at the end of the previous season. “Why should we always win the prizes for other people? It would be much smarter to start our own firm.” Thus, “Scuderia CC” after their two initials, was born.

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Casey Annis
Casey M. Annis is the Founder and Editor of Vintage Road & Racecar magazine, as well as Editor of Alfa Owner, The Oily Rag and BMW Ultimate Classic magazines. He founded Parabolica Publishing in 1997 after a career in neurobiology. Along with his passion for automobiles, Casey is a long distance open-ocean paddleboard racer who’s competed over 10 times in the 32-mile Catalina to Manhattan Beach race and the 32-mile Molokai to Oahu race. Casey still contributes and writes about the world of vintage road and racecars and edits and curates the content for this website.
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