Remembering Fangio

During the fifties, everyone’s hero was Juan Manuel Fangio. He won the World Driving Championship five times, an achievement that would not be equaled for almost 50 years. The race that put the fifth crown on his head was at the world’s most challenging circuit, the old Nürburgring. At the wheel of an outdated and underpowered Maserati, he beat the best there was at the time.

My wife, Alicia, remembers Fangio from when she was a small girl. Early in his career, Fangio, an Argentinean, competed in South American open road races. The longest and most difficult started at Buenos Aires—at sea level on the Atlantic coast—climbed over the Andes through a 14,000-foot pass, down to Chile on the Pacific coast, north through the Atacama Desert and finished at Lima, capitol of Peru. Alicia was born in and grew up in Lima. She remembers seeing Fangio during the wild celebrations that took place as the cars crossed the finish line.