He was called the sport’s first racing super star when in 1925 he retired from frontline racing after two and one half decades. During that time he won all the great races of the day including the Targa Florio, the Kaiserpreise and the French Grand Prix, the initial trio all at the wheel of a Fiat. He won the latter twice with a war and an unprecedented 15 years separating victories.
The prototypical cagey driver, Nazzaro would often hang back at the beginning of a race, waiting for the leaders to fail and then would pounce into the lead, sometimes making the fastest lap in the process. A thinking man’s driver but one with the speed to go wheel to wheel as circumstances warranted. The popular star of numerous Italian races early in the early decades of the century, his fans included a young Enzo Ferrari. His fame grew internationally with a brilliant second place for Fiat in the Gordon Bennett Cup of 1905, a relative unknown he was given only 20 to 1 odds of winning the race by local bet makers compared to the 10 to 1 odds given his teammate Lancia. Underestimating the young Italian would soon cease and be replaced by the cry “where is Nazzaro”, as he invariably came through the pack to be among the leaders at the end.
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He was called the sport’s first racing super star when in 1925 he retired from frontline racing after two and one half decades. During that time he won all the great races of the day including the Targa Florio, the Kaiserpreise and the French Grand Prix, the initial trio all at the wheel of a Fiat. He won the latter twice with a war and an unprecedented 15 years separating victories.
