Maurice Trintignant died in the early hours of Feb.13 at his home in Vergeze Gard, France. He was born Oct. 30, 1917, one of five sons of a local wine producer. When Trintignant appeared at the first post-war race in Paris in 1945, his Bugatti would not run properly and rat droppings (les petoules) were found in the tank after the long storage during the war. Thus is the strange story of how Trintignant earned the nickname “Le Petoulet” that eventually appeared on the label of his own wines in Vergeze, where he also served as the mayor.
Trintignant and his three brothers raced, though Louis was killed in the family Bugatti in 1933. After the war, Amilcars, Simcas and Delages replaced the Bugatti. Trintignant had wins in 1948 but was seriously injured at the Swiss Grand Prix, the race where three drivers including Varzi were killed. He raced a Gordini through 1953, was the Champion of France and became a works Ferrari driver in 1954. Trintignant had several wins and good placings in F1 in 1954, while also finding time to win at Le Mans with Gonzales, thus starting a long sports car career. He drove for Vanwall, and stints in the rear-engine Bugatti and an F1 BRM P25. His win at Monaco in the Ferrari 500 was, he said, the highlight of his career, but then he did it again in 1958 in a Rob Walker Cooper. He raced F1 until 1964, earning championship points even at the age of 47, and had his farewell race at Le Mans in 1965, in a GT40, a long way from the 1933 Bugatti.
Trintignant remained close to racing, and in 2002 appeared at the Monaco Historics, practicing a Cooper in lively style but deciding not to race. He was frail but still able to drive hard. VRJ nterviewed him at Monaco and at Monterey that year and that interview can be found on page 18 of this issue as a tribute to this fine and pleasant gentleman racer.
Submitted by Ed McDonough
