Juan Manuel Fangio. Photos courtesy Daimler Media Archive.
In the world of Formula One, the benchmark driver to which all others continue to be compared is the Argentinian great, Juan Manuel Fangio. Though Fangio last turned an F1 steering wheel in anger in 1958, his record of five World Driver’s Championships stood until 2003, when it was finally surpassed by Michael Schumacher. Fangio still holds the highest winning percentage among Formula One drivers (24 victories in 52 races, or a winning average of 46 percent), a record that isn’t likely to fall any time soon.
In Chris Economaki’s autobiography, Let ‘Em All Go!, the broadcasting great relates a story about riding shotgun with Fangio at a track in Mexico City. Driving an unnamed Mercedes-Benz sports car, Fangio missed a shift at what Economaki describes as “extremely high speed.” As the great driver caught the ensuing slide, he turned to Economaki and shrugged his shoulders, a wry smile crossing his face as if to say, “Even I make mistakes.” With no further drama, Fangio caught a potential spin that may have spelled disaster for a lesser driver. For his part, Economaki says, “Was it frightening? Jesus, Juan Manuel Fangio is going about 9,000 miles per hour and he misses a shift. Damned right it was frightening!”
For all his talent behind the wheel, Fangio’s first passion was football (soccer), not racing. His nickname was “El Chueco,” or “the bowlegged one,” in reference to Fangio’s ability to twist his legs while taking shots on goal. Though he dropped out of school at the age of 13 to apprentice as a mechanic, and later gained valuable skills as a riding mechanic for the shop’s racing clientele, Fangio spent the bulk of his free time on the football field. Following a year of compulsory military service at age 21, it was his intention to return to Balcarce, Argentina, and pursue a career as a football player.
Life, it’s often said, is what happens when one is busy making other plans. Though Fangio did receive at least one offer to play football professionally, a growing passion for automobiles and racing soon re-directed his attention. In 1934, at age 23, Fangio entered his first race, driving his own a 1929 Ford Model A. He would go on to race a variety of cars in numerous venues (including grueling cross-country endurance races over the Andes, where breaking down in isolated locations was an even bigger concern than crashing), and in 1940 Fangio claimed his first Argentine National Title. He’d repeat this again in 1941, but then the grim reality of the Second World War intervened. Fangio wouldn’t resume his racing career until 1946, and his repeated success in South America ultimately earned him sponsorship from the government of Argentina.
Fangio’s first F1 race was the 1948 French Grand Prix at Reims, where he started from 11th place on the grid but retired early. The following year, now driving a Maserati 4CLT/48 sponsored by the Automobile Club of Argentina, Fangio took his first F1 victory at Sanremo, Italy, beating the competition in a two-heat race by more than a minute. He’d go on to race in six more F1 races in the 1949 season, winning four of them.
After winning the Dutch Grand Prix, 1955.
His skill behind the wheel earned him a place on the Alfa Romeo factory team for the 1950 season. Driving alongside Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Fagioli, Fangio would go on to post three wins in six races, enough to put him in second place in the driver’s standings at year end. In 1951, Fangio would again put up three victories (this time in seven races), but a pair of second-place finishes (and four pole positions) were strong enough to earn the 40-year-old driver his first championship.
Changes to the Formula One regulations in 1952 left the Alfa Romeo team unable to run their existing cars, and Fangio found himself sidelined until June. Following a drive in a BRM at Dundrod (a non-championship race), Fangio was to drive for Maserati at Monza the following day, also in a non-championship race. A missed flight prompted Fangio to drive all night to reach Monza in time for the race, arriving just half an hour before the green flag. Just two laps in, Fangio made a rare (and likely fatigue-related) error in judgment, and the ensuing crash nearly claimed his life. Recovering from a broken neck and other injuries, Fangio would sit out the remainder of the 1952 season before returning to Maserati for 1953.
Ferrari proved to be the dominant team in 1953, but Fangio still managed to finish second in points at the end of the season. The 1954 season began with Fangio winning the first and third races of the year for Maserati before switching to the Mercedes team, which had returned to Grand Prix competition for the first time since the Second World War. Of the six championship races that remained, Fangio would win four for the new Mercedes-Benz squad, finishing no worse than fourth in the remaining events. Fangio dominated the 1954 season, taking the championship by a 17-point margin over fellow Argentinian driver Jose Froilan Gonzalez.
At the start of the 1955 Mille Miglia.
Fangio took yet another championship in 1955, despite a season shortened by the tragic events of June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans (in which an accident claimed the lives of driver Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators). To stay competitive against younger drivers, Fangio subscribed to a strict regimen of training, and at the Argentine Grand Prix this dedication payed big dividends; despite a track temperature reported to be in excess of 135 degrees Fahrenheit, Fangio was one of only a few drivers fit enough to endure (and ultimately win) the three-hour race.
Fangio picked up his third consecutive championship in 1956, narrowly beating out Maserati’s Stirling Moss. Perhaps seeing the dominance of the Maseratis in competition, Fangio returned to his old team (Maserati) for 1957, where he would ultimately earn his fifth world championship (and fourth consecutive title). Most fans consider Fangio’s performance at the 1957 German Grand Prix to be the best of his career, if not the best in all of Formula One. A late mid-race pit stop left Fangio in third position, some 50 seconds behind the Ferraris of Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn. As the race wore on, Fangio continued to set lap times faster than his qualifying effort in order to catch the Ferraris. On the next-to-last lap, Fangio succeeded, passing an astonished Collins and Hawthorn and taking the checkered flag with a scant three-second lead. The win would prove to be Fangio’s last in Grand Prix competition, but it was enough to deliver another world championship.
Though it was widely believed that Fangio would retire after the 1957 season, the 1958 season started like any other, with Fangio taking the pole for the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix. He’d set the fastest lap, too, but ultimately finished fourth.
The following month, Fangio was in Cuba for the Cuban Grand Prix (unrelated to Formula One) when he was kidnapped by members of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement. Treated more like an honored guest than a captive, Fangio was allowed to listen to the race via radio. Held for 29 hours, Fangio reportedly befriended his captors, remaining in touch with them for years after his release. Ultimately, their goal of postponing the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix was not achieved, but the Cuban Revolution of 1959 would put an end to future Cuban Grand Prix events.
Fangio returned to the world of Formula One for the French Grand Prix, in July of 1958. His Maserati proved unable to match the speed of Mike Hawthorn’s Ferrari, and Fangio struggled to finish the race in fourth position. On the closing lap, Hawthorn reportedly lapped Fangio, but slowed just prior to the race’s finish, allowing Fangio to retake the position. Lapping Fangio would have precluded the legendary driver from finishing the race’s full 50 laps, and Hawthorn had too much respect for Fangio to allow that to happen. Following the end of the 1958 French Grand Prix, Fangio reportedly stepped from his car and uttered three simple words to his chief mechanic: “It is finished.” With that, the career of one of the sport’s greatest drivers was over.
Fangio drove the occasional exhibition event following his retirement, but the bulk of his time was devoted to growing sales in his Argentine Mercedes-Benz dealership. The German automaker would name him president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina in 1974, and would give him the honorary title of “President for Life” in 1987.
Fangio died in 1995, at the age of 84, but his legend will surely survive the passing of time. Though Formula One racing has changed radically from the years that Fangio dominated circuits across the globe, this much is clear: The sport was built on the shoulders of giants like Fangio, blessed with enviable talent and possessed of absolutely no fear.