THE RACERS, PART III.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Racing a car, motorcycle or anything with some sort of power is a pursuit like no other. It is a passionate endeavor requiring an obsessive single-mindedness that consumes the people involved to a degree that outsiders find hard to understand. Ask any driver who has competed at the top level, and they will tell you that there is nothing half-assed about what they do, because the focus required is almost incomprehensible. Drivers talk about being in "the zone" - a strange state of mind that takes over their entire being while they're racing - when the faster they go the more things seem to slow down for them. They're aware of everything around them, but at the same time their focus at the task at hand is impenetrable, because anything less can result in a mistake that will likely have severe consequences. Racers are indeed a rare breed, willing to sacrifice everything for the pursuit of what they love to do, to the detriment of everything else. These racers have left an indelible mark on the sport. Drivers who were fierce competitors, flawed heroes and incredible, gifted talents. Their legacies are what make the sport of motor racing so fascinating. In the next few issues of "Fumes" I recall some of my favorites.
(Mercedes-Benz images)
Zandvoort, June 19, 1955. Juan Manuel Fangio after winning the Dutch Grand Prix. Fangio is considered by many motosports observers to be one of, if not the greatest driver of all time. Nicknamed  El Maestro ("The Master"), the Argentinian dominated the first decade of Formula One, winning the World Drivers' Championship five times (a record that stood for 46 years) driving for four different racing teams: 1951 (Alfa Romeo), 1954 (Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz), 1955 (Mercedes-Benz), 1956 (Ferrari) and 1957 (Maserati). This was all the more remarkable because Fangio didn't begin his F1 driving career until his late 30s. To this day, Fangio holds the highest winning percentage in Formula One – 46.15% – winning 24 of 52 F1 races he entered (and 29 pole positions). Fangio's most memorable race was the 1957 German Grand Prix at the world famous Nurburgring. The pressure was on, as Fangio needed to extend his lead by six points to claim the driving title with two races left. After starting from the pole, Fangio dropped to third behind the Ferraris driven by Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, but he managed to get past both by the end of the third lap. Fangio had started with half-full tanks since he expected that he would need new tires half-way through the race. Fangio pitted on lap 13 with a 30-second lead, but a disastrous stop left him back in third place, a full 50 seconds behind Collins and Hawthorn. Fangio began a charge for the ages, setting one fastest lap after another, culminating in a record-breaking time on lap 20 that was an eleven full seconds faster than the best the Ferraris could do. On the penultimate lap, Fangio passed both Collins and Hawthorn, and held on to take the win by just over three seconds. With Luigi Musso finishing in fourth place, Fangio had claimed his fifth title at the age of 46. This performance is often regarded as the greatest drive in Formula One history, and it was Fangio's last win. After the race, Fangio said, "I have never driven that quickly before in my life, and I don't think I will ever be able to do it again." After his retirement, Fangio presided as the honorary president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina from 1987, a year after the inauguration of his museum, until his death in 1995. 
Argentinean Grand Prix, Buenos Aires, January 16, 1955. Fangio (No. 2 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R) on his way to the win. Fangio was the only top driver to go the duration of the race without being relieved and won easily.
Italian Grand Prix, Monza, September 11, 1955. Fangio (No. 18 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R streamliner) leads teammates Stirling Moss and Karl Kling. Fangio won that day.  

(Mercedes-Benz)
Rudolf Caracciola was one of the best drivers of the years prior to the beginning of F1. He won the European Drivers' Championship - the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship - three times (1935, 1937, 1938). He also won the European Hillclimbing Championship three times – twice in sports cars and once in a Grand Prix car. Caracciola raced for Mercedes-Benz during their original dominating "Silver Arrows" era, and set speed records for the firm. He was affectionately dubbed Caratsch by the German public and was known by the title of Regenmeister, or "Rainmaster" for his prowess in wet conditions. Caracciola is remembered as one of the greatest pre-1939 Grand Prix drivers, a perfectionist who excelled in all conditions. His record of six German Grand Prix wins remains unbeaten.

(Audi AG)
Hans Stuck in the Auto Union Type C racing car at the Hillclimb Grand Prix at the Schauinsland track near Freiburg in 1937. Despite many successes in Grand Prix racing for Auto Union and the "Silver Arrows" in the early 30s, Stuck is most famous for his domination of a very special discipline - hill-climbing - which earned him the nickname "Bergkönig" or "King of the Mountains." Stuck won the German, Swiss and Czechoslovakian Grand Prix races for Auto Union in 1934. Wins in a number of hill-climb races made him European Mountain Champion. In 1935, he won the Italian Grand Prix (along with second at the German Grand Prix); he also won his usual collection of hill-climb events, again taking the European Mountain Championship. After a couple of lean years, Stuck was either fired from, or quit, the Auto Union team (accounts from the two sides differ) in 1938. After a series of injuries to other team drivers, as well as pressure from the German government, he was re-hired, and proved himself by winning a third European Mountain Championship, his last major pre-war success.
(Audi AG)
Bernd Rosemeyer achieved international fame as one of Auto Union’s top drivers in Grand Prix racing and world speed record attempts in the “Silver Arrows” era of the 1930s. His racing triumphs in Europe, Africa and the USA made him a public idol – and his flat-out approach to driving captured the public's imagination. Rosemeyer started his career by participating in motorbike races. He signed up as a works driver at NSU in 1932 before switching to DKW the following year. In October, 1934, he passed a test for up-and-coming drivers in Auto Union’s challenging mid-engined racing car with flying colors, being able to man-handle the evil-handling cars like no other. His almost super human car control was his trademark and a sight to behold and because of this, he was immediately promoted to the company’s racing team alongside Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi. It was then that his meteoric rise in motor racing began. Following his debut in the Auto Union Silver Arrow in the 1935 AVUS Race, he quickly attracted attention in the Eifel Race in particular, when he finished second, just behind ex-champion and racing legend Rudolf Caracciola. And then on September 25, 1935, Rosemeyer went one better, winning his first Grand Prix in Brno. In the following year, he won Grand Prix races in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, as well as the Großer Bergpreis hill-climb. 1936 was also the year in which he won the hand of the renowned sports pilot Elly Beinhorn in marriage. In the 1937 season, Rosemeyer achieved some true milestones in motorsport: in the Eifel Race at the Nürburgring, with a time of 9 minutes and 54 seconds, he was the first driver ever to complete a lap of the legendary North Loop in less than 10 minutes. In the Avus Race, at the wheel of the streamlined Auto Union Type C, he achieved a straight-line speed of 380 km/h. In the world speed record attempts on the motorway near Frankfurt, he was the first driver to break through the 400 km/h barrier on a public road. His last victory was in the Grand Prix of Donington, in England, on October 2, 1937. A renewed attempt to break the world speed record on January 28, 1938, on the motorway between Frankfurt and Darmstadt (today the A5) ended in tragedy when the car - probably due to a wind gust - skidded out of control at over 430 km/h.  Rosemeyer was killed instantly.

(Getty Images)
Donington, England, October 22, 1938. Tazio Nuvolari (No. 4 Auto Union Type D 3.0-liter V-12) on his way to the win in the Donington Grand Prix. At 46 years old, the "Flying Mantuan" dominated the second half of the race in his mid-engined Auto Union and won going away. Hermann Lang (No. 7 Mercedes-Benz W 154 3.0-liter V-12) was second, and Richard Seamen (No. 8 Mercedes-Benz W 154 3.0-liter V-12) finished third. Sixty thousand spectators attended the non-championship Grand Prix. Nuvolari won 150 races in his career, including 24 Grands Prix; two Mille Miglias; two Targa Florios, the 24 Hours of Le Mans; two RAC Tourist Trophies; five Coppa Cianos and a European Championship in Grand Prix racing. Ferdinand Porsche called Nuvolari "the greatest driver of the past, the present, and the future." Nuvolari returned to competition after WW II but he was 54 and in ill health. His final appearance in a racing car was in April of 1950, when he drove a Cisitalia-Abarth Tipo 204A to a class win at a hill climb in Palermo, Sicily, finishing fifth overall. He died in 1953 from a stroke.