Fangio

Juan Manuel Fangio told me the story himself the day I took this photo on the Remparts of Angoulême Circuit. The most famous driver of all time had just been caught speeding on the highway. The policeman asked him: “Who do you think you are? Fangio ?” For the great champion, a man full of modesty, showing some ID was an embarrassing moment. Yes, the true Fangio he was. The son of Italian immigrants, the former Argentinean mechanic had become a 5-time world champion at an age at which most of today’s drivers have retired from the sport. Having passed away in 1995, he in no way deserved that his name be synonymous with the image of a “madman” as he, of all drivers, was the very incarnation of virtuosity, mastership, fairplay and elegance.

Hannah Dusar21 August 2013