Biography

FIA FORMULA 1

Five times world champion

First Part 1911-1936

  • 1911

    One very cold night, when it was celebrated with bonfires on the day of San Juan, June 24, 1911, the fourth heir arrived: Juan Manuel, born 10 minutes after starting that day. In the Balcarce Registry, by mistake, he appears as born the day before, the 23. With time, two other brothers, Rubén Renato and Carmen will be born.

  • 1916

    He began his elementary studies at Balcarce School No. 4, on 13th street between Chacabuco and San Lorenzo, directed by the teacher Melitón Lozano. In Fourth Grade it passes to School Nº 1 in Av. Uriburu and 18th street.

  • 1921

    Juan Manuel did not want to be a bricklayer but he helped his father Don Loreto, who decides to take his 9-year-old son to work at Francisco Cerri's smithy, where the carriages of the area are attended and all kinds of metal forges are made.

  • 1922

    Work and study. Enter in the mechanical workshop of Capettini. That was swept daily by Juan Manuel, so he arrived early to move a Panhard Levassor with chain transmission. He stood on the starter handle and started it. Then he went back to clean the floor and put it back in its place. With that excuse, he repeated the operation several times. He was entertained by the rudiments of driving a car, the first he has in his hands. Finish the sixth grade.

  • 1923

    He joins the Carlini Rugby Concessionaire, a car racer in the area. With him, he learns to drive properly because Carlini asked him to drive his truck when he went hunting. They also work around the area repairing agricultural machinery and sometimes allows you to drive.

  • 1924

    It passes to the Ford agency of Estevez, whose head of mechanics Guillermo Spain, directs it regarding the component parts of the engine. At the age of 13, he entered as a mechanic's assistant in the workshop of Miguel Viggiano at 14th street, corner 19th, also a local driver. There he learns the secrets of motor adjustment. Viggiano was a Studebaker agent.

  • 1927

    He owns his first car: a four-cylinder Overland that he receives as part of his salary payment. It turns it into a race car, but without competing. Play soccer with your friends. At 16 years old, ill with pleurisy, having to rest for almost a year.

  • 1928

    Play "insider" right in the Rivadavia Club. Practice boxing but for a short time.

  • 1929

    Debuts as a codriver of Manuel Ayerza, a client of the workshop and local driver. He does it on board a 1928 Chevrolet in a disputed zonal race of Coronel Vidal to General Guido and returns, on the today Highway 2 named "Juan Manuel Fangio". Arrives second.

  • 1930

    He returned to participate as a codriver, this time from his brother-in-law José Brujas Font in the land circuit called "La Chata" of Balcarce that bordered the field where the Aero Club stands today. He does it with a Plymouth 4 cylinder of 1929.

  • 1931

    Performs military service, providing services for a year in the VI Cavalry Regiment of Campo de Mayo.

  • 1932

    He has the idea of setting up a workshop with his friend José Duffard. In those days they had some clients and they fixed their cars at the door of their house on 13th street. Don Loreto offers him a part of land in the front, next to his house and there they build the workshop. Chassis stringers of old cars make beams, zinc plates to build the roof, "get" at night, in an abandoned house in the countryside. A friend makes the carpentry, Juan Manuel and José Duffard dig the pit for this dirt floor workshop. Others collect 80 pesos to buy the tools. A friend of soccer Francisco Cavalloti is added to the society, contributing as capital an old truck.

  • 1933

    Play soccer for Leandro Alem and for Mitre, joining the Balcarce football team.

  • 1934

    On the Boulevard del Valle and 14th Street, they move the workshop. They pay half of the rent of the place with a trader, who occupies the front and sold fuel. Things are going well and soon they take over the whole corner. The company is expanded with the addition of Bernardo Duffard, José's brother. They are growing, Fangio builds his commercial and mechanical knowledge. Soccer, dances, social meetings, and work are occupying the days of those friends.

  • 1936

    On October 25, he debuted as a rider under the pseudonym "Rivadavia", the name of his first football club in an unofficial race at the Benito Juarez circuit, with a 1929 Ford "A", No. 19 blue, which operated as taxi and was owned by the father of his friend Gilberto Bianculli, who accompanies him.



    They must abandon when they marched third to two laps of the end, to melt a connecting rod. On December 13 of that year he was disqualified in Gonzales Chaves for being late to the circuit on board of a 1930 Ford "A", No. 9, gray, owned by the father of another friend, Leonardo Yalea. He is also accompanied by Bianculli.

museum schedules

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    January and February

museo juan manuel fangio

Dardo Rocha (18) esq. Mitre (17)
Tel/fax +54-2266-425540 - CP 7620
Balcarce - Buenos Aires - Argentina

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