The gung-ho drives of Tony Pond

6000 miles to Caracas October 2005

Imagine a parallel 1950s where Juan Manuel Fangio never travelled to Europe and instead turned his back on motor racing to focus on his garage business in Balcarce. That might have been reality, as Tony Watson relates in the tale of Fangio’s part in an epic South American race that left him traumatised and mourning the loss of a dear friend.

The race was the 1948 Gran Premio de la América del Sur, a 14-leg marathon over 20 days that started in Buenos Aires, passing through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, and finished on the Caribbean shores of Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas. Fangio and his friend Daniel Urrutia were among the favourites for victory in a 1939 Chevrolet.

But their bid for victory was undermined soon after the start by mechanical troubles that left them more than 4hr off the lead and in 40th place on aggregate. Then across a 340-mile slog over the Andes came what would become a familiar story: a dominant drive, as Fangio clawed back over 30 positions in a single leg.
In Peru, the 66 remaining crews embarked on an unthinkably monstrous 820-mile seventh leg at 10-second intervals from 10pm – to avoid the gunfire of a military coup. Then disaster: “Exiting a village in the middle of nowhere just before 5am – and with [leader] Oscar Gálvez only metres behind – a left-hander caught Fangio out. The Chevrolet rolled down a hill, with spares and wheels – and even an extra gearbox – flying around inside the car. He hung onto the steering wheel, but his riding helper Urrutia had nothing to grab onto and was flung out.” Urrutia died from his injuries.

Gálvez raced on with a huge lead in his Ford Coupé, which faltered close to the finish after he’d attempted to pull his brother Juan’s car from an embankment. He rolled into Caracas with a silent engine only to find himself disqualified for receiving outside assistance (a spectator’s car had pushed the Ford for the uphill bits). Thus another of Fangio’s friends, Domingo Marimón – father of future Maserati grand prix driver Onofre – was the winner. Meanwhile, in Lima, Fangio grappled with his future. At first conflicted and then certain, he would not turn back.

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IN THE SPIRIT OF BOD AND JENKS

On this month… Croydon rabble, Rebel dread and F1 fiascos

Sicily season
December 1955
Jenks is at the Targa Florio: “A blazing sun and Fangio passing in a 300 SLR. Who wouldn’t be happy?” Editor Bod is having less fun on the Brighton Run in a 1904 Tony Huber. “At Croydon we came across top-hatted hooligans in an Alvis and received squirts from a water pistol.”

Hill’s skills
December 1968
We offer Graham Hill muted congratulations for his F1 world title: “He has won the honour by the superiority of British engineering technique in the form of the Lotus car.” At the other end of the scale is the Reliant Rebel, of which we note, “It is about the lowest form of motoring life.”

Ethics check   
December 1997
In response to Michael Schumacher’s ramming of F1 title rival Jacques Villeneuve, Jackie Stewart says, “Even in the ’90s there is room for morals.” A few pages on we take a wry look at racing cock-ups: “Chris Amon was a specialist in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”