Giuseppe Campari (8 June 1892 – 10 September 1933) was an Italian

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

and Grand Prix motor racing driver.

Racing career

Born near the city of Lodi southwest of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, as a teenager he went to work for the

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." "A ...

automobile company. Campari's job eventually involved test driving factory cars and his skills and interest led to his participation in competitive

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

events. In 1914 the 21-year-old rookie showed his abilities with a fourth-place finish at the

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...

. His career was just getting going when

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out and European racing came to a halt. Following the Armistice that ended the war, racing resumed and in 1920 Campari earned his first major race win and the first for the Alfa Romeo company when he drove to victory at

Mugello The Mugello is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, in Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Fl ...

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

. He repeated as champion at Mugello the next year and took third place at the Targa Florio but did not earn another major championship until he captured the

French Grand Prix The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...

in 1924 when he was part of a powerful three-man Alfa Romeo team with Count Gastone Brilli-Peri and

Antonio Ascari Antonio Ascari (15 September 1888 – 26 July 1925) was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing champion. He won four Grands Prix before his premature death at the 1925 French Grand Prix. He was the father of two-time World Champion Alberto Ascari. Ea ...

in the P2 cars designed by

Vittorio Jano Vittorio Jano ( hu, János Viktor; 22 April 1891 – 13 March 1965) was an Italians, Italian automobile designer of Hungarian people, Hungarian descent from the 1920s through 1960s. Jano was born ''Viktor János'' in San Giorgio Canavese, in ...

. The 1925 racing season was less than successful for Campari as he and the Alfa Romeo team withdrew from the French Grand Prix in July after Ascari crashed and died. In 1926, Maserati came out with the Tipo 26, its first highly competitive race car that led to Maserati winning the Constructors' title and

Ernesto Maserati Ernesto Maserati (4 August 1898 – 1 December 1975) was an Italian automotive engineer and racer, with Maserati of Modena since its inception in Bologna on 14 December 1914, together with his brothers Alfieri Maserati (leader), Ettore Masera ...

taking the Italian driving championship in 1927. Despite Maserati's strong performances, Campari claimed victory for Alfa Romeo in the 1927

Coppa Acerbo The Coppa Acerbo was an automobile race held in Italy, named after Tito Acerbo, the brother of Giacomo Acerbo, a prominent fascist politician. Following Italy's defeat in World War II, and the consequent demise of fascism, the race was renamed the ...

. The 1928 season saw Giuseppe Campari win his second consecutive Coppa Acerbo and his first at the

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World ...

. He earned a second-place finish in the Targa Florio, a race he entered several times and although he frequently finished near the top, he never managed a win. The following year he repeated as champion at the Mille Miglia and along with top drivers such as

Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

and

Rudolf Caracciola Otto Wilhelm Rudolf CaracciolaBolsinger and Becker (2002), p. 63 (30 January 1901 – 28 September 1959) was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One Wo ...

, he traveled to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to compete in the inaugural Irish International Grand Prix at

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tre ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. Run in front of more than 100,000 spectators, Campari was hit in the eye by a flying small rock but was successfully treated in hospital and the race was won by the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n émigré,

Boris Ivanowski Boris Ivanowski (russian: Борис Ивановский) was an officer of the Russian Imperial Guard who went into exile after the Russian Revolution of 1917, Russian revolution and made his way to fame in the 1920s as a racecar driver. Race ...

. Campari also raced in the Tourist Trophy Races at the Ards course in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

where he finished second to Caracciola's Mercedes. In 1930,

Tazio Nuvolari Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari (; 16 November 1892 – 11 August 1953) was an Italian racing driver. He first raced motorcycles and then concentrated on sports cars and single-seaters. A resident of Mantua, he was known as 'Il Mantovano Volante' ( ...

joined Campari on the Alfa Romeo team. After a sensational debut season, Nuvolari and Campari combined to win their first

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been he ...

, a victory that made them national heroes for taking the championship from the French who had won it for the past three years. That same year, Campari won his third Coppa Acerbo but for 1933 he became part of the Maserati team with

Baconin Borzacchini Baconin Borzacchini (Terni 28 September 1898 – Monza 10 September 1933) was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing driver often referred to as Mario Umberto Borzacchini. Biography Born Baconino Francesco Domenico Borzacchini in Terni in the Umbria ...

and

Luigi Fagioli Luigi Cristiano Fagioli (; 9 June 1898 – 20 June 1952), nicknamed "the Abruzzi robber", was an Italian motor racing driver. Having won his last race at 53 years old, Fagioli holds the record for the oldest Formula One driver to win a race, and ...

. Campari won his second French Grand Prix driving for Maserati, but at age 41 was ready to retire at the end of the season. The

Monza Grand Prix The Monza Grand Prix (Italian: ''Gran Premio di Monza'') was an automobile race held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza at Monza, Italy. Following the terrible accident during the 1928 Italian Grand Prix, where Emilio Materassi and 27 spect ...

on 10 September 1933 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy was to be his last race. While leading the race, Campari was instantly killed when his car crashed after skidding in a sharp turn on a patch of leaked engine oil.

Personal life

In addition to his love of automobile racing, Giuseppe Campari had two other passions: food, in great quantities that he liked to prepare himself, and the opera. Blessed with a great baritone voice from the depths of an expansive paunch, he took singing lessons and while still racing began to sing professionally.

Major victories

* Circuit of Mugello 1920, 1921 *

1927, 1928, 1931 *

1924, 1933 *

1931 *

1928, 1929

Racing record

Complete European Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

''Campari con brio'' Giuseppe Campari biography
at ''Motor Sport'' magazine archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Campari, Giuseppe 1892 births 1933 deaths Italian racing drivers Sportspeople from the Province of Lodi Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in Italy European Championship drivers Grand Prix drivers