Juan Manuel Fangio II (born September 19, 1956 in Balcarce, Buenos Aires,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

) is an Argentine former

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

driver. He is the nephew of five-time

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

champion

Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...

. After some experience in European Formula Three, Fangio debuted as a professional auto racer in

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

in 1984 in the Miami Grand Prix in a Porsche 935 with Hugo Gralia. He had an award-winning career, winning two GTP driver's championships, as well as 2 manufacturer titles when he was racing for

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and

All American Racers All American Racers is an American auto racing team and constructor based in Santa Ana, California. Founded by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in 1964, All American Racers initially participated in American sports car and Champ Car races as well a ...

. Fangio further established his legacy in the world of auto racing by winning the prestigious

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second rou ...

two times (as did his uncle), posting 21 GTP wins, and establishing an IMSA record with 19 solo victories. His victories came while driving the

Eagle HF89 The Eagle HF89 and its evolution, the Eagle HF90, is a racing car built and entered by Dan Gurney's All American Racers team, for the IMSA GT Championship. It was raced from 1989 until 1991 in IMSA's premier sports-car racing category, the GTP (G ...

/90 and Eagle MkIII GTP cars. Fangio won ten pole positions during his career. He made most of his driving career in the

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and was chosen in 1992 and 1993 as an "All-American" by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA), an organization which also named Fangio their 1992 driver of the year. He also participated in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed ...

series, but did not win any races, a fact that he regretted. His boss, and also a personal friend, was

Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, ...

. In 1997, Fangio called Gurney to let him know that he was retiring from CART competition. He told Gurney, "I have discovered that regardless of what my passion says, despite what I command my mind to do, I am no longer able to give my whole being, my total focus at the exclusion of everything else to this sport that I love. 99% is not enough, I shall stop." Gurney described Fangio as "A gentleman in a driver's suit with a core of steel exuding an aura of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

n dignity and honor even in the worst of circumstances will be missing from the grid". Fangio returned home in 1998 to race in the South American Super Touring Car Championship. He finished fifth in the standings with one win and five podiums at the wheel of a

Peugeot 406 The Peugeot 406 is a large family car that was produced by French automaker Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, wi ...

. Shortly after, he retired from motorsports after a final appearance at the 12 Hours of Sebring in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

with a

Ferrari 333 SP The Ferrari 333 SP is a sports prototype race car that was built by Italian race car manufacturer Dallara and later Michelotto to compete in the World Sports Car championship for Ferrari. Unveiled at the end of 1993, at the behest of amateur rac ...

, finishing in sixth place for Doyle-

Risi Racing Risi Competizione is an Italo-American auto racing Ferrari factory-backed team formed by Giuseppe Risi in 1997. Initially, the team had a partnership with Doyle Racing using the name Doyle-Risi Racing, but soon Giuseppe Risi took full control of ...

. Fangio currently resides in his hometown of Balcarce, Argentina.

Career results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete IMSA GTP results

( key)

American Open-Wheel racing results

( key)

Indy Lights

CART

Complete American Le Mans Series results

International Race of Champions

( key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

External links

*
On his retirement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fangio, Juan Manuel II 1956 births Argentine racing drivers Champ Car drivers Indy Lights drivers Atlantic Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Living people Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province International Race of Champions drivers Argentine people of Italian descent International Formula 3000 drivers Barber Pro Series drivers 12 Hours of Sebring drivers PacWest Racing drivers TOM'S drivers