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Born in Emilia-Romagna, and raised in Modena, Italy, Enzo Ferrari grew up with tiny formal education but an intense desire to race automobiles. During World War I he was a mule-skinner in the Italian military. His grandfather, Alfredo, died in 1916 as a consequence of a widespread Italian influenza outbreak. Enzo became sick himself and was therefore discharged from Italian service. On returning home he revealed that the family firm had collapsed. Having no other job prospects he sought unsuccessfully to find work at Fiat and at last settled on employment at a job at a smaller car company called CMN redesigning used lorry bodies into small, passenger autos. He took up racing in 1919 on the CMN team, but had little initial success.
He left CMN in 1920 to work at Alfa Romeo and racing their automobiles in local races he had more success. In 1923, racing in Ravenna, he purchased the Prancing Horse badge which decorated the fuselage of Francesco Baracca’s (Italy’s leading ace of WWI) SPAD fighter, given from his mummy, taken from the remains of the aeroplane after his puzzling death. This icon would need to wait till plastered on a racing car. In 1924 he won the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara. His successes in local races encouraged Alfa to supply him a chance of much more prestigious competition and he was praised by Mussolini. Ferrari turned this opportunity down and in a funk he didn’t race again until 1927 and even then his racing career was often over. He continued to work at once for Alfa Romeo until 1929 before beginning Scuderia Ferrari as the racing team for Alfa.
Ferrari managed the development of the factory Alfa automobiles, and built up a gang of over 40 drivers, including Giuseppe Campari and Tazio Nuvolari. Ferrari himself continued racing till the birth of his first child in 1932 ( Alfredo Ferrari, known as Dino, who died in 1956).
The support of Alfa Romeo lasted till 1933 when finance restrictions made Alfa withdraw. Only at the intervention of Pirelli did Ferrari receive any automobiles at all. Despite the standard of the Scuderia drivers the company won few victories (1935 in Germany by Nuvolari was a prominent exception ). Automobile Union and Mercedes ruled the era.
In 1937 Alfa took command of its racing efforts again, reducing Ferrari to Director of Sports under Alfa’s engineering director. Ferrari shortly left, but a contract clause prohibited him from racing or designing for 4 years.
He set up Auto-Avio Costruzioni, a company supplying parts to other racing groups. But in the Mille Miglia of 1940 the company manufactured 2 automobiles cars to challenge, driven by Alberto Ascari and Lotario Rangoni. During WW2 his firm was concerned in war production and following bombing relocated from Modena to Maranello. It wasn’t till after World War II that Ferrari tried to shed his fascist reputation and make autos bearing his name, founding today’s Ferrari S.p. A. In 1945.
The first open-wheeled race was in Turin in 1948 and the first victory came later in the year in Lago di Garda. Ferrari participated in the Formula one World Championship since its introduction in 1950 but the first victory was not until the UK Grand Prix of 1951. The 1st championship came in 1952-53, when the Formula One season was raced with Formula Two cars. The company also sold production sports cars in order to to finance the racing endeavours not only in Grand Prix but also in events such as the Mille Miglia and Le Mans. Indeed many of the firm’s best victories came at Le Mans ( fourteen victories, including 6 in a row 1960-65 ) instead of in Grand Prix, actually the company was more concerned there than in Formula One in the 1950s and 1960s regardless of the successes of Juan-Manuel Fangio (1956), Mike Hawthorn ( 1958 ), Phil Hill ( 1961 ) and John Surtees ( 1964 ) .
In the 1960s the issues of reduced demand and insufficient financing forced Ferrari to permit Fiat to take a percentage in the company. Ford had attempted to buy the firm in 1963 for US$18 million but had been declined. The company became joint-stock and Fiat took a small share in 1965 and then in 1969 they increased their holding to half of the company. ( In 1988 Fiat’s holding was increased to 90%).
Ferrari remained managing director until 1971. Despite stepping down he remained an influence over the firm till his a power over The input of Fiat took some time to have effect. It was not until 1975 with Niki Lauda that the firm won any championships with Niki Lauda that the talent of the driver and the capability of the engine conquering the inadequacies of the chassis and aerodynamics. But after those successes and the guarantee of Jody Scheckter title and the corporation’s Formula One championship hopes dropped in 1979, the doldrums. 1982 opened with a strong fell into the 126C2, world-class drivers, and promising ends powerful vehicle, the early races.
However, Gilles Villeneuve was finished in the 126C2 in May, and teammate Didier Pironi had his career cut short in a violent end over end flip on the foggy backstraight at Hockenheim in Aug. Pironi was leading the driver’s championship at the time; he would lose the lead as he sat out the driver’s championship at the time ; he would not see championship glory again during Ferrari’s lifetime.
Enzo Ferrari died in Modena in 1988 at the age of 90 at the beginning of the dominance of the McLaren Honda combination. The only race which McLaren did the start of the Italian Grand Prix – this was held just weeks after Enzo’s death, and, suitably, the result was a 1-2 finish for Ferrari, with Gerhard Berger leading home Michele Alboreto. After Enzo’s death, thee Scuderia Ferrari team has had further success, notably with Michael Schumacher from 1996-2005.
Made a Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1952, to add to his honours of Cavaliere and Commendatore in the 1920s, Enzo also received a number of honorary degrees, the Hammarskjld Prize in 1962, the Columbus Prize in 1965, and the De Gasperi Award in 1987. In 1994, he was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Enzo the De Gasperi Award in his fountain pen, although the reason for this remains unclear.
After the death of his son, Alfredo “Dino” Ferrari, Enzo wore sunglasses just about every day to honor his son.
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