Tonino Ascari

Antonio "Tonino" Ascari (born August 2, 1942 in Milan ; † August 24, 2008 in Gazzada Schianno ) was an Italian racing driver and entrepreneur. He was the son of Alberto Ascari , who won the world championship in 1952 and 1953 , and the grandson of Antonio Ascari , who was one of the best motorsport drivers of the 1920s.

youth

Tonino Ascari was born into a racing family. However, both his father and grandfather perished practicing their sports. Antonio Ascari died in 1925 at the French Grand Prix in Montlhéry . His father Alberto died in 1955 during a test drive on the Monza circuit . His mother Mietta's brother, Giovanni Minozzi, was also closely connected to the automobile; he was a test driver at Alfa Romeo . Tonino grew up well protected and away from the racetracks. Until his father's death in 1955, he had not seen a single car race. Tonino had inherited his father's vigor and determination and, against his mother's opposition, began training as a mechanic in the late 1950s. Mietta, who had lost her husband to death on the racetrack, tried for a long time to keep her son away from motorsport. This effort was ultimately in vain. In 1960 Tonino went to England and worked for Jaguar . On his return he got a job with an old friend of his father's, Luigi Villoresi .

Motorsport

In 1963, Ascari started motorsport. He celebrated his first success in 1964 at the Coppa CSAI Junior 500 , a run for the Italian Formula Junior Championship . In the same year he made his debut in the Italian Formula 3 championship at the Trofeo Vigorelli . Ernesto Brambilla was his team-mate at Scuderia Madunina . Despite some good results, he achieved a total of seven top ten placings in this championship, and the commitment that was still there was still evident at the end of 1966 that he would not be able to build on the great successes of his ancestors. He was considered talented, but on the one hand he lacked the financial means to advance in the monoposto sport, on the other hand his famous name was often an obstacle, as many team owners did not want to take the risk of having an Ascari again Car racing could die. So he moved his racing activities to mountain and sports car races . There he drove vehicles such as the NSU Prinz , the Mini Cooper S and the Lotus 22 .

Death falls of friends

In the 1960s, motorsport, especially in the Italian national mountain and touring car races, was a very dangerous affair for drivers and spectators. As more and more friends of Ascari lost their lives in car races, his passion for the sport decreased noticeably. As early as 1964 was Norberto Bagnalasta in a Formula 3 race at Monza came to death when then first his close friend Bruno Deserti during a test drive with a plant - Ferrari 330P3 died in an accident and then on 18 June 1967 at the disaster of Caserta Giacomo Russo , Romano Perdomi and Beat Fehr lost their lives, Tonino Ascari retired from racing.

Entrepreneur

At the end of the 1960s, he and partners founded Hiro Engines , a company that specialized in the manufacture of motocross engines. For many years he also worked as a car dealer in Northern Italy. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was a frequent guest of honor at international motorsport events and was on friendly terms with racing drivers of his father's generation, such as Juan Manuel Fangio and José Froilán González .

Tonino Ascari died in 2008 of complications from heart disease.

Literature and Sources

• Pino Casamassima: Storia della Scuderia Ferrari Nada Editore, Vimodrome 1998, ISBN 88-7911-179-5 .

Web links

• Tonino Ascari at motorsportmemorial.org (English)