Nino Vaccarella 1933-2021 | FerrariChat

Nino Vaccarella 1933-2021

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by Nembo1777, Sep 23, 2021.

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  1. Nembo1777

    Nembo1777 F1 World Champ
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    Marc Sonnery
    #1 Nembo1777, Sep 23, 2021
    The 1964 Le Mans winner, among many other successes, has passed away at 88 years of age. I interviewed him on the phone for a Cavallino article in the 1990's and he was very gracious, likewise when I met him in person at Fiorano during the 60th anniversary of Ferrari in 2007, a major contributor to the story of the house of Maranello. Below is a link to a nice Italian video about him. RIP

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nino_Vaccarella

     
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  2. DeSoto

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    #2 DeSoto, Sep 23, 2021
    And this is how history becomes legend.
     
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  3. Marcel Massini

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  4. Marcel Massini

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  5. GIOTTO

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    #5 GIOTTO, Sep 24, 2021
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  6. Jack-the-lad

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  7. Nembo1777

    Nembo1777 F1 World Champ
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    #7 Nembo1777, Sep 25, 2021
    What a shot, Io amo Sicilia:)!

    Went there three times for car inspections and to bring one back via ferry boat and the people were just wonderful, very helpful and resourceful -with fabulous three hour dinners!- and Il professore was a fine ambassador for his island, not just a seriously fast and successful pilota.
     
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  8. Jack-the-lad

    Jack-the-lad Six Time F1 World Champ
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    #8 Jack-the-lad, Sep 25, 2021
    Photo credit Geoff Goddard.
     
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  9. GIOTTO

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    #9 GIOTTO, Sep 25, 2021
    Targa Florio 1965.

     
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  10. nis1973

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    #10 nis1973, Sep 25, 2021
    A legend and the coolest school principal too!
     
  11. 635CSI

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    #11 635CSI, Sep 26, 2021
    A great shame, but a life well lived. Grazie Nino!
     
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  12. Doug Nye

    Doug Nye Formula Junior
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    #12 Doug Nye, Sep 27, 2021
    Nino Vaccarella was indeed an excellent sports car and endurance racing driver, but above all a good human being.

    A mutual friend has just told me what fun it was to go out in Palermo with Nino... Everbody was, or wanted to be, his friend. Doors opened. He was respected, welcomed and celebrated everywhere.

    Yet he kept his feet firmly on the ground. When he came to the Goodwood Festival he was genuinely astonished by his reception from the crowd and spectators milling around the paddock. He turned to one of his travelling companions and asked in genuine puzzlement "How do they know who I am????".

    Jason Wright, who accompanied him on that trip recalls how he told his drivers, Merzario, Munari and Vaccarella, that they must be ready in the hotel car park promptly at 7am next morning. A measure of the men is that little Art was there early, wearing his stetson, eager to go, as required. Sandro Munari appeared as a good rally superstar should, precisely at 06:59;59, also ready to go but requesting total detail on the day's schedule.

    And relaxed Nino Vaccarella?

    Still comfortably ensconced, in bed.

    Sadly, his later life had in fact been tragically marred in the early 1990s when his only son Giovanni crashed the road car in which he was reconnoitring the course before the Targa Florio Rally, down near the bridge at Scillato. Giovanni was gravely injured but he survived as a tetraplegic - requiring care for the rest of his life, much of it provided personally by Nino, who blamed himself for the boy's early competitive interest and driving ambition which had come to this. Friends and connections with Porsche secured a series of surgical interventions at Heidelberg, but the injuries proved to be beyond repair.

    DCN
     
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  13. 375+

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    #13 375+, Sep 27, 2021
    Thank you Doug.
     

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