Master at the Monza

At the twisting Monza speedway near Milan last week, the roar of 80,000 voices mingled with the thunder of racing engines. Round and round the four-mile track swept 32 powerful, low-slung cars piloted by some of the world's finest drivers. Mostly the crowd kept its eyes on one racer: No. 4, the bright red Ferrari driven by Italy's Alberto Ascari. For 55 of the 80 laps, Driver Ascari hung back, jockeying for position, then made his move and shot into the lead. On the last lap, still ahead by 20 yards, Ascari saw a rival edging closer, tried to fight him off by risking a curve at 120 m.p.h.

The speed was too great; tires shrieking, the Ted Ferrari slid out of control, spun wildly around. Two cars howled past, one nicking Ascari's stalled machine. A third slammed into him, and both cars hurtled off the track. The crowd raised a long, audible sigh when the two cars came to a stop and both drivers scrambled from the wreckage unhurt. The rest of the field swept on, and Ascari's arch rival Juan Fangio won in a Maserati.

Twice in a Row. It was typical of Ascari that he would push his car to the ragged edge trying to win Italy's classic Monza. Most men in his position would have played it safe. Streaking around tracks from Argentina to France, Ascari had already clinched the 1953 world championship by winning five of the ten Grand Prix races that count toward the point total. At Bern, Switzerland, he whipped his four-cylinder (180 h.p.) Ferrari around 1,300 curves in three hours to average 97.48 m.p.h.; in Belgium he was clocked at 112 m.p.h., in England at 92.97. Last year the story was much the same: Ascari won six of the big ten. Now, at 35, he is the only man in history to win the championship twice in a row.

Europe's racing fans know Ascari's exploits as well as the U.S. does those of Babe Ruth. The man himself is harder to know. A sinewy, self-possessed man with a burning spirit and wrists of steel, he first sat behind a wheel at the age of five, perched on the knee of his racing-driver father, Antonio Ascari. Growing up, he raced anything he could get his hands on--spitting little motorbikes, stock Fiat sedans, then sporty, 150-m.p.h. Maseratis. Finally, in 1947, Ascari won his first big-time race at Modena, and other drivers have been eating his dust ever since.

Jewels & Squeaks. For the past four years, Ascari has been driving for Motor-maker Enzo Ferrari, whose jewel-like ($10,000 and up) speedsters have given him his greatest triumphs and narrowest squeaks. Until last week's Monza, Ascari's closest brush with death was 1949's Netherlands Grand Prix. Ascari was leading by three laps. "I was doing 120 m.p.h. on the straightaway," he recalls, "when all of a sudden the left rear wheel flew off and rolled into a meadow." Somehow, Ascari managed to keep his Ferrari balanced on three wheels, gradually let it slow down. Then the car rolled over gently, and Ascari pushed back his goggles and walked away.

After last week's Monza, Ascari would ordinarily be ready for a full fall and winter season, including the Mexican road race this November. But so far, he has no plans. A month ago, Builder Ferrari announced that he is giving up racing cars, and Ascari is under contract to race for no one else. Most Italians took the news with a grain of salt. They don't think Enzo Ferrari will really give up his beloved racers, and they can't believe that anything will keep Alberto Ascari off the tracks for long.

On Utah's spreading Bonneville Salt Flats, a team of British drivers had better luck in a race against time. Tooling his Austin-Healey sports car (2,100 Ibs., 90-in. wheelbase, 90 h.p.) around an oval track, Designer Donald M. Healey and his crew of drivers kept it going for 30 hours on end to set 60 new international endurance records for Class D (122-183 cu. in. engine-displacement) cars. Record to impress sports-car fans most: 3,000 miles at an average 104.21 m.p.h. Record to impress Sunday drivers most: the first 500 miles (average 127 m.p.h.) at a gas consumption of 22.3 miles per gallon.

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