Point of Pride

At Le Mans, France, this summer, the 24-hour Grand Prix sports-car race was hardly finished when Winner Jose Froilan Gonzalez, 33, a strapping, ruddy Argentine, climbed from his Italian Ferrari and announced to all within earshot: "Fangio never won this one!"

It was a peculiar point of pride. Gonzalez' countryman, Juan Manuel Fangio, 43, had not even entered the race. But aficionados of the Grand Prix circuit understood. Jose Gonzalez, to hear Gonzalez tell it, is the best sports-car pilot on the road. But year after year the veteran Fangio kept winning the battle for Grand Prix points.

Suave Showman. A onetime bus mechanic, Fangio is a suave, taciturn showman who learned his racing in Argentina during World War II. By 1948 he was ready to go abroad. A skilled and careful driver, he whipped across the tracks of postwar Europe like a well-controlled whirlwind. Driving an Italian Alfa Romeo, he won a fistful of prizes.

While Fangio was invading Europe. Gonzalez was burning up the tracks at home. But by 1950 Gonzalez, too, was campaigning abroad. And only one year later, driving a Ferrari, he was pushing Fangio hard for the Grand Prix championship. Brusque, stubborn and fearlessly heavy-footed, Gonzalez was a match for the best. "He never let go," said one competitor. "He would drive the pistons out of a car before he'd quit."

A Lot of Shifts. Last month, in the French Grand Prix race at Rheims, Germany's Mercedes-Benz was back in big-time auto racing after a long layoff. It seemed only natural that Fangio was picked to drive for the German team. Gonzalez, as usual, was on hand, hoping to beat Fangio. But after eleven laps Gonzalez pulled off the track, his Ferrari in flames. Fangio, in his Mercedes Silver Arrow, rolled home the winner.

Just two weeks later, on a rain-soaked course at Silverstone, England, things were different. There were no long, straight stretches on which Fangio's Mercedes could wind up to top speed, and Gonzalez took his cat-quick Ferrari across the finish line in front. This week, at Niirburgring. Germany, Fangio faced much the same problem. On the tight, twisting course where he and his competitors would have to shift gears some 10,000 times as they swung through 3.828 curves (174 per lap), the straightaways were too short for the Silver Arrow to show its full power. And most important of all, Gonzalez was a much improved driver. "He still fights his car too much," said Fangio, "'but he's one of the best."

For 16 laps at Nuerburgring, Gonzalez hung on grimly; then he gave up. Fangio and the Silver Arrow were too good. Averaging nearly 83 m.p.h. on the tricky course, Fangio finished first in 3:45:45.8. In second place, in Gonzalez Ferrari: England's Mike Hawthorn. Said Gonzalez with eloquent Latin dejection: "The Mercedes went by me like it was jet-propelled. Poof, poof, poof. Bah!"

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