Name: Eugenio Castellotti

Nationality: Italy

Date of birth: October 10, 1930 - Lodi, Milan

Date of death: March 14, 1957 - Modena Auto drome

Castellotti was an archetypical Italian racing driver, fearsome and motivated, erratic and arrogant. He was one of a generation of Formula 1 competitors who were pressured by, and fell victim to, the personal political strategy adopted by Enzo Ferrari in order to keep all his drivers on their toes. An eager customer for a 2-liter Ferrari which he drove to 50th place on the 1951 Mille Miglia, Castellotti cane from a family of landed aristocrats. He was dashingly good looking, fiercely competitive and, legend has it, vain to the point of wearing built-up heels in his shoes. In 1952 he ran second in the Mille Miglia before retiring and was offered a drive in the Lancia sports car team for the 1953 Carrera Panamericana where he finished third behind Fangio and Taruffi. He drove the striking new Lancia D50 at the start of the 1955 season, finishing second at Monaco and helped lift the team's fortunes after the death of number one Alberto Ascari at Monza the following week. When the assets of the Lancia team were eventually handed over to Ferrari in mid-1955 Castellotti went with the package, the result being that at times it seemed as though Maranello had more drivers than it needed. He was third in the 1955 World Championship and finished second to Peter Collins in the 1956 French Grand Prix at Reims but spun out of the race at Monza with tire failure after an indisciplined battle with teammate Luigi Musso. In the early months of 1957 Castellotti featured more in the gossip columns than the motoring magazines due to his high profile affair with opera singer Delia Scala. While on holiday in Florence, he was annoyed to be summoned back to Modena by Enzo Ferrari to do something about the new unofficial lap record which had just been set by Jean Behra in the latest Maserati 250F. On only his third lap, Castellotti crashed into a small grandstand and was killed instantly.