José Froilán González (October 5, 1922 – June 15, 2013) was an Argentine racing driver, particularly notable for scoring Ferrari's first win in a Formula One World Championship race at the 1951 British Grand Prix. He made his Formula One debut for Scuderia Achille Varzi in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. His last Grand Prix was the 1960 Argentine Grand Prix.
González competed in 26 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix over nine seasons (1950–1957 and 1960) and numerous non-Championship events. In the 26 World Championship races, Gonzá-lez scored two victories (the 1951 British Grand Prix and the 1954 British Grand Prix), seven second place finishes, six third place fin-ishes, three pole positions, and six fastest laps. He won the 1951 Coppa Acerbo, the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Maurice Trintignant in 1954, and the non-championship Portuguese Grand Prix.
González's
nicknames were El Cabezón (Fat Head,
by his close colleagues) and The Pampas Bull (by his English fans) and our commiserations go to his family.
He had a good run John. Several in fact.
ReplyDeleteHe will go down in the history books as a legend of car racing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very exciting sport that I have always liked.
Nothing like the Grand Prix, but we do have a local car racing track and several rally meets per year. I must do a post soon.
Wow, look at that car and the little helmet and compare that to the Grands Prix of today! I wonder how fast the car went. Great photos of obviously a talented car racer! xo Silke
ReplyDeleteWell I'm astonished. I was following motor racing to some extent in the late 50s and early 60s but I don't remember his name at all. Mind you apart from the major names I can't really recall many of them now although if I watched some race films from the era the names would probably come back to me.
ReplyDelete