Motor racing driver and F1 World Champion 1950. Giuseppe Antonio 'Nino' Farina was born in Turin, Italy, into a world of cars and motor racing. His father Giovanni established Stabilimente Farina, a bodyshop on Turin, Italy's heart of car manufacturing, and Nino's brother founded the coach building firm of Pininfarina, famous for designing sleak Italian sportscars. Farina began motor racing before WW2 and quickly gained a reputation for being a hard driver. He seemed to have no fear and was not averse to pushing another driver out of the way if he was being held up. Two drivers lost their lives in such incidents. A deeply religious man he believed he was being protected from above. His career behind the wheel was interupted by the war but unlike many of his contemproaries, he resumed after the war with even greater success. He won the World Championship in 1950, had 33 GP starts and five wins. Seriously burned in a fire at Monza, he need morphine to combat the pain of his injuries but finally had to retire in 1955. In June 1966 he set out for the French GP at Reims but his Lotus Cortina skidded in the French Alps near Chambery and his car struck a post. Farina who had driven with almost total disregard for his own safety on the track, was dead.
Motor racing driver and F1 World Champion 1950. Giuseppe Antonio 'Nino' Farina was born in Turin, Italy, into a world of cars and motor racing. His father Giovanni established Stabilimente Farina, a bodyshop on Turin, Italy's heart of car manufacturing, and Nino's brother founded the coach building firm of Pininfarina, famous for designing sleak Italian sportscars. Farina began motor racing before WW2 and quickly gained a reputation for being a hard driver. He seemed to have no fear and was not averse to pushing another driver out of the way if he was being held up. Two drivers lost their lives in such incidents. A deeply religious man he believed he was being protected from above. His career behind the wheel was interupted by the war but unlike many of his contemproaries, he resumed after the war with even greater success. He won the World Championship in 1950, had 33 GP starts and five wins. Seriously burned in a fire at Monza, he need morphine to combat the pain of his injuries but finally had to retire in 1955. In June 1966 he set out for the French GP at Reims but his Lotus Cortina skidded in the French Alps near Chambery and his car struck a post. Farina who had driven with almost total disregard for his own safety on the track, was dead.
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