Influential People

I have been asked a number of times who had the most influence on my career, the way I drove, and the way I behaved. For me the answer to that question has always been fairly straightforward. The three main influences have been my family, and by that I mean my mother and my father, Nino Farina and Juan Fangio, but all for different reasons.

My parents had a big influence in a number of ways. My father really didn’t want me to race at all, and was hoping I would finish school and qualify as a dentist like himself. I was hopeless at school and finally left at sixteen and went to train in the hotel trade. Both of my parents had been keen motorists, and my father raced at Indianapolis and my mother drove in a number of trials and rallies and was very enthusiastic. They did a number of trials together in the Singer and Marendez they owned in the mid-1930s. When I was young, about six, she would let me steer the car when she was driving on our farm. A year or two later, my father bought me an Austin Seven. I could reach the pedals when the seat was pulled all the way up, and I was allowed to drive it around the fields. So, I would have to say that they had a strong early influence.