Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Joel Osteen is driving WHAT?

[Luke Graves (buyer1]

I was 21 and a student at U of F.  I was bit by the Ferrari bug and Fangio really made an impression on me.  When the Florida H.P. made a sweep through the pits before the race, a Frat Bro and I played like we were argueing in faux Italian!  Our ruse worked, so, we watched the race from the Ferrari Pits.  Saw all the great drivers up close.  Sadly, withing 2 years, most of them were dead!  Was looking at a little silver car that was a dnf.  Didn't know what it was.  Guy came up and in a British accent,  said, it's a Lotus old boy.  He had a mustache, Ben Hogan Hat and a bow tie.  Charming guy.  Only a year later did I see a picture of him in a car magazine and realized it was Colin Chapman.  Portago was being interviewed by a press guy near us.  After that, there was nobody around, so, not knowing who he was, we went up to him and said hi.  He seemed like a rather unimpressive figure and a minor player in the scheme of things.  He said:  "I an Portago"  So, we said Hi Portago, good luck.  Only later did we find out the he was the Marquis de Portago from Spain!

He was killed in the Mili Miglia.  Saw the following up close: Fangio, Moss, Hawthorne, Musso, Schell, Castolotti, Collins, Villoresi, Phill Hill etc.  Very exciting for College Boys!

With less that an hour left in the race, Castolotti (lead car) came in for the final pit stop.  Fangio was set to take over.  He had his helmet, goggles and gloves on.  Costolotti got on his knees in front of Fangio and begged to take the car.  The Fanger looked at him for a minute and then made a little gesture indicating for him to go ahead and bring  it home.

It was like a King making a gesture to a kneeling subject!

 

Hard to believe that was 62 years ago!  You got me going Dennis!!!  If you, or, anybody on the list come through Austin, please look me up and we will take a run out to COTA in my 360 and have a cool one!  I may be an Octogenarian, but, I still have some string back gloves and can heel and toe a little bit!

 

Warm regards,

Luke Graves

Lt/Col USAF (Ret)

Past President

Hill Country Chapter FCA

Cell: 512-422-3417

E-mail: buyer1 [at] airmail.net

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From: Dennis Burleson [mailto:d_burles [at] bellsouth.net]
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2017 9:54 AM
To: Luke Graves
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Joel Osteen is driving WHAT?

Thank you for the photo and wonderfully written "snapshot" of Fangio in action. It's nice to get info from someone who has been there.

Thanks again,

Dennis

On Monday, October 9, 2017 7:25 PM, Luke Graves <buyer1 [at] airmail.net> wrote:

Here he is in the Monza 860 that he won Sebring in in '56.  A bit muscular, particularly in the forearms.  Very charasmatic.  Easygoing and charming out of the cockpit.  Dead serious in it.

When he climbed into the cockpit it was like Reubenstein sitting down at the keyboard.  In any given car, he was always faster than everyone else.  He seemed to have perfect equipoise, a relaxed concentration, off in his own world.  He rarely ever made mistakes.  At Spa in '55, Neubauer(Mercedes Boss) cautioned Moss not to follow him too closely as he (Fangio) could make a mistake.  Moss replied that Fangio didn't ever make mistakes.  Take a look at the wonderful old Shell Oil film, Spa '55.  Cruising down the straights flat out with no Armco barriers and no seatbelt  looking like he was out for a Sunday drive!  One mistake and it was into the trees at 180!  He had real Balls!  In the 11 years he drove in F-1 there were 31 F-1 Drivers killed.

 

Luke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thought you might enjoy that.

BTW, what did you think of Juan Manuel Fangio when you saw him? Brock Yates, in his book Enzo Ferrari, described him as balding, rather portly and bow-legged, but did go on to describe his driving skills as almost mystical. If I could go back in time, it would be interesting to have witnessed some of the legendary drivers that made the Ferrari a legendary car.

Regards,

Dennis

On Monday, October 9, 2017 10:31 AM, Luke Graves <buyer1 [at] airmail.net> wrote:

Ha!  Good.

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From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+buyer1=airmail.net [at] ferrarilist.com] On Behalf Of Dennis Burleson
Sent: Monday, October 9, 2017 8:56 AM
To: Col Luke Graves
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] Joel Osteen is driving WHAT?

Joel would be in a Honda. 

It's in the bible... "and the disciples were all together in one ACCORD."