Italian industrialist and car racing enthusiast, considered the world’s most famous auto maker after Henry Ford, whose blood-red racing cars became a symbol of wealth and sportiness for those who could afford their six-figure cost. Ferrari always loved cars and was a racing fanatic, entering his first race at age ten. In his own words, he “became addicted to racing.” He later went on to create road cars, mainly to support his racing habit. Working for Alfa Romeo in 1920, he rose in position over 20 years, formed a race team in Modena, Italy, and designed and built his first racing car in 1937. His racing passion led to the car design business that bears his name, where he earned a reputation as a ruthless boss. Some Ferraris built in the 1960s have been advertised for as much as $3 million.
Ferrari saw his first car race when he was ten. He was educated through high school. During World War I, he served in the Italian Army artillery, where he shod mules. After the war, he applied to Fiat for work but was turned down. He found work as a test driver for a small car company that later introduced Vespa motor-scooters. Ferrari drove in his first race in 1919 though he didn’t win a race until 1923, when he was working at Alfa Romeo. In 1929, he formed his own racing team for that company. In 1931, he founded a machine-tool and parts maker for autos and aircraft. He gave up racing in 1932 when his son was born.
He wanted to build his own racing machines, but World War II intervened. It wasn’t until 1947 that the Ferrari name began appearing on a car. The car won the Rome Grand Prix that same year, and went on to win 93 Formula One Grand Prix races and nine Formula One championships, the most of any car maker. He attracted many of the major drivers of the era, and in total they won more than 4,000 victories, with the Ferrari team winning 13 world titles. After 1979, however, the car didn’t do as well in races.
His feud with the Ford company started in 1963, when Ford tried unsuccessfully to buy Ferrari. (Ford built its GT40 car to embarrass Ferrari, so the story goes, and it did at LeMans in 1966 and 1969.) In 1963 he published his autobiography, “My Terrible Joys.”
Described as more of an impresario than an engineer, Ferrari preferred to be called a constructor. In the 1950’s, some crashes in which Ferrari drivers and spectators were killed, the Italian press called him a “Saturn” – devourer of his children. He was indicted for manslaughter – and acquitted – when a Spanish driver ran off the road in 1958 while driving a Ferrari in an Italian road race.
Fiat bought more than half of the Ferrari company in 1969.
Ferrari was awarded an honorary engineering degree from the University of Bologna.
His wife, whom he married in 1923, died in 1978, and he had two sons: Dino, who died in 1956, and Piero.
Reclusive in his later years, he supervised racing-car operations at his factory until his death. He formally resigned from the presidency of the company in 1977. He died 8/14/1988 from kidney disease.
Link to Wikipedia biography