Felice Nazzaro (4 December 1881 – 21 March 1940) was an Italian

racecar Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organis ...

driver, a native of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

. He won the

Kaiserpreis The Kaiserpreis (german: Emperor's Prize) auto race, named after Emperor Wilhelm II, was held in 1907. Like his brother's Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt held from 1908 to 1911, it was a precursor to the German Grand Prix. As Camille Jenatzy had won the Gord ...

in 1907 as well as the

French Grand Prix The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Champions ...

in 1907 and 1922 and

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 195 ...

in 1907, and 1913. His European wins in 1907 resulted in an invitation to compete in the 1908 American Grand Prize in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

, where he finished third. He returned to the United States for the 1910 event but a damaged rear axle forced him out of the race. It was his victory in the 1908 Circuito di Bologna that inspired a young

Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari automob ...

to become a racing driver. In 1911 he founded his own manufacturing company in Turin, Automobili Nazzaro, which produced circa 490 vehicles in total and won both the 1913 and 1920

s, plus the 1914 Coppa Florio.''The Complete Encyclopedia of Motor Cars'', G.N. Georgano, Ebury Press, 1973. He continued racing until 1929 at the age of 48, and died in Turin in 1940 after a long illness at the age of 58.

References

1881 births 1940 deaths Sportspeople from Turin Italian racing drivers Grand Prix drivers {{Italy-autoracing-bio-stub