Piero Dusio (13 October 1899 – 7 November 1975) was an Italian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, businessman, racing driver and racing car manufacturer.Donatella Biffignandi,
Piero Dusio
' from museoauto.it, an online museum for automotive issues, last accessed on 12 November 2016.

Biography

Football career

Dusio was born in Scurzolengo,

province of Asti The province of Asti (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''provincia d'Ast'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Asti. To the northwest it borders on the Metropolitan City of Turin; ...

, in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. A promising footballer, he played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and made three appearances for

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

in 1921–22. After his football career ended due to a knee injury, Dusio started a textile business which expanded into manufacturing sport equipment and supplying military uniforms. His association with football continued in a managerial role. In 1941 he founded ''Juventus Organizzazione Sportiva Anonima'' (O.S.A.), an organization he ran until 1943. In 1942 Dusio was appointed president of Juventus. He resigned from the post in 1948 to move to Argentina.

Racing career

In 1929 Dusio made his racing debut at the

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts :it:Franco Mazzotti, Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi. It took place in Italy 24 times f ...

. He would compete until 1938, his best results being a class victory in a

Siata Siata (''Società Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori'' in English ''Italian Car Transformation Accessories Company'') was an Italian car tuning shop and manufacturer founded in 1926 by amateur race car driver Giorgio Ambrosini. Siata initial ...

500cc in 1937. In 1936 he established the Scuderia Torino and took part in the 1936 Italian Grand Prix at the wheel of a Maserati 6C-34, finishing sixth behind Bernd Rosemeyer, Tazio Nuvolari, Ernst von Delius, René Dreyfus and Carlo Pintacuda.

Team owner

In 1944, at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Dusio switched his focus to his racing team. He commissioned

Dante Giacosa Dante Giacosa (3 January 1905 – 31 March 1996) was an Italian automobile designer and engineer responsible for a range of Italian automobile designs — and for refining the front-wheel drive layout to an industry-standard configuration. He ...

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

to develop a racing car and founded the "Consorzio Industriale Sportiva Italia", later known as Cisitalia. The team's collaborators included Carlo Abarth, Rudolf Hruska and

Ferry Porsche Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche (19 September 1909 – 27 March 1998), mainly known as Ferry Porsche, was an Austrian-German technical automobile designer and automaker-entrepreneur. He operated Porsche AG in Stuttgart, Germany. His fath ...

. Three D46's topped the ''Coppa Brezzi'' (a race held together with the

1946 Turin Grand Prix The 1946 Turin Grand Prix (formally known as the III Gran Premio del Valentino) was a Grand Prix motor race held on 1 September 1946 on a temporary street circuit at Valentino Park in Turin, Italy. It was the first time the event had been held s ...

), with Dusio finishing 1st. Dusio continued financing his racing car projects, but the expenses in engineering the complex 202MM almost bankrupted Cisitalia in 1947. Consequently, Dusio moved to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and established Autoar (Automotores Argentinos) S.A.I.C. (22 March 1949), an enterprise financially supported by Juan Peron. Aldo Brovarone joined Dusio in Argentina to work for the company. Dusio's son, Carlo, stayed in Turin to restructure Cisitalia, and ran the company with his father until 1964.Cisitalia
. In 1960 Dusio started Cisitalia Argentina Industrial y Comercial SA in Buenos Aires, where he built cars such as the Cisitalia 750 (1960). Dusio tried to qualify for one

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

World Championship Grand Prix ( Italy 1952) with a Cisitalia D46, but failed to set a time in practice due to engine problems. He died in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

in 1975.

Racing record

Complete European Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dusio, Piero 1899 births 1975 deaths Sportspeople from the Province of Asti Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Juventus FC players Juventus FC directors Juventus FC chairmen and investors 20th-century Italian businesspeople Italian racing drivers Italian Formula One drivers Formula One team owners Cisitalia people Cisitalia Formula One drivers European Championship drivers Grand Prix drivers Footballers from Piedmont 20th-century Italian sportsmen