Giuseppe Campari
Giuseppe Campari (8 June 1892 – 10 September 1933) was an Italian racing driver, professional baritone opera singer, and passionate amateur cook — a figure of such outsized appetites and loyalties that his teammates sang operatic arias with him when results were joyous. Born in Graffignana, in the province of Lodi southwest of Milan, he was known to spectators by his affectionate nickname “Negher” — Milanese dialect for swarthy — and came to Alfa Romeo (then A.L.F.A.) as a teenage apprentice. His job eventually involved test driving factory cars, and his natural talent led him progressively into hillclimb events, sprint races, and finally full-scale circuit competition. He made his competitive debut in the 1914 Targa Florio, finishing fourth in the Coppa Florio section — a promising result that World War I then interrupted for six years. When racing resumed in 1920, Campari was at the wheel of Alfa’s outdated 40/60 hp at the Circuit of Mugello in Tuscany, and he won — giving Alfa Romeo its first-ever outright major race victory, a result that established the competitive identity the company would build upon for the next two decades.
The 1920s were Campari’s finest years. He was a core member of the works team, working alongside Ugo Sivocci, Antonio Ascari, and Enzo Ferrari — the “Four Musketeers” as journalist Orio Vergani named them, though Motor Sport Magazine records that by 1921 the group was sometimes called the “Three Musketeers” with Ferrari in a supporting role. His first Grand Prix victory came at the 1924 French Grand Prix at Lyon, where he drove Alfa Romeo P2 no. 10 — with Pirelli Superflex Cord tyres — as part of a three-man Alfa team alongside Antonio Ascari and Count Gastone Brilli-Peri, defeating the French Delage contingent in their home race. The P2’s debut season was triumphant, though shadowed: in 1925 at the French Grand Prix at Montlhéry, the team was leading when Ascari crashed fatally and Alfa Romeo withdrew as a mark of mourning. Campari won the Mille Miglia in 1928 and again in 1929, both in the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750, establishing that model’s legendary reputation in Italian road racing. He took the Coppa Acerbo three times between 1927 and 1931 — on one occasion at the 1930 Coppa Acerbo, racing in front of more than 100,000 spectators, he was struck in the eye by a flying stone but continued and finished. At the 1930 Italian Grand Prix he and Tazio Nuvolari shared a car and won — the two men becoming national heroes, as the result ended three consecutive years of French domination at Monza.
Beyond racing, Campari had a genuinely professional baritone voice — “from the depths of an expansive paunch,” as one account had it — and pursued an opera career concurrent with his time at the wheel. He took singing lessons, began performing professionally while still racing, and married Lina Cavalleri, an accomplished soprano. Motor Sport Magazine posed the unanswerable question: “Surely his was a unique combination of careers?” By 1933, Campari had moved to Maserati, and at forty-one had privately resolved to retire at the season’s end to concentrate on opera. On 10 September 1933, during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, his Scuderia Ferrari-entered Alfa Romeo P3 skidded on oil and he suffered his first-ever racing accident in a career spanning nearly twenty years. He died from his injuries. It was the same race that killed Tazio Nuvolari’s close teammate Mario Borzacchini, and a separate final in which Count Czaykowski died in a Bugatti. Three leading drivers perished at Monza that day. The same date — 10 September — claimed Raymond Sommer seventeen years later.
Connections
- Alfa Romeo — drove for, 1920–1932, source: wikipedia.org
- Alfa Romeo P2 — drove (French GP 1924, Italian GP 1924–1925), source: wikipedia.org
- Alfa Romeo 6C — drove (Mille Miglia 1928, 1929), source: wikipedia.org
- Tazio Nuvolari — teammate; shared Italian GP 1930 win; died in the same Monza race 1933, source: wikipedia.org
- Antonio Ascari — teammate “Four Musketeers”, 1920–1925; Ascari died at the 1925 French GP with Campari leading alongside him, source: wikipedia.org
- Ugo Sivocci — teammate “Four Musketeers”, 1920–1923, source: motorsportmagazine.com
- Enzo Ferrari — teammate and “Four Musketeers” member; Ferrari and Ascari would sing operatic arias with Campari after victories, source: motorsportmagazine.com
- Mille Miglia — won 1928 and 1929 (6C 1750), source: motorsportmagazine.com
- Targa Florio — debuted 1914; competed multiple times; best result second in 1928, source: motorsportmagazine.com
- Scuderia Ferrari — raced a Ferrari-entered P3 in the 1933 Monza race in which he was killed, source: motorsportmagazine.com
- Raymond Sommer — both died on 10 September, seventeen years apart (1933 and 1950), source: wikipedia.org