Luigi Chinetti

Italian-born Alfa Romeo mechanic who won Le Mans three times, became Ferrari's U.S. importer, founded NART, and helped bring the 250 GT California Spider into production.

He was born on 17 July 1901 in Jerago con Orago, the son of a gunsmith, and began working for Alfa Romeo as a mechanic in 1917. After leaving Fascist Italy for Paris he sold Alfas and began racing. He won Le Mans on his 1932 debut with Raymond Sommer in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, finished second in 1933 and won Spa with Louis Chiron, then won Le Mans again in 1934 with Philippe Étancelin.

In May 1940 Lucy O'Reilly Schell brought him to Indianapolis; he remained in the United States during the war and became an American citizen in 1946. After the war he proposed becoming Ferrari's American representative. In 1949 he and Lord Selsdon won Le Mans in a Ferrari 166 MM; Chinetti drove almost 23 of the 24 hours. Ferrari's history says that his Spa win two weeks later helped him sell several cars in the United States that year.

In 1951 he and Piero Taruffi won the Carrera Panamericana in a Ferrari 212 Inter. In 1953 he established Luigi Chinetti Motors and became Ferrari's official North American importer, first on 49th Street in New York and later in Greenwich, Connecticut. John von Neumann identified a West Coast market for an open 250 GT; Chinetti convinced Enzo Ferrari, and Scaglietti built the California Spider. Production totalled 106 cars.

In 1958 he founded the North American Racing Team with George Arents and Jan de Vroom. The NART Ferrari 250 LM driven by Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt won Le Mans in 1965. He sold the Greenwich dealership in 1977, ending his role as a Ferrari dealer; NART ran until 1982. He remained in Greenwich and died there on 17 August 1994, aged 93.