Juan Manuel Fangio

Profession: Auto Racer

Biography: Juan Manuel Fangio was an Argentine racing car drive, known variously as El Chueco ("the bowlegged") or El Maestro ("the master"). He was renowned for his dominance at the very outset of Formula One racing, during which period he won the championship title five times: 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957.

Fangio held the record for most times having won the World Championship of Drivers for 46 years until Michael Schumacher overtook him. He is also the only Argentine driver to win the Argentine Grand Prix, a record which he maintains to this day.

In 1958, Fangio was to participate in the non-Formula One Cuban Grand Prix in Havana. Just prior to the event, which he had won the year prior and for which he had set the fastest times during practice runs, Fangio was kidnapped from his hotel. He was held for three days by members of Fidel Castro's movement in an attempt to embarrass the regime of then-President Fulgencio Batista.

Born: June 24, 1911
Birthplace: Balcarce, Argentina

Generation: Greatest Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Pig
Star Sign: Cancer

Died: July 16, 1995 (aged 84)
Cause of Death: Kidney failure