The '58 Cuban GP: How a 5-time F1 champion accidentally became an "honorary member" of Fidel Castro's revolution

It is 24th June, 1991. Juan Manuel Fangio has just turned 80. The former Formula 1 superstar, while going through all the fan congratulatory letters, spots one. It wasn’t the content but the way it was signed which set it apart from the rest.

The letter ended with the words “Your Friends, The Kidnappers”.

The political landscape

Late 1950’s Cuba saw the revolution gaining momentum. The Castro brothers and ‘Che’ Guevara started to turn up the heat on the Fulgencio Batista regime.

However, Batista seemed to hold on to this throne with the United States by his side. The rebels understood they needed to draw more attention to the cause.

By shedding light on the brutality, they would not only garner support but also force the US into distancing themselves from the oppressor.

And, in 1957, Batista announced the inaugural Cuban GP, intended to draw eyeballs from all over the world. The rebels had struck gold.

The Cuban Grand Prix

The Gran Premio de Cuba was the brainchild of the Cuban dictator. He decided that hosting a Formula 1 race on Havana’s streets would give the country the economic jolt needed.

The first Cuban GP saw Fangio put his Maserati 300S on the top step, on his way to his 5th World Championship title. The race itself seemed to attract a lot of local and international attention with an estimated 200,000 spectator turnout,

Batista feasted on the success of his genius marketing plan unaware of the storm Castro and his men planned on cooking.

A Childish stunt

The second edition of the Cuban GP was supposed to be held on on a Monday (Feb 24), which was a national holiday. Batista was determined to play down the seriousness of the rebellion and present a picture of a “Normal Cuba”.

The previous day, the President had, allegedly, organised a practical joke on the manager of Fangio. Marcello Giambertone was taken hostage by actors pretending to be the rebels as the 46-year-old driver looked on.

Fangio, unaware of what fate had in store, retired to his room before the dinner.

“On behalf of the July 26 movement, follow me”

As he walked downstairs, Fangio was confronted by a bearded man who drew a pistol to his face. Apparently, the Argentine thought that this was a payback stunt played by his manager.

But as soon as the armed man, who was later identified as Manuel Uziel, uttered the words “On behalf of the July 26 movement…”, the seriousness dawned on him. The 26th of July movement was Fidel Castro’s vanguard revolutionary organisation.

And just like that El Comandante’s men had taken El Maestro away.

The eye of the storm

The Cuban officials scrambled to restore order while Fangio was being treated like royalty by his captors. Hurting the Argentine would only end up tainting the revolution and the rebels knew that.

Meanwhile, Batista’s officials tripped over themselves. They started arresting everyone in the vicinity of the hotel who sported a beard (only the rebels had beards; ordinary Cubans didn’t). Unfortunately for the regime, this included several members from the racing teams.

The next morning, none of the drivers took up Batista’s invitation for breakfast at the Presidential palace.

Fangio, on the other hand, enjoyed a delicious spread and was informed that the race would go ahead. He was also allowed to listen to the race on the radio!

A disastrous race

If the Cuban President hoped that the race would drown out the noise around the Fangio kidnapping, he was in for a shock. About 13 minutes into the race, Cuban driver, Armando Garcia Cifuentes lost control of his Ferrari after running over an oil slick. A 180kph prancing horse somersaulted through the crowd.

Lap 6 became the last lap to see racing action.

“The terrific impact knocked victims out of their shoes and more than 20 feet in the air,” Steve McNamara wrote for the next day’s Miami Herald.

“Some were crushed against a giant crane parked 250 feet from where the car left the course.” Most accounts put the death toll at 7

What made it worse was the fact that the kidnapped 5-time World Champion had expressed concerns about the very corner. ‘Moving the spectators further back’ was his suggestion which was promptly ignored.

The dust settles but where is Fangio?

The kidnappers negotiated a release at the Argentina Embassy in Havana later that evening. “Fangio introduced us as his new Cuban friends. I think he meant it,” explained Camps, one of the captors.

Camps then handed over a letter of apology to the ambassador. Fangio was then bestowed an honorary membership of the Cuban Revolution.

“Fangio could have identified us and he could have revealed where we held him, but he never did. That says a lot about the man. He and I became good friends in those 26 hours and it was a friendship that lasted until the day he died,” he concluded.

As Bruce Kessler, the driver who finished 14th in the race, put it to The Palm Beach Post, “It was straight out of a ‘B’ movie, the whole operation.”

“You could not have believed it.”