This day in racing history: Fangio gets kidnapped

Another gem recalled by those afficionados of racing's past at thisdayinmotorsporthistory.com...

57 years ago today, five-time Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio was kidnapped in Cuba by a group of Fidel Castro's rebels, preventing him from taking part in that country's Grand Prix. Two unmasked gunmen of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement entered the Hotel Lincoln in Havana and kidnapped Fangio at gunpoint.

Fangio, who had set the fastest times during practice for the event, was allowed to listen to the race via radio. The rebels tried to interest their captive in their revolutionary goals against the regime of Fulgencio Batista but were frustrated as the Argentine professed no intrest in politics. He was released unharmed after some 29 hours.

Fangio never got another to race in the Cuban GP after missing that 1958 race, as the Cuban Revolution deposed Batista the following January and the Cuban Grand Prix passed into history. The Fangio kidnapping was dramatized in a 1999 Argentine film directed by Alberto Lecchi, Operación Fangio.

To read the full story, visit thisdayinmotorsporthistory.com.