May 26, 1955: Motorsport legend Alberto Ascari tragically passes away

For all the thrill that motorsport provides to both racers and fans, there is an inherent risk involved in the sport. The high-speed nature of the events mean that racers are always risking their lives for the entertainment of fans. Sports like Formula 1 and Moto GP have taken great strides in recent years to ensure the safety of racers. However, it wasn’t always like this. Untimely deaths have long been a part of the world of motorsport. Yet few were as tragic as the death of legendary Italian F1 racer Alberto Ascari. He passed away on this day 66 years ago.

Ascari is, by the standards of any era of racing, a towering figure. He started off racing in motorcycles before switching to cars. It was in the four-seaters he would taste the most success.

He won back-to-back F1 world championships in 1952 and 1953 while racing for Scuderia Ferrari. Interestingly, he remains the only Italian to have won a championship with Ferrari.

He was also the first back-to-back Ferrari world champion, a record that remained intact till 2022 when Michael Schumacher joined him as the second to pull off the feat.

Incidentally, Ascari was known as a safe driver in an era where the sport was very dangerous. In a way, that makes his passing even more tragic.

The incident

On 26 May he went to Monza to watch his friend Eugenio Castellotti test a Ferrari 750 Monza sports car. Ascari was not supposed to drive on the day but decided to try a few laps anyway.

It was on the second lap he drove that the incident occured. His car emerged from the Curva del Vialone and skidded before somersaulting twice.

Ascari was thrown out onto the track and died a few minutes later from the injuries he sustained.

To make matters worse, Ascari had escaped death just four days prior. During that year’s Monaco GP, he crashed clean through the barriers and landed in the sea. Amazingly, he escaped with only a broken nose.

His death was mourned all over Italy, with over a million people lining the streets of Milan for his funeral. Perhaps chillingly, he once told a friend: “I never want my children to become too fond of me because one day I might not come back and they will suffer less if I don’t come back.”

The legacy of Alberto Ascari

Alberto Ascari has chicanes named after him at both Monza and a circuit in Argentina. Incidentally, the corner at Monza where he crashed was replaced with the chicane named after him.

He was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2017, and is counted among F1’s all-time greats. Indeed, upon his death, Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio said: “I have lost my greatest opponent.”