Born in london to a prominent family in the peerage of spain, he was named after his godfather, king alfonso xiii. Two failed marriages later, carroll said i do to multimillionaire milton petrie. He started to be known in automotive circles in 1954 after winning a race in metz, driving a maserati with an engine bigger than 1,600cc. Supposedly, carroll and alfonso were in the process of getting a divorce so he. Unfortunately, stan passed away in april 1991 and i have always wondered which may have been the subsequent faith of the material he has gathered. Portago was heir to one of the most respected titles in spain and a millionaire. Contentsshow biography early life born in london, he was educated at biarritz, in france. The accident also killed another driver and several spectators. The real story of the man known as portago car and driver. To say he lived his life to the fullest would be a gross understatement. He is also the inspiration for erich maria remarques book heaven has no.
The remains of the accident at the mille miglia automobile race. Born in london, he was educated at biarritz, in france. Trivia 3 killed while driving in the mille miglia italian auto race. Carroll petrie cuts estranged daughter andrea portago out of. His tragic and highspeed death in the mille miglia ended that event, and took the lives of nine spectators as well as his own and his friend and codriver. He was both the sort of man a middleaged postwar don quixote would love to be and a kind of quixote himself, a precocious version of his nearnamesake alonso quixano transformed and killed decades too. There are 43 photographs and many newspaper clippings. He really discovered portago in the sense that he was the first journalist to talk to him seriously.
Bob riley tells the story of his 60year career in a book cowritten with journalist jonathan ingram. This is a one of a kind, 40 pages with many unseen photographs. I would like to see an author like doug nye or karl ludvigsen or chris nixon do some really first class biographies on these drivers. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Its a reissue on the riversidelabel of a record from 1957.
A couple of months before christmas 2005 two authors joined in our fchat and predicted that the books they were writing about the spanish marquis and. Originally put out on a riverside lp, it was reissued on cd by ace records just a few years ago. So when the calculating paris house of nina ricci made its move this week, it was only after finding an almost poofproof name. Her mother was a south carolinaborn model, but a starletcompanion sent him off with a famous kiss just before his fatal crash at 28 in italys mille miglia. Portago biography is our book of the year by the time we got to know much. Had a great day recently with robert daley who wrot e the cruel sport, cars at speed, etc. He was selected in 1957 to drive the elite ferrari 335s at the mille miglia in italy by ferrari mogul enzo ferrari. But he was drawn to the idea of pursuing a title that even a member of the nobility must earnthat of a world champion driver.
I discovered this image on the web and found it rather poignant. Carroll petrie cuts estranged daughter andrea portago out. This was his scrapbook created by his wife carroll mcdaniel petrie. This page was last edited on 12 september 2019, at 04.