Word: portago
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...life Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca, 17th Marquis de Portago, thirsted for thrills. He found them in speed and sport. He was tempted by any activity tinged with danger, finally decided that the second-to-second uncertainty of auto racing brought him nearest to his heart's desire. When he wheeled his 3.8 liter fire-red Ferrari into the start of Italy's Mille Miglia last week, "Fons" de Portago was a happy man. Perhaps (although none can say) he died...
Grim Statistics. Alfonso de Portago was not a man to let such grim statistics disturb him. He had not only playboy inclinations, but also the talents of a natural athlete. The more spectacular a sport, the more he liked it. For a while, he favored jai alai and polo. He had barely learned about the dangers of bobsledding when he was picked to represent Spain in the winter Olympics. "The mere fact that we race requires no courage on our part," he wrote in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. But he was frank to admit that he was often afraid. "I think what...
Fons made no error. He was whipping along at more than 90 m.p.h. when a tire blew. The Ferrari flattened a milestone, caromed off a telephone pole and somersaulted into the thick crowd that lined the curb. Alfonso de Portago could do nothing to save himself, or his co-driver, who was cut in half, or the 15 spectators (including four children) who were killed with him in the deadly Mille Miglia...
...Lose. The personal timetable with which Portago has charted his course to the world's championship does not necessarily call for a Sebring victory this year. But the leading point-winners on the international circuit-Argentina's Juan Fangio and Britain's Stirling Moss-will both be driving Maseratis (TIME, Feb. 18), and Portago is inclined to think that the Maserati is too fragile to win. "There's no predicting when a silly thing will stop a driver just as quickly as a major breakdown," says he. A stark example of how "a silly thing"-gear...
Should he not win at Sebring, though. Driver Portago is confident of his ultimate supremacy. When he is good enough to win a world championship, he figures that he will have earned his place in his family of flamboyant adventurers...