Giuseppe Campari was an Italian opera singer

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 and Grand Prix motor racing

Grand Prix motor racing

Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...

 driver.

Racing career

Born Giuseppe Campari near the city of Lodi southwest of Milan, as a teenager he went to work for the Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...

 automobile company. Campari's job eventually involved test driving factory cars and his skills and interest led to his participation in competitive hillclimbing

Hillclimbing

Hillclimbing is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course....

 events. In 1914 the 21-year-old rookie showed his abilities with a fourth place finish at the Targa Florio

Targa Florio

The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1973...

. Unfortunately, his career was just getting going when World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 broke out and European racing came to a halt.
Following the Armistice that ended the war, racing resumed and in 1920 Campari earned his first major race win and the first for the Alfa Romeo company when he drove to victory at Mugello

Mugello Circuit

Mugello Circuit is a race track in the Mugello region of Italy near Florence. Its length is . It has 15 turns and a long straight.Grand Prix motorcycle racing host an annual event here . Also, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters hold an annual event. The track is property of Scuderia Ferrari which...

 in Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

. He repeated as champion at Mugello the next year and took third place at the Targa Florio but did not earn another major championship until he captured the French Grand Prix

French Grand Prix

The French Grand Prix was a race held as part of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One automobile racing championships....

 in 1924 when he was part of a powerful three-man Alfa Romeo team with Count Gastone Brilli-Peri

Gastone Brilli-Peri

Count Gastone Brilli-Peri was a famous Italian racing driver, who won the 1925 Italian Grand Prix in an Alfa Romeo P2, securing the inaugural World Manufacturers' Championship title for Alfa Romeo. Known simply as “Brilli,” his face had been permanently scarred in an accident during a Tour of...

 and Antonio Ascari

Antonio Ascari

Antonio Ascari was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing champion.Antonio Ascari was born near Mantua, in the Lombardy region of Italy, as the son of a corn dealer. He began racing cars at the top levels in Italy in 1919, using a modified 1914 Fiat...

 in the P2

Alfa Romeo P2

The Alfa Romeo P2 won the inaugural Automobile World Championship in 1925, taking victory in two of the four championship rounds when Antonio Ascari drove it in the European Grand Prix at Spa and Gastone Brilli-Peri won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after Ascari died while leading the intervening...

 cars designed by Vittorio Jano

Vittorio Jano

Vittorio Jano was an Italian automobile designer of Hungarian descent from the 1920s through 1960s.Jano was born Viktor János in San Giorgio Canavese, in Piedmont, to Hungarian immigrants, who arrived there several years before the birth of Jano. He began his career at the car and truck company...

.

The 1925 racing season was less than successful for Campari as he and the Alfa Romeo team withdrew from the French Grand Prix in July after Ascari crashed and died. In 1926, Maserati

Maserati

Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...

 came out with the Tipo 26, its first highly competitive race car that led to Maserati winning the Constructors' title and Ernesto Maserati

Ernesto Maserati

Ernesto Maserati was an Italian automotive engineer and racer, with Maserati of Modena since its inception in Bologna on 14 December 1914, together with his brothers Alfieri Maserati , Ettore Maserati, Bindo Maserati and others.Ernesto led the workshop during World War I, as his brothers joined...

 taking the Italian driving championship in 1927. Despite Maserati's strong performances, Campari claimed victory for Alfa Romeo in the 1927 Coppa Acerbo

Coppa Acerbo

The Coppa Acerbo was an automobile race held in Italy, named after Tito Acerbo, the brother of Giacomo Acerbo, a prominent fascist politician. Following Italy's defeat in World War II, and the consequent demise of fascism, the race was renamed the Circuito di Pescara, and in some years was also...

.

The 1928 season saw Giuseppe Campari win his second consecutive Coppa Acerbo and his first at the Mille Miglia

Mille Miglia

The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 ....

. He earned a second-place finish in the Targa Florio, a race he entered several times and although he frequently finished near the top, he never managed a win. The following year he repeated as champion at the Mille Miglia and along with top drivers such as Malcolm Campbell

Malcolm Campbell

Sir Malcolm Campbell was an English racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times during the 1920s and 1930s using vehicles called Blue Bird...

 and Rudolf Caracciola

Rudolf Caracciola

Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola , more commonly Rudolf Caracciola , was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times...

, he traveled to Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 to compete in the inaugural Irish International Grand Prix at Phoenix Park

Phoenix Park

Phoenix Park is an urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying 2–4 km west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its 16 km perimeter wall encloses , one of the largest walled city parks in Europe. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since the seventeenth...

 in Dublin. Run in front of more than 100,000 spectators, Campari was hit in the eye by a flying small rock but was successfully treated in hospital and the race was won by the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n émigré, Boris Ivanowski

Boris Ivanowski

Boris Ivanovsky was an officer of the Russian Imperial Guard who went into exile after the Russian revolution and made his way to fame in the 1920s as a racecar driver...

. Campari also raced in the Tourist Trophy Races at the Ards course in Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 where he finished second to Caracciola's Mercedes

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

.

In 1930, Tazio Nuvolari

Tazio Nuvolari

Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari was an Italian motorcycle and racecar driver, known as Il Mantovano Volante or Nivola. He was the 1932 European Champion in Grand Prix motor racing...

 joined Campari on the Alfa Romeo team. After a sensational debut season, Nuvolari and Campari combined to win their first Italian Grand Prix

Italian Grand Prix

The Italian Grand Prix is one of the longest running events on the motor racing calendar. The first Italian Grand Prix motor racing championship took place on 4 September 1921 at Brescia...

, a victory that made them national heroes for taking the championship from the French who had won it for the past three years. That same year, Campari won his third Coppa Acerbo but for 1933 he became part of the Maserati team with Baconin Borzacchini

Baconin Borzacchini

Baconin Borzacchini was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing driver often referred to as Mario Umberto Borzacchini.-Biography:...

 and Luigi Fagioli

Luigi Fagioli

Luigi Fagioli , nicknamed "the Abruzzi robber", was an Italian motor racing driver.-Career:Born in the small city of Osimo, Ancona Province in the Marche region of central Italy, as a boy Luigi Fagioli was fascinated by the relatively new invention of the automobile and the ensuing racing...

. Campari won his second French Grand Prix driving for Maserati, but at age 41 was ready to retire at the end of the season. The Italian Grand Prix on September 10, 1933 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Autodromo Nazionale Monza

The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a race track located near the town of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. The circuit's biggest event is the Formula One Italian Grand Prix, which has been hosted there since the sport's inception....

 in Monza, Italy was to be his last race. After 20 years without any major accidents, disaster stuck in one of the blackest days in Grand Prix racing history. While leading the race, Campari was instantly killed when his car crashed after skidding in a sharp turn on a patch of leaked engine oil. Immediately behind him in second place, team-mate Baconin Borzacchini tried unsuccessfully to avoid Campari's wrecked vehicle and was killed when his car veered off the track. Later on, when the race was restarted, the vehicle of Polish driver, Count Stanislas Czaykowski, crashed and caught on fire, burning him to death.

Personal life

In addition to his love of automobile racing, Giuseppe Campari had two other passions: food, in great quantities that he liked to prepare himself, and the opera. Blessed with a great baritone

Baritone

Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

 voice from the depths of an expansive paunch, he took singing lessons and while still racing began to sing professionally.

Major victories

• Circuit of Mugello 1920, 1921
• Coppa Acerbo
  Coppa Acerbo
  The Coppa Acerbo was an automobile race held in Italy, named after Tito Acerbo, the brother of Giacomo Acerbo, a prominent fascist politician. Following Italy's defeat in World War II, and the consequent demise of fascism, the race was renamed the Circuito di Pescara, and in some years was also...
  
   1927, 1928, 1931
• French Grand Prix
  French Grand Prix
  The French Grand Prix was a race held as part of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One automobile racing championships....
  
   1924, 1933
• Italian Grand Prix
  Italian Grand Prix
  The Italian Grand Prix is one of the longest running events on the motor racing calendar. The first Italian Grand Prix motor racing championship took place on 4 September 1921 at Brescia...
  
   1931
• Mille Miglia
  Mille Miglia
  The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance race which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 ....
  
   1928, 1929

Complete European Championship results

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Make	1	2	3	EDC	Points
1931 1931 Grand Prix season The 1931 Grand Prix season was the first AIACR European Championship season. The championship was won by Ferdinando Minoia, driving for the Alfa Corse team. Minoia won the championship despite not winning a single race during the championship season...	Alfa Corse Alfa Corse Alfa Corse is the name of Alfa Romeo's factory racing team. Throughout the years, Alfa Corse has competed in various forms of motorsport, from Grand Prix motor racing to touring car racing....	Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo in motorsport During its history, Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries and private...	ITA 1931 Italian Grand Prix The 1931 Italian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Monza on May 24, 1931.- Classification :... 1	FRA 1931 French Grand Prix The 1931 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry on June 21, 1931.- Classification :... 2	BEL 1931 Belgian Grand Prix The 1931 Belgian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on July 12, 1931.- Classification :-Race:- Starting grid positions :... Ret	2	9
1932 1932 Grand Prix season The 1932 Grand Prix season was the second AIACR European Championship season. The championship was won by Tazio Nuvolari, driving for the Alfa Corse team. Nuvolari won two of the three events that counted towards the championship...	Alfa Corse Alfa Corse Alfa Corse is the name of Alfa Romeo's factory racing team. Throughout the years, Alfa Corse has competed in various forms of motorsport, from Grand Prix motor racing to touring car racing....	Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo in motorsport During its history, Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries and private...	ITA 1932 Italian Grand Prix The 1932 Italian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Monza on June 5, 1932.-Race:- Starting grid positions :... 4	FRA 1932 French Grand Prix The 1932 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Reims-Gueux on July 3, 1932.- Classification :- Race :- Starting grid positions :...	GER 1932 German Grand Prix The 1932 German Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at the Nürburgring on July 17, 1932.- Classification :...	9=	20