CAMEL GRAND PRIX OF SAN DIEGO : Pain, Problems Don’t Deter Fangio

DEL MAR —  Juan Manuel Fangio II overcame Geoff Brabham, poor visibility, a broken gear stick, a loose body panel and a flapping water bottle to win his second consecutive Camel Grand Prix of Greater San Diego.

Fangio, nephew and namesake of the five-time Argentine World Champion, earned every dime of his $130,000 winnings Sunday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in front of 37,500.

In a battle between man and machine--Dan Gurney’s All American Racers Toyota Eagle MKIII--Fangio led the final 21 laps of the 92-lap race, which featured 10 turns on the 1.62-mile circuit.

It was the third win in five races for Fangio and the second in four races in the new MKIII, which debuted in the 11th of 14 Camel GT Series races this season.

“Something you need to learn in this sport is to be very patient,” Fangio said. “It was necessary to take the extra time to have everything working right. I think it was a good decision to wait--but I didn’t think like that at the beginning.”

Fangio’s patience helped him reach victory circle despite somewhat bizarre, turbulent conditions inside his car.

He started on the second row behind the fastest car on the starting grid, Wayne Taylor’s Chevrolet Intrepid. Nissan’s Chip Robinson passed Fangio in the first turn and he found himself in fourth place, with passing difficult on the narrow temporary street course.

He pitted under the caution flag for Toyota teammate Rocky Moran, who suffered only bruises despite a violent crash in turn eight on lap 24. When the race resumed on lap 36, Fangio was fifth. He passed Perry McCarthy’s Chevrolet Spice on lap 39. Crew members noticed a left rear body panel coming undone and called Fangio the pits for a quick reattachment.

“We didn’t want to gamble,” Gurney said.

But Gurney didn’t know that the car was falling apart inside, as well.

Accelerating toward 160 m.p.h. on the back straightaway, the wooden knob on the gear stick snapped off in Fangio’s hand, leaving him to shift on a razor-sharp piece of metal about four inches long and the width of a pencil.

“Too much exercise,” he said, smiling. “And I couldn’t toss it outside.”

So he tossed it on what little floorboard there is and it bounced around the cockpit the final 40 minutes of the race.

Shifting then became an experience. Shifting about 40 times per lap, Fangio shifted 1,600 times with the stick digging into his palm.

Fangio never let on to his pit crew what was happening, just told Gurney to stop talking to him on the radio so he could concentrate.

“He told us on the victory lap to get some ice ready because his hand was sore,” Gurney said.

Fangio taped his driving gloves before the race, which prevented any serious damage to the hand, just a deep muscle pain.

Fangio also dealt with the water bottle, a new product that was stabilized with Velcro to the passenger seat. The one gallon bottle came undone mid-race and pelted Fangio in every turn.

And then there was the oil from the Jaguars of Martin Brundle and Davy Jones, which coated trailing cars for the final third of the race.

Fangio took the lead on lap 61 when when Brabham went to the pits for a 17.6-second pit stop. Brabham pitted again later, putting him on the opposite end of the course. Fangio won by 14.172 seconds over John Paul in a Wynns Pontiac Spice.

The race itself was in stark contrast to the restful weekend Fangio had leading up to the competition.

“This place is absolutely amazing,” said Fangio, who has a home along the ocean in Miami. “I went running on the beach in the morning. Taking a swim, it was like being in Paradise. It’s a wonderful place to be.

“It’s good to be relaxed before a race.”

Like the calm before the storm.