Full Throttle

SIENA, Italy — A 77-year-old American driver was killed Saturday when his antique car crashed during an Italian road race, news reports said.

Five other people were injured in the crash, which also involved a car driven by a Japanese driver, the ANSA news agency said.

The American, Arlan Schwartz, died while driving his 1932 Alfa Romeo from Siena to Florence in the Mille Miglia race. His daughter, who was with him in the car, suffered a broken arm. The other car involved in the crash was a 1947 Cisitalia driven by a Japanese, ANSA said.

Our condolences to the Schwartz family and salute the spirit and dedication he displayed for a sport and venue he dearly loved.

Conceived as a rival to the first Italian Grand Prix held in 1921, the first Mille Miglia was held in 1927. The race was 1000 miles in length, and held on closed public roads from the northern city of Brescia to Rome and back again. The first race ended in a brilliant one-two-three for the Brescia based OM firm.

The importence of this race and its effects can be traced from its beginnings over the rock studded roads of pre-war Italy into the cockpit of Micheal Schumacher. The Commendatore Enzo Ferrari explains it best:

When I talk about the Mille Miglia, I feel quite moved, for it played such a big part in my life. I knew it as a driver, a team director and a constructor … and was always an admirer of its champions. In fact, the Mille Miglia not only provided enormous technical advances during its three decades, it really did breed champions.

I was present at every one of the twenty-four Mille Miglias that were run and was numbed by the tragic accident in 1957 when the marchese de Portago was killed driving one of my cars, causing the race to be banned.

In my opinion, the Mille Miglia was an epoch-making event, which told a wonderful story. The Mille Miglia created our cars and the Italian automobile industry. The Mille Miglia permitted the birth of GT, or grand touring cars, which are now sold all over the world. The Mille Miglia proved that by racing over open roads for 1,000 miles, there were great technical lessons to be learned by the petrol and oil companies and by brake, clutch, transmission, electrical and lighting component manufacturers, fully justifying the old adage that motor racing improves the breed. - Enzo Ferrari