Juan Manuel Fangio was born on June 24, 1911 in Balcarce, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He abandoned school at the age of 12 and got a job as an apprentice in an iron-works factory and at a auto repair shop where he washed pieces of engines and learned to assemble and disassemble engines; opening the door to his passion for cars.

As time went by, he learned more about mechanics and improved his driving skills. He used the auto-repair shops' car to pick up and deliver orders in neighboring towns crossing different terrains and occasionally a lagoon.

In 1929, he run his first race in a four cylinder Chevrolet '28 in with Manuel Ayerza as co-pilot. In 1934, he began competing in argentine circuits, which were very dangerous due to the bad shape of the tracks where many drivers lost their lives. In 1938, he made his debut in the Gran Premio Argentino of the Turismo Carretera category, driving a Ford cupe '37, with Luis Finochietti, and arrived in seventh place.

In 1940 Fangio drove a Chevrolet in the "Gran Premio Internacional del Norte", a race between Buenos Aires to Lima, (Peru) of almost five thousand kilometers crossing the finish line in the first place after 109 hours of race. The race took almost two weeks with daily phases and resulted in his first victory in the car racing. In this competition the car repairs were made by the pilot and the co-pilot at the end of every tiring phase.

Many victories followed and a rivalry between Ford and Chevrolet was born. At that time, Ford was being represented by Oscar Galvez and Chevrolet by Juan Manuel Fangio, but the rivalry resulted in the start of a friendship the would last forever.

Fangio was the Argentine champion in 1940 and 1941, but the world's economy was in decline due to the second world war and the lack of tires and the recession determined the temporary suspension of the races. During this period he became a truck salesman. He traveled back and forth in different towns and was very successful in his new job. People respected his professionalism and his honesty as a business person.

The races resumed towards the end of the war and the Automovil Club Argentino started organizing international races of "special cars, now known as formula 1, with the best national and international racers.

On the 15th of February of 1947 Fangio went back to the tracks and got the third place at the Retiro Circuit in Buenos Aires. Afterwards, the government of Juan Perón funded Fangio's trip to Europe and in 1949, at 37 years of age, he started winning races in the European circuit. In 1950, he made his debut with Alfa Romeo's formula 1 team and was victorious in San Remo's Ospedaletti circuit. That same year he participated in the First Formula 1 Championship that took place in Silverstone (England), where he had to abandon due to mechanical problems.

On May 21, 1950 he obtained his first victory in the World Grand Prix of Monaco, Montecarlo, with an Alfa Romeo 158, after escaping a collision that left nine cars out o the race in the first lap. A few months later he was world champion's runner-up in Italy's Grand Prix, where his teammate Nino Farina got the title.

On October 28, 1951 he obtained the Worlds Drivers Championship Award after winning the Pedralbes Grand Prix in Barcelona, Spain, with an Alfa Romeo 159, being the last race with Alfa Romeo.

In 1952, he debuted with the British BRM of 4500 cm3 in France's Albi Grand Prix, where he abandoned the race; and later that year he suffered the worst accident of his career when he went out of the track during the first lap of the Monza Grand Prix while driving a Formula 2 Maserati A6GCM.

The previous day, Fangio raced in Belfast (Northern Ireland) and lost his connection to Paris, so he drove all night to be on time for the Monza Grand Prix, arriving half an hour prior to the race. With his  reflexes notably reduced due to the tiredness, he made a mistake while changing gears and the Maserati hit the side of the track and went flying. Fangio broke his neck and had cervical injuries that forced him to step of for the rest of the season.

He was back on his feet for the 1953 season, and on the 13 of September he won again in the Formula 1 category leading in the Italian Grand Prix, and obtaining the second place in the world championship.

In 1954 he started racing for Mercedes Benz, who allowed him to race for Maserati while the Mercedes cars where not available; and it was then that he obtained the World Championship for the the second time.

Fangio ran twelve Grand Prix for Maserati, winning eight; and leading to the beginning of a winning spree of four consecutive prizes.

In 1955 he won again with Mercedes Benz and his teammate Stirling Moss nicknamed him "El Maestro" (The Teacher) in s sign of respect and admiration. On September 11, 1955, with a win in Italy, he obtained his Third World Championship in Formula 1 and decides to leave Mercedes Benz and join Ferrari with whom he got his Fourth World Championship.

In 1957 he went back to race for Maserati and got his Fifth World Championship on board of a Maserati 250F.

In a race in Nurburgring, while leading by 28 seconds over the Ferraris driven by Hawthorn y Collins; Fangio made a pit stop and lost the 28 seconds he led plus an additional 48 seconds. With only 12 laps left he made an astonishing recovery and in the previous to last lap he passed Collins and subsequently passed Hawthorn near the curves, winning the race by 3.6 seconds. This exceptional maneuver is considered a "driving monument" in the history of formula 1 races.

In February of 1958, Fangio was acknowledged as the author of  the "Worlds' Most Outstanding Accomplishment in Sports" and received the Annual Award from the French Academy of Sports.

That unbelievable race was his last conquest in Formula 1 and that same Juan Manuel Fangio decided to retire from the professional circuits after a long list of races and a glorious career. 

In 1972, the racetrack "Juan Manuel Fangio" was inaugurated in his hometown of Balcarce and in 1974 he was named honorary president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina.

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At the beginning of the 80's, Juan Manuel Fangio started to suffer heart conditions that resulted in a successful bypass surgery.

The honors continued and on November 22, 1986 a museum named "Centro Tecnológico y Cultural Museo del Automovilismo Juan Manuel Fangio" was inaugurated in Balcarce

On the 17th of July of1995, at 84 years old, he died in the city of Buenos Aires, surrounded by the love of friends and family, in a country that always cherished him.

His winning score may never be topped.