A life well lived. As a schoolboy in England, Nino Vaccarella's exploits in the Targa Florio were vividly brought to life through DSJ's wonderful reports. Did I sneak a look at my on-way-to school-purchased June Motor Sport during the morning's maths, history or geography lessons each year? Of course!
I hope I can be forgiven for this passage from DSJ's report of the 1965 event: "...but now everyone crowded round the police radio car to hear when Vaccarella arrived safely at the finishing line. Suddenly there was a great shout from the Mayor and his chums and for Cerda the 49th Targa Florio was over. Vaccarella/Bandini (Ferrari) had won.
"It was nearly three hours later that the stream of traffic allowed us to get down to the pits and cast around among the tired and weary pit crews and drivers. With Pucci finishing first on the road and Vaccarella driving the winning car over the finishing line, the crowds were beside themselves with joy, and it was a happy, milling throng that fought and jostled its way back to Palermo that evening.
"No-one enjoys an Italian winning an Italian race more than the Italians, but when a Sicilian wins a Sicilian race there is a riot."
Then...
"It was after 8 p.m. before we got back to our hotel, tired, dusty and sun-burnt, but we felt we had enjoyed the 49th Targa Florio to the full and looked forward to 1966, the fiftieth anniversary of this great, and now unique, motor race.—D. S. J.
Yes... Nino was, to me, a wonderful, romantic figure. RIP.