On June 19, 2002, Managing Director Dr. Walter Kafitz will receive a very special present on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of “his” Nürburgring: a life-size bronze statue of Juan Manuel Fangio and a Mercedes-Benz W 196 Silver Arrow, presented by the President of the Fangio Foundation, Antonio Mandiola, and the Director of DaimlerChrysler Classic, Max-Gerrit von Pein.

The heavyweight statue will by unveiled by present-day Mercedes McLaren drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Räikkönen. The statue will be set up just outside the entrance to the Nürburgring’s “motor sport world of experience” – serving as an attractive location for photo shooting. Visitors can climb into the cockpit of the sculpted racing car and have their photos with Juan Manuel Fangio taken.

Fangio ranks among the most successful racing drivers in automotive history and was the most outstanding driver personality in post-war Grand Prix racing. He died on July 17, 1995 at the age of 84.

With the posthumous honoring of the racing idol, who is still highly popular today, a new, visible expression is given to the memory of this fair sportsman and true gentleman at the wheel. At the same time, the statue impressively testifies to the traditional ties of Mercedes-Benz with the legendary racetrack in the Eifel region, dating back to the opening race in 1927. That race was won by Rudolf Caracciola at the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz S model. Juan Manuel Fangio won two races on the historical Nürburgring in Mercedes-Benz cars: the 1954 European Grand Prix at the wheel of a W 196 Silver Arrow and, in 1955, the International Eifel Race driving a 300 SLR.

The bronze statue, weighing more than three tons, was created by the Catalan artist Joaquim Ros Sabaté, commissioned by the Catalan Automobile Club (RACC). The original statue was set up at the Barcelona racetrack. Five copies were cast by a specialized Spanish foundry, Barberi, at the initiative of DaimlerChrysler Classic and in agreement with the artist, the Fangio Foundation in Balcarce, where Fangio was born and where his museum is located, and co-sponsor YPF Repsol. It still needs to be decided at what other four racetracks the remaining copies will be set up.

Juan Manuel Fangio, respectfully called El Chueco – the bandy-legged – by his friends, was born on June 24, 1911 in Balcarce, 300 kilometers south of Buenos Aires. He competed in his first race in 1936, driving a car he had borrowed from someone else. Just four years later, he scored victory in the Argentinean Gran Premio Internacional. In 1950 he drove for Alfa Romeo and clinched his first World Champion's title in 1951. In 1954, the legendary racing manager Alfred Neubauer signed him on as a member of the Mercedes-Benz racing team and gave him a W 196 Silver Arrow. In the same year, and once again in 1955, Fangio won the World Championship.

After Daimler-Benz's withdrawal from Grand Prix racing, Fangio clinched World Champion titles number 4 and 5 in 1956 and 1957, driving Lancia-Ferrari and Maserati, respectively. He ended his fabulous motor sport career in 1958 at the age of 47. Fangio’s relationship with Mercedes-Benz remained close until the end of his life and the corporation continues to be committed to the Fangio Foundation.

With reference to the statue’s unveiling on the Nürburgring, David Coulthard said that “Fangio has always been and will continue to be a model of fairness in motor sport” for him. And according to the President of the Fangio Foundation, Antonio Mandiola, the statue’s location on the Nürburgring “... pays tribute not only to Fangio the great racing driver but also, and even more so, to an Argentinean national hero."