People

Eugenio Dragoni

When Enzo Ferrari lost most of the leading members of his racing department at the end of 1961 he needed replacements and promoted 26-year-old engineer Mauro Forghieri to head the racing division and took on Eugenio Dragoni as his nteam manager. Dragoni came from a family which had made a fortune in perfume and had turned to racing as a career. He ran the Scuderia Sant'Ambroeus before being called in at Ferrari, bringing with him a youngster called Lorenzo Bandini to join Phil Hill and Giancarlo Baghetti. The team had to use old machinery in 1962 and as a result both Hill and Baghetti departed at the end of the season and Ferrari hired John Surtees, Willy Mairesse and Lodovico Scarfiotti to run with Bandini. It was not a good year and relationships became increasingly strained although in 1964 the team won the World Championship with John Surtees driving. In 1966 the team was hopelessly split by political battles and in the midseason Surtees walked out after a dispute with Dragoni. At the end of the year Ferrari realised that things needed to change and Dragoni was quietly dropped.