Ferrari has always been omnipresent in Luigi Chinetti, Jr.'s life. He boasts three participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Italian marque: in 1971 with Bob Grossman (fifth), in 1972 with 1965 winner with Ferrari Masten Gregory (retirement) and in 1973 with François Migault (13th). There is also the story of North American Racing Team (NART) created by his father, which develops the American market for Ferrari. Chinetti, Jr. shares a few lively (and sometimes mischievous) recollections.

Luigi Chinetti, from father to son at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1949-1965 – Luigi Chinetti, Sr. holds a remarkable place in Ferrari's history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, having scored the marque's first win at the race in 1949 as a driver, then its ninth and last to date in 1965 as a team owner. The period spanned his son Luigi, Jr.'s life from childhood to adulthood: "At the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans, I sat on the hood of my dad's Ferrari wearing a cowboy hat and shorts. In the 1960s, I was taking photos and did the signage at Mulsanne. I met Pedro Rodríguez and many others. In NART, we had 120 different drivers, but not all did Le Mans. When Rodríguez was there, we were still in the game and spectators loved the Rodríguez brothers. In 1961, they were in the lead ahead of Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill (future winners that year, Ed.) and the factory team was not particularly pleased (smile, Ed.). In 1965, about 30 minutes from the checkered flag, sales manager Gaetano Florini asked my dad if we could help the Belgians (the Ferrari of Pierre Dumay and Gustave Gosselin fielded by Belgian Ferrari importer Jacques Swaters, Ed.) by slowing Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory. But that didn't work out and we won the race (smile, Ed.)."

1971 24 Hours of Le Mans memories – At the age of 29, Chinetti, Jr. took his rookie start at Le Mans, driving one of NART's Ferrari 265 GTB/4s along with American driver Bob Grossman (11 participations in the 24 Hours, eight with Ferrari): "In 1971, I set out to familiarize myself with the circuit at slow speed. Banker Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, who had done Le Mans with Ferrari, went to see my father before the end of qualifying and I heard him say: 'Mr Chinetti, your son is too slow!’ (smile, Ed.). And it was true, I pushed the car to its limts to qualify. We were so far back on the starting grid (33rd, Ed.) that we almost needed a telegram for the rolling start (smile, Ed.), but we did finish the race. It was funny, for my first participation, Masten Gregory was there. He said to me, in his big midwestern American voice (he is from Kansas City, Missouri, Ed.): 'Listen to your old man, he knows the goddamned place,’ and he was right! In 1971, up against the Porsche 917, NART had the Ferrari 512 M. Sam Posey and Tony Adamowicz drove it in 1971 (third, Ed.) and Sam said the 512 M was wonderful and easy to drive. I only saw those cars when they were overtaking me (smile, Ed.)!"

Daytona 1971, 24 hours with a very special car – A few months before the first of his three starts in the 24 Hours, Chinetti, Jr. competed in the Rolex 24 at Daytona along with American driver Gregg Young at the wheel of the Ferrari 250 LM winner at Le Mans in 1965: "We didn't have a lot of money, so to be able to race, I had to sell the car first as dad had done in the 1930s. I had convinced a young client to buy the 250 LM. I think he paid $10,000 for it at the time. So we took the car to Daytona, relatively old at that point. The gearbox jumped into third, so I told the Ferrari mechanic, who was a genius, to retool it. He told me it would be wiser to focus on the first stint because the car wouldn't last. But it lasted 23 hours and 40 minutes! During the last 20 minutes of the race, it started making noises. We ended up finishing in the top 10 (seventh, Ed.), but the car was truly exhausted. That having been said, the 250 LM was a fantastic car, very fast and easy to drive. A wonderful car!"

The art of selling Ferraris in the U.S. – In addition to the competition program of North American Racing Team (NART), Luigi Chinetti, Sr. developed Ferrari importation in the U.S., with a little help from his son: "When I was about 16 or 17, we were selling Ferraris in New York. I started doing test drives with clients in the streets of the city. I remember one customer who was looking over the car asked me ‘what is that?’ I answered that it was the brake pedal and that it went with ‘the thing in the middle’ (mimicking a gearshift, Ed.) and he was a bit surprised (smile, Ed.)! One day, I was in Mr Ferrari's office with our New York manager. I told them that our American clientele needed air conditioning and automatic shifting. Enzo Ferrari didn't quite understand and asked our New York manager what he thought. He told him I was right because Americans do not drive fast, maybe 120 kph maximum. I don't think they understood at the time, but today Ferrari is at the top of its game in the U.S., it's so great, and they really go all out with the marketing."

PHOTOS (Copyright - Louis Monnier/ACO): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, FRIDAY 14 JUNE 2019. Luigi Chinetti, Jr. (above at right) in the Drivers' Parade, seated in the Ferrari 166 MM donated to the 24 Hours Museum by Luigi Chinetti, Sr. and driven by race historian Hervé Guyomard. A model of this car won Ferrari's first victory at Le Mans in 1949.