Page 7 - Ferrari in America

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The Le Mans win would lead Raymond Sommer to one of the most interesting careers
in motor racing. He was certainly among the fastest of his era, but lacked any interest
in race craft. He preferred to lead a race rather than finish it. He also chose to race as
a privateer rather than subject himself to the discipline of factory teams, although they
sought him out and he sometimes drove for them. Nonetheless, he built a remarkable
record, including being champion of France in both 1937 and 1939.
Sommer served in the army during World War II. He could have had an officer’s com-
mission because of his social status, but in keeping with his independent streak, decided
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to serve as an enlisted man. According to the records of his regiment, he shot down more
than one enemy plane from the ground, movie-star style, with a handheld machine gun.
After the war Sommer returned to racing. He was just as fast, with the same attitude
as previously. The fans loved him, referring to him as Coeur de Lion (Lionheart), for his
habit of taking on, and often beating, faster cars. However, some of his competitors didn’t
view him quite so positively, since he often beat them, or at least led them for a time, even
with a noticeably slower car. He was once again French champion in 1946.
His courage was as apparent off the track as it was on. After the war Ferdinand Porsche
was held in France as a war criminal. Sommer was one of the leaders in raising the funds to
pay the extortionist fines that the French government demanded before releasing Porsche.
The fines were never returned, even though there were never any official findings released
about Porsche’s wrongdoing. Sommer’s work on behalf of Porsche was not popular in
postwar France.
Sommer was killed in a minor race, the Haute-Garonne Grand Prix, in 1950. He had
recently received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor as the greatest driver in the
country. A few years later, Luigi Chinetti recalled in a John Bentley interview:
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If Sommer had been an average driver, no one would have cared much whether
he played a lone hand or tried to join a team. But he was not an average driver. His
forceful and remarkable style posed a constant threat to his rivals, even the greatest
of them. The fact was that they were afraid of him and did not want him to race at all.
Whether he beat them as an independent or as a team driver, it made them look bad
either way. But, by keeping him out of the teams, his rivals at least made sure that he
did not have such good equipment.
This fear was something that Sommer could never understand because he himself
knew no fear. He was always ready to take on any odds, even with a much inferior car,
just from love of the sport. And this resentment he encountered was something that
S U C C E S S
hurt and bewildered him.
In closing, Chinetti remarked, “He was not merely above average, he ranked absolutely
and without question, with the greatest names in racing. In my opinion, and I am not
alone, he was superior to many top-flight names who were so highly considered that team
managers almost fought for their services.”
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