Raul Riganti

26/2/1893 - 1/10/1970

Record updated 26-Feb-20

Raul Riganti was one of the best drivers to come out of Argentine in the 1920s and 1930s. He became one of the first heroes of Argentine Motorsport.

Raul Riganti
Raul Riganti, from Polenta, was one of the best drivers to come out of Argentine in the 1920s and 1930s. He became one of the first heroes of Argentine Motorsport.

He and two other fine Argentinian drivers, Ernesto Blanco and Antonio Gaudino, who was actually born in Italy and emigtared to Argentina, were called "Los Tres Mosqueteros" ("The Three Musketeers").

Riganti raced in Argentina with great success but never achieved the same success abroad.

He raced at the Indianapolis 500 three times, retiring in 1923. In 1933 Héctor Palacios, a famous Argentinian singer, appeared alongside Carlos Gardel and over thirty outstanding figures of music and theater, in a festival at the Teatro San Martín to raise funds for Riganti and Antonio Gaudino to run at Indy that year. The money raised paid for the trip. The event was aired simultaneously by four radio stations, something uncommon for that time. Riganti finished 14th  in a Chrysler. In the 1940 Indy 500, Pascual Puoppolo entered his Maserati, a special 8CL 3.0 built by the Orsi family for Riganti to race. Riganti`s luck was not good, and after only 24 laps he had a severe accident from which he miraculously survived. This car is now owned by Rob Walton of Wal-Mart and is used in vintage road racing.

He had a similar record in the Grand Prix of Rio de Janeiro on the gruelling  Circuit of Gavea, retiring in 1933, 1934 and 1937.

He won the 1936 Gran Premio driving a Terraplane.





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