Carlos Alberto Pairettilegend of Argentine motorsports, died at dawn this Monday at the age of 86 in a clinic in the Buenos Aires city of Pergamino, affected by respiratory and cardiac deficiencies, as confirmed by his son to the Télam agency Eduardo “Mani” Pairetti.
The former champion of Highway Tourism, originally from Santa Fe, had been hospitalized for weeks in Arrecifes, from where he had been transferred to Pergamino on Sunday due to a complication in his health.
Pairetti had bilateral pneumonia that caused the worsening of his condition about a month ago and some time ago he had overcome a stroke, from which he was able to recover to the point of attending the Oscar and Juan Gálvez racetrack to see the debut of his grandson Santino, son of ” Tim”, in the ALMA category, with a Class 2 Fiat Uno.
Carlos Pairetti with the helmet he used, orange like his famous car.
An illustrious member of the “Cradle of Champions” of Arrecifes, Pairetti entered the gallery of the great personalities of national motoring with his remembered TC title in 1968 aboard a Chevrolet coupé immortalized as the “Orange Thunder”.
The Deliberative Council of Arrecifes had declared in 2022 “Illustrious Citizens” his beloved sons Carlos Alberto Pairetti, Néstor Jesús García Veiga, and the deceased Rubén Luis Di Palma and Carlos Marincovich, known as the “Poker of Aces” for their transcendence in the engine world.
an inspiring car
The famous Orange Thunder by Carlos Pairetti.
That story of the Orange Thunder transcended borders. To such an extent that, according to legend, it even inspired, four decades later, another emblematic car, although with other characteristics… According to the builder of the Orange Thunder, Pedro Campo, he suspects that the creation of Lightning McQueen, the leading car in the film Disney’s Cars bears a particular similarity to the popular Turismo Carretera car.
Cars with personality, with their own name. The Orange Thunder marked an era and was marked, as prominent as its color, in the golden pages of Argentine motoring.
From Boca to River and a visit to the cinema
Pairetti was the protagonist of one of the first news “bombshells” in the environment, when from one day to the next he decided to change brands and went from Chevrolet to Ford, as if he were from Boca to River or vice versa, since they are the two most representative of the national motoring.
His degree of notoriety at the time, where without social networks it was difficult to frame, also led him to meet many people. This is how an opportunity came to him in 1970, when he participated in a film acting as a double for Sandro, who played a pilot.
“Sandro got really hooked, he liked speed and he even got to drive the race car, a sports prototype and he ended up overturning it at the Oscar Cabalén Race Track in Alta Gracia. I became very close friends with Sandro and he gave me such a handle that I ended up getting hooked on acting. It was his fault (laughs). The director of that movie was Leo Fleider and he offered me to do “Test Pilot”. There he played myself. I also dubbed Ricardo Bauleo, who was my brother in the film”, he revealed in one of his last interviews.
a born competitor
Pairetti was born in Clucellas, on October 17, 1935, but became a Reef resident by adoption. He debuted in the TC at the Vuelta de Pergamino, on March 25, 1962, and already in the first race he showed that he had the dough to mix with the greats of the time such as Juan Gálvez and Dante Emiliozzi, among others.
The car that was a Chevrolet coupe that belonged to Néstor Marincovich, uncle of his friend Carlos, who also shone in the longest running category on the planet.
A year after his debut, he got his first victory in La Vuelta de Mar del Plata and also his first Grand Prix, obtained on the Mercedes-Arrecifes route.
In 1965, he alternated with a Volvo 122 SB and achieved victory in Villa Carlos Paz, being the first (and only) Road Tourism of a brand other than Chevrolet, Dodge Ford and Torino. After 10 days and on the same circuit, he would return to drive his Chevrolet, repeating the victory.
In 1967 it was adapted to the advent of the evolved TC prototypes. It was the beginning of the Barracuda Chevrolet which, judging by his claims, was the best car he had ever driven. It was built on the chassis of an old Chrysler coupe, the bodywork of the builder Alain Baudena, and powered by a 230-cubic-inch Chevrolet booster.
IKA’s advance with the Torino, which debuted in 1967, generated a new dominance in the category, although Pairetti managed to face his opponents and obtain 3 wins between 1967 and 1968, which meant the beginning of his campaign towards title.
The Orange Thunder
The Thunder Orange in front of the Teatro Colón, last August, during a tribute for the 85 years of the TC. Photo Maxi Failla
Determined to put an end to the power of IKA, he contacted the builder Horacio Steven to begin the creation of a new prototype, so on June 23, 1968, the model of what would later become the myth of “Orange Thunder” .
With that machine, Pairetti would win 4 times, which were enough for him to become the Argentine champion of Turismo Carretera, achieving his goal of unseating the Torino.
That year he also ventured into the Argentine Mechanical Formula 1, in which he won the Rafaela 500-mile race, aboard a Destéfano Chevrolet. He set an average of 217,226 km / h, which for many years was not surpassed.
Carlos Pairetti, in 2004, when the TC turned 70 years old. Photo: Mario Quinteros
In 1970, after 17 years with Chevrolet, Pairetti moved to Ford, a decision that was criticized by fans of both brands. With the oval, he debuted in Formula B, established for Sport Prototypes, and the following year he was hired by the official Ford team that competed in the so-called Formula A.
A conflict with the trainer José Miguel Herceg prompted him to emigrate to European Formula 3 and then he tried unsuccessfully to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He returned to the TC in 1977 with a Dodge GTX coupe and a Dodge 1500, which he drove to another victory on March 26, 1978.
Pairetti’s record shows the TC title in 1968, two TC Grand Prix (1963 and 1966), a victory in the 500 miles of Rafaela (1968) and 22 wins in the most popular category of Argentine motorsport. He was one of the founders of the Argentine Pilots Club. He retired on August 14, 1978 aboard his Dodge GTX coupe, but his relationship with motorsports never ended.
Source: Telam