Olivier Gendebien, Ferrari's "Professional amateur" driver
Brussels, 12 January 1924 - Tarascon - France 2 October 1998 (74 years old)
Member of the Secret Army in 1943 then of the SAS paratrooper unit in England until the end of the Second World War, he participated in particular in the Ardennes counter-offensive.
Olivier Gendebien had risen to the forefront of world-class pilots. His brief career did not prevent him from winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times, the Targa Florio three times and the Tour Auto. Not bad for an “amateur”.
Despite thirteen international victories, Olivier Gendebien never really called himself a professional driver, but rather an amateur. However, reading his track record and his status as an official driver of Scuderia Ferrari, this contradictory statement does not fail to surprise. Even today, Gendebien admits that he was never really interested in cars, but rather in sport in general. These are certainly all of these reasons which have made Olivier Gendebien a driver with a sometimes contested reputation and talent, linked to a certain lack of popularity. Criticisms which are unfounded when we analyze his track record which is magnificent. Let’s agree! It is true that his automotive career was very brief since it did not even last ten years.
As a child and adolescent, contrary to the traditional cliché of the future automobile champion who steals his father's or brother's car, young Olivier is not very attracted to this world. His family is wealthy. After the war, in 1948, he directed town planning work in Stanleyville in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) where he met a super-addicted coffee planter named Charles Fraikin. The latter cherished the project of running the famous Liège-Rome-Liège rally in 1952, four years later!
In the meantime, the two men hit it off and decide to compete in this rally together. Deal. Four years later, the two Belgians found themselves behind the wheel of a large 3.4 liter Jaguar. In driving a car, Olivier, aged 29, instinctively rediscovers the joy he already felt while controlling his racing horse or descending snowy slopes on his skis.
First race, first success :
A few weeks later, while testing a friend's Ferrari on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit that he discovered, Gendebien showed himself to be faster than the latter. His friend handed over the wheel to him for the race and Olivier Gendebien won easily. His first victory. The first steps of a fruitful career which ended less than ten years later. “I suddenly made the decision to stop during the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans where I almost killed myself during the night. I said to myself: you've just been a dad for a few days and your daughter almost never knew her father. If I win this race, I will never race again. At the finish, I announced my resolution to the incredulous press, especially since I had just realized that I had had enough of car racing. I had lost a lot of friends along the way, forty-nine to be precise. On the other hand, racing had evolved: sport and the amateur spirit were giving way to professionalism and commerce. »
Olivier Gendebien has turned the page without regret. Except for a few rallies with Citroën, he never again drove a competition car, unlike Maurice Trintignant, another driver of his generation with whom he never got along well.
24 heures du Mans 1958
Avec Phil HILL
