The Reinvention of the Mille Miglia in 1940

Paul Baxa is professor of history at Ave Maria University in Florida. Parts of his most recent book, Motorsport and Fascism: Living Dangerously (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) have been presented at past Argetsinger Symposia. He was privileged to have presented at the first symposium in 2015.

The 1940 Mille Miglia is an anomaly in the long history of the race. The previous classic editions, held between 1927 and 1938, were run on the thousand-mile figure-of-eight open road course covering half of Italy. During that time, it had become Italy’s most  important motor race and one that was exploited by Mussolini’s Fascist regime. After a major tragedy in 1938, the race was reinvented in 1940 and bore scant resemblance to the original. This paper examines how the race was used by the regime to exalt the Axis alliance while at the same time making great efforts to link it to its more illustrious preceding editions.

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00:00 The 1940 Mille Miglia: A Historical Context

01:31 The 1938 Tragedy and Its Aftermath

02:50 Fascism and Motorsport: A Symbiotic Relationship

05:32 Reinventing the Mille Miglia

06:25 The 1940 Race: An Anomaly

09:10 Challenges and Controversies

20:44 The Race Day: April 28, 1940

22:38 Post-Race Reflections and Research

26:19 Closing Remarks and Acknowledgements

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This episode is part of our HISTORY OF MOTORSPORTS SERIES and is sponsored in part by: The International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC), The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH), The Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argetsinger Family - and was recorded in front of a live studio audience.