Alfonso de Portago

Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago, GE (11 October 1928 – 12 May 1957), best known as Alfonso de Portago, was a Spanish aristocrat, racing and bobsleigh driver, jockey and pilot.

Born in London to a prominent family in the peerage of Spain, Portago was named after his godfather, King Alfonso XIII. His grandfather, the 9th Marquess of Portago, had been Minister of Public Instruction & Fine Arts and Mayor of Madrid, while his father, who was President of Puerta de Hierro and a prolific golfer, died of a heart attack while showering after a polo match. His mother, Olga Leighton, was an Irish nurse.

At age 17, Portago began displaying his flamboyant lifestyle by winning a $500 bet after flying a borrowed plane under London Tower Bridge. He twice rode the Grand National as "gentleman rider" and formed the first Spanish bobsleigh team with his cousins, finishing 4th in the 1956 Winter Olympics, missing the bronze medal by 0.16 seconds.

In 1953, Portago was introduced into the Scuderia Ferrari team, competing at the Carrera Panamericana, 1000 km Buenos Aires and several Grand Prix, including a win and second place at the 1956 Tour de France Automobile and 1956 British Grand Prix respectively.

Portago’s promising career was cut short in May 1957 after his renowned Ferrari 335 S crashed near the village of Guidizzolo when a tyre burst while driving along a dead straight road at in the 1957 running of the Mille Miglia, killing Portago, his navigator, and nine spectators.

The Marquess of Portago was seen by many as a true playboy of his time; "a tall, handsome and wealthy Spanish aristocrat who captured everybody's imagination". Gregor Grant famously said of him: "a man like Portago appears only once in a generation, and it would probably be more accurate to say only once in a lifetime. The fellow does everything fabulously well. Never mind the driving, the steeplechasing, the bobsledding, the athletic side of things, never mind being fluent in 4 languages. (...) He could be the best bridge player in the world if he cared to try, he could certainly be a great soldier, and I suspect he could be a fine writer".

Biography

Early life

Portago was born in London, and lived between Madrid and Biarritz. He became articulate in four languages, and spoke English with a distinctive British accent. Olga's first husband, Frank MacKey, who was more than 40 years older than she was, shot himself while terminally ill and left Olga an enormous fortune ($500 million) made as founder of Household Finance Corp. Portago was a first cousin of Vicente Sartorius, 4th Marquess of Mariño as well as José Luis de Vilallonga, 9th Marquess of Castellbell.

Portago was dark-haired and had freckles and blue eyes. He was 1.83 m (6 ft) tall and weighed 77 kg (170 Ibs). He famously won a bet at the age of 17 when he flew his plane beneath London Tower Bridge. He participated twice in the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree as a gentleman jockey, although he found keeping his weight down to be a struggle.

Bobsleigh

thumb|Portago at the [[1956 Winter Olympics, where he missed bronze by 0.16 seconds]]

He also was a bobsleigh runner, recruiting several cousins in order to form Spain's first bobsleigh team for the 1956 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo. He had had only two or three practice runs in Switzerland before buying a pair of sleds. With Portago steering, the two-man bob finished fourth to the surprise of the traditional teams, missing out on a medal by 0.16 seconds. in a crash during that year's Mille Miglia, in a straight road section between Cerlongo and Guidizzolo, in the communal territory of Cavriana A tire blew on Portago's third-place Ferrari 335 S causing it to spin into the crowd lining the highway. He was travelling at . The 335 hurtled over a canal on the left side of the road, then veered back across the canal, causing the deaths of nine onlookers in total. A photograph dubbed "The Kiss of Death" shows Portago kissing actress Linda Christian at a stop just before his fatal crash.

As T.C. Browne wrote, "The inevitable happened when Alfonso [...] de Portago stopped alongside the course, ran to the fence, kissed Linda Christian, ran back to his Ferrari and drove on to his destiny, killing himself, his co-driver, 10 spectators, and the Mille Miglia".

Once Portago commented, "I won't die in an accident. I'll die of old age or be executed in some gross miscarriage of justice". Nelson countered this assertion, saying Portago would not live to be 30. According to Nelson, "every time Portago comes in from a race the front of his car is wrinkled where he has been nudging people out of the way at 130 mph (210 km/h)". McDaniel was several years older than Portago and they barely knew each other. She subsequently married the philanthropist Milton Petrie. Barbara de Portago subsequently married, in 1984, actor and playwright Jason Harrison Grant; after their divorce she married in 1991 (divorced 1994) investment banker William James Tapert.

Supposedly, Carroll McDaniel and Alfonso de Portago were in the process of getting a divorce so he could legitimize his invalid Mexican marriage to fashion model Dorian Leigh (who had already aborted their first pregnancy in 1954 and then gave birth to their son Kim on 27 September 1955). Leigh was eleven years his senior. However, Portago was also dating actress Linda Christian, actor Tyrone Power's ex-wife.

<!--THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG HERE... De Portago was killed on MAY 12!!!

De Portago was killed in the 1957 Mille Miglia on 8 May. His divorce was to become final on 9 May. -->

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

! Year

! Entrant

! Chassis

! Engine

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! WDC

! Points

| 1956

! Scuderia Ferrari

! Ferrari D50

! Ferrari V8

| ARG

| MON

| 500

| BEL

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FRA

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| GBR 2 †

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| GER

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| ITA

! 15th

! 3

| 1957

! Scuderia Ferrari

! Ferrari D50A

! Ferrari V8

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| ARG 5 *

| MON

| 500

| FRA

| GBR

| GER

| PES

| ITA

! 20th

! 1

:<nowiki>†</nowiki> Indicates shared drive with Peter Collins

:<nowiki>*</nowiki> Indicates shared drive with José Froilán González

Titles

11th Marquess of Portago
Grandee of Spain
13th Count of la Mejorada

Heraldry

File:COA Marquess of Portago Grandee variant.svg|Coat of Arms as Marquess of Portago (1943-1957)

Alfonso de Portago

Biography

Early life

Bobsleigh

Complete Formula One World Championship results

Titles

Heraldry

In popular culture

Film

See also

References

Bibliography

External links