The Nome Nugget

Rebels Suspected Of Sabotaging
Cuban Gran Premio Auto Race
By LARRY ALLEN

HAVANA (A)—Rebel kidnappers freed world champion automobile racer Juan Manuel Fangio Tuesday after Cuba's $10,000 Gran Premio race ended in tragedy and suspicions of foul play.

While Fangio, unshaken by his 29-hour experience, talked with reporters, authorities disputed claims by other drivers that someone poured oil on the course of the race in which the 46-year-old, five-times world titleholder was to have been the star attraction.

A racer driven by Armando Garcia Cifuentes of Cuba skittered into the crowd along Malecon Boulevard, killed 6 Cubans and injuring 32. Cifuentes was among those critically hurt.

Drivers said the track had been slicked down with oil, presumably in a rebel attempt to wreck the race.

Fangio told newsmen his abductors made clear they had grabbed him in hopes his disappearance would force cancellation of the race and embarrass President Fulgencio Batista's regime.

The veteran driver showed no bitterness towards his captors, who seized him at gunpoint in his Havana hotel on the eve of the big race.

"If what the rebels did was in a good cause, then I as an Argentinian accept it," said Fangio, whose country threw out dictator Juan D. Peron in 1955.

"I feel terrific," he declared, adding that the kidnaping had been "another adventure in my life." He refused to identify the kidnapers or to give any description of them.