Sal Incandela has died at the age of 61. Born in Italy but raised in France, Incandela worked in Formula 1 in the 1970s, being one of James Hunt’s mechanics at McLaren in 1976 and later moving to Formula 2 where he worked with Toleman, helping the team finish 1-2 in the championship with Brian Henton and Derek Warwick. He went on from there to work with Nelson Piquet at Brabham in 1983. That year he published the celebrated technical book “The Anatomy and Development of the Formula One Racing Car from 1975″ with forewords by Patrick Tambay and Gordon Murray. He headed to the United States in 1986 and worked with Dick Simon and Raul Boesel before moving on to work with Vince Granatelli, Frank Arciero and Bernard Jourdain. In 1991 he formed Indy Regency Racing in Indy Lights and two years later moved into IndyCar with Frenchman Olivier Grouillard. The team competed on and off until 2001.
Incandela is survived by his wife, Lesley, his son Daniel, who is director of online strategy at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and daughters, Chantal and Stephanie.
So sad to hear this news – Sal (Minky) Incandella will be sadly missed to us all now. Quiet, thoughfull, considerate, polite, kind, easy going and known to many in the “Old” F1 @70′s – *0′s paddock.
RIP Sal
That’s sad news, 61 is no age. I have his book, I’m going to give it another read.
RIP Sal Incandela. I just purchased his book from Amazon because of this article.
I remember the IndyCar team but the links to F1 were a complete unknown. I’ll have to search out that book, would be fascinating to see how the cars have developed from the ones before my time.
I’m so sad to learn of Sal’s death! I knew him in Indy racing, but I really knew him as a husband, dad and friend! He welcomed me and made me feel at home with his team back in the early 90′s-even though I wasn’t with the team!
He helped me with my Italian, and I helped him with his understanding of our military and its’ might!
My thoughts, prayers and love to Lesley and their children!
Sad to hear the news, first met Salvatore in his days at Pygmee, (with its perpetual misfire due to old man Dalbo’s fiddling with the injection system..), when we did F2 together back in the early 70′s, subsequently was our chief mechanic at Copersucar…another of the old gang gone, and far too early. My condolences to his family.
I did not know Sal during his racing career, but I did hear stories thru my various visits to the dealership where I purchased 3 vehicles from him. I found Sal to be one of the genuinely nice people in my life. My condolences to family and friends.
Joe, and all the people that left comments – thank you for sharing such kind words. I wanted to share some information on the memorial service in Indianapolis, November 5.
http://danielincandela.com/2011/10/25/indianapolis-memorial-for-sal-incandela/
Thank you – Daniel