The Unlikely Story of an Italian’s Time in Owensboro
On the other end of my first ever international call, author Luca Dal Monte tells me the weather in Milan, Italy is remarkably similar to the weather that morning in Owensboro. Chilly, with gray skies and diminishing light rain.
Dal Monte remembers a thing or two about Kentucky weather, having spent five years of his life in the Bluegrass before returning to his hometown of Cremona, Italy. Four of those years were at the University of Kentucky, but he spent his first year in the states as a foreign exchange student his senior year at Apollo High School.
That was in 1982, long before he worked 25 years in the auto industry for world-renowned companies like Maserati and Ferrari. He then gradually wrote his way into a new career as a full-time writer on the success of a string of books, his most recent a 1,000-page biography called Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and the Making of an Automobile Empire.
The New York Times calls the book “the definitive biography of one of the automobile age’s most remarkable men.” It is an Italian best-seller, where it won the prestigious “Premio Selezione Bancarella Sport” national literary award, and has been published in other languages, including in English by American publisher David Bull. There are enough storylines in the book that a TV series is now in production in Italy, as well.
But all of that can be traced back to his time here in Owensboro.
“It really was the beginning of it all,” Luca said about his year at Apollo. “I ended up working for the best company in the world (Ferrari), and now I write for a living, which is a dream come true. I never could have imagined any of this when I was sitting in class at Apollo.”
Coming to America
Growing up in Italy, Luca loved soccer, enjoyed history, dreamed of being a journalist one day, and like most Italians, was fascinated by the life of Enzo Ferrari. “In Italy, there was the Pope and there was Enzo Ferrari,” Dal Monte said in an interview with The New York Times.
But he was also fascinated by American culture. He enjoyed watching American TV shows and movies, but was particularly drawn to American history.
So when he got the chance to meet some Americans who were coming to Cremona through the Friendship Force Exchange, he couldn’t wait. Those Americans happened to be coming from a town called Owensboro, Kentucky. And the Dal Monte family served as a host home to one of the couples on that trip, which happened to be Mr. and Mrs. John and Mabeth (Kirkpatrick) Helmers. That chance connection with the Helmers family would greatly impact the course of Luca’s life.
“That’s when I had the naive idea that if I went to the U.S. to study journalism it would look good on a resume, and I could come back and get a job in Milan or someplace like that,” Dal Monte said.
The Helmers agreed to host Luca as an exchange student at Apollo, where he played soccer, immersed himself in learning English, and did his best to adjust to life 6,000 miles from home. Having two host “brothers” was a big plus: Luca and Hal Helmers were both seniors, and David Helmers was a freshman.
Luca especially loved Mr. Joe Westerfield’s U.S. Government class; so much so that the school allowed him to audit the class again during the second semester so he could absorb even more historical and governmental nuances. He says getting to discuss in Mr. Westerfield’s class what he had read about back in Italy was like a dream. “Thirty six years later, I still remember how people at Apollo and the Owensboro community surrounded me with kindness.”
Another pivotal memory that stands out from his time at Apollo was the handwritten letter he received from Enzo Ferrari. It was during that year that Luca learned Enzo would answer letters from fans if they wrote him on his birthday. “So I wrote him a card for his 85th birthday in 1983 – and he wrote me back!” Luca remembers. “I’ll never forget opening the mailbox that day in Owensboro and seeing the Ferrari internal postmark on the envelope from Italy!”
The Helmers were big UK fans, and took Luca to Lexington to see several football games. Those visits, along with finding out UK had great journalism and political science programs, helped influence Luca’s decision to stay in the states for college.
Coming to America
Growing up in Italy, Luca loved soccer, enjoyed history, dreamed of being a journalist one day, and like most Italians, was fascinated by the life of Enzo Ferrari. “In Italy, there was the Pope and there was Enzo Ferrari,” Dal Monte said in an interview with The New York Times.
But he was also fascinated by American culture. He enjoyed watching American TV shows and movies, but was particularly drawn to American history.
So when he got the chance to meet some Americans who were coming to Cremona through the Friendship Force Exchange, he couldn’t wait. Those Americans happened to be coming from a town called Owensboro, Kentucky. And the Dal Monte family served as a host home to one of the couples on that trip, which happened to be Mr. and Mrs. John and Mabeth (Kirkpatrick) Helmers. That chance connection with the Helmers family would greatly impact the course of Luca’s life.
“That’s when I had the naive idea that if I went to the U.S. to study journalism it would look good on a resume, and I could come back and get a job in Milan or someplace like that,” Dal Monte said.
The Helmers agreed to host Luca as an exchange student at Apollo, where he played soccer, immersed himself in learning English, and did his best to adjust to life 6,000 miles from home. Having two host “brothers” was a big plus: Luca and Hal Helmers were both seniors, and David Helmers was a freshman.
Luca especially loved Mr. Joe Westerfield’s U.S. Government class; so much so that the school allowed him to audit the class again during the second semester so he could absorb even more historical and governmental nuances. He says getting to discuss in Mr. Westerfield’s class what he had read about back in Italy was like a dream. “Thirty six years later, I still remember how people at Apollo and the Owensboro community surrounded me with kindness.”
Another pivotal memory that stands out from his time at Apollo was the handwritten letter he received from Enzo Ferrari. It was during that year that Luca learned Enzo would answer letters from fans if they wrote him on his birthday. “So I wrote him a card for his 85th birthday in 1983 – and he wrote me back!” Luca remembers. “I’ll never forget opening the mailbox that day in Owensboro and seeing the Ferrari internal postmark on the envelope from Italy!”
The Helmers were big UK fans, and took Luca to Lexington to see several football games. Those visits, along with finding out UK had great journalism and political science programs, helped influence Luca’s decision to stay in the states for college.
Home Again
As it turned out, that decision to study in America helped Luca land his first major job back in Italy, where he was hired for the job of Chief Press Officer for the Italian branch of French carmaker Peugeot. “I think they accepted about 3,000 applications, and I made it to the short list of 20 for face to face interviews,” Dal Monte recalled. “Later, after I accepted the job, I asked human relations why they hired me and they said I was the only applicant who studied in the U.S. It was very rewarding to get that job, and I told my dad ‘all that money you spent (on sending me to the U.S.) was worth it.’ Our plan actually worked!” [laughs]
That P.R. job started a career in the automotive industry that also included stints with Toyota Motor Italy, Perelli, Ferrari, where he served as head of North American Press from 2001-2005, and finally, Maserati.
Along the way, Dal Monte wrote in his spare time. His first published book was a chronicle of the first 50 years of Formula One racing called The Red and the Others. Dal Monte began writing his first novel, La Scuderia, while he was working at Toyota. It was published in 2009, followed by The Ferrari Phenomenon in 2010 and the Official Book of the Maserati Centennial in 2013.
It was during his time at Maserati that he worked on the biography of Enzo Ferrari, a process that took Dal Monte eight years start to finish. “But you have to remember I had a full-time job back then,” Luca said, explaining how he would research in the evenings after work or on the weekends. The first three years were spent on research. He interviewed all the remaining founders of the Ferrari company he could track down, Enzo’s family members, and other employees.
Then he spent five years crafting the manuscript. Like the title suggests, it tells the real-life story of a very complex man’s remarkable life and the impact he had on automobile manufacturing, racing, and Italian culture. “Being a fan since I was a young boy, having worked inside the company, then researching extensively, I felt confident I could tell a different story,” Luca said. “Now the exposure it’s gotten – it’s very rewarding. The New York Times? Come on! It doesn’t get any bigger than that!” [laughs]
The success of Enzo Ferrari afforded Luca the opportunity to devote all his time to writing. He says he will write more non-fiction books, but he describes his next project as a “very ambitious” piece of fiction that mixes motorsports and literature in the form of short stories.
In the meantime, Dal Monte plans to return to Owensboro soon on his next trip to promote the Ferrari biography in the U.S.
The Next Generation
Today, Luca says he feels like half his heart is still in Kentucky. And the friendship that started with the Helmers family in 1979 still continues. David Helmers’ daughter and Luca’s daughter both attend the same college in Florida. And Luca’s son is now at UK, following in his father’s footsteps. “Kentucky is still very much on our mind. We love it. And we still see the Helmers every chance we get, either when they come to Italy or when we go to Lexington,” Luca said.
Further proof is the last story Luca told me before we ended the phone call. He said the previous weekend when UK played Georgia at home, Luca’s son sent him a text message from the game. There were no words and no explanation needed. It was just a selfie video of his son standing in the stadium singing “My Old Kentucky Home” with the rest of the crowd.
Far away, but never far from his heart.
