Born on May 12th 1963, just a few weeks before the Ferrari 275P driven by Nino Vaccarella won the Le Mans 24 Hour Endurance Race, Stefano Modena never drove for his hometown team but, like everyone else who grew up in the Emilia-Romanga region of Italy, where Modena and Maranello are located, the young Stefano Modena was steeped in the culture and legend of Ferrari at a young age.
Modena was among the most talented of an outstanding crop of Italian drivers of his era, which included Riccardo Patrese, Michele Alboreto, Ivan Capelli, Nicola Larini, Teo Fabi, Andrea de Cesaris, Alessandro Nannini, Emanuel Pirro, Pierluigi Martini, Gabriele Tarquini, Alex Caffi, Gianni Morbidelli, Fabrizio Barbazza and (arguably) Jean Alesi, a Frenchman, of Sicilian parents.
Amidst this cornucopia of Italian talent, Stefano Modena showed well in go-karts, which was just then becoming the Rosetta Stone for future Formula One drivers, Modena taking the 1983 and 1984 European Kart Championships.