Luigi Chinetti (July 17, 1901 – August 17, 1994) was an Italian-born racecar driver, who emigrated to the United States during World War II. He drove in 12 consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans races, taking three outright wins there and taking two more at the Spa 24 Hours race. Chinetti owned the North American Racing Team, which successfully ran privateer Ferraris in sports car and Formula One races. For many years he was the exclusive American importer of Ferrari automobiles to the United States.

Chinetti was born in Jerago con Orago, a little north of Milan. The son of a gunsmith, he apprenticed in his father's workshop where he earned a lathe operator's certificate at age 12 and qualified as a mechanic at age 14. In 1917, at age 16, he went to work for Alfa Romeo as a mechanic, where he met another young hire named Enzo Ferrari. The rise to power of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party in his native country prompted a move to Paris where he worked for Alfa Romeo as a salesman.

He also began to race sports cars as a driver, earning a reputation in endurance events, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in particular. Driving cars from Alfa Romeo, Talbot, and Ferrari, Chinetti competed in every Le Mans race held between 1932 and 1953. He entered a car in the 1954 race, but as sponsor rather than driver.

Following the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Chinetti went to the United States of America. He traveled as part of the Lucy O'Reilly Schell Écurie Bleue team, that also included driver René Dreyfus, for an appearance at the 1940 Indianapolis 500. Chinetti remained in New York, getting approval to work at Pratt and Whitney and then supporting the Allied war effort at J. S. Inskip, working on Rolls-Royce engines in the same shop as Italian master mechanic Alfred Momo. Chinetti applied for American citizenship in 1947, and took the oath of allegiance on 6 March 1950. His naturalization was sponsored by Zora Arkus-Duntov.

When the war ended, Chinetti returned to Europe in late 1949. He first went to Paris, only to find that his property had been lost in the war. From there he carried on to Modena for a meeting with Enzo Ferrari, whose car factory had been converted to making machine tools for wartime production. The two men met on Christmas Eve in Ferrari's office. Some accounts of this evening describe a highly dramatic meeting between an uncertain and somewhat despondent Ferrari considering abandoning the making of sports cars, and a confident and enthusiastic Chinetti countering that Ferrari must stop making machine tools and resume building racing cars; that the race cars would be paid for by building road cars that Chinetti would sell in America; and placing an order then and there for 25 cars. Other sources point out that in June of that year, Ferrari had already begun building a new racing car; the 125. This new car would use an engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo in August 1945 and first fired on a test bench in September 1946, and that one month after that Ferrari issued a brochure outlining the types of cars he planned to build. It is also pointed out that, while Chinetti had been selling cars such as pre-war Alfas and Talbots to American customers from as early as 1946, he would not have then been in a position to commit to an order of the rumored magnitude. In either case, it seems that Chinetti left the meeting with an agreement to be Ferrari's agent in France and the United States.

As both an individual team owner and through N.A.R.T., Chinetti not only left a legacy of fielding some of the best drivers of the era, but of cultivating some of the highest quality up-and-coming talent, the two groups including names such as Stirling Moss, Mario Andretti, Phil Hill, Pedro and Ricardo Rodríguez, Graham Hill, and Jean-Pierre Jarier. One driver that Chinetti tried to promote was journalist Denise McCluggage. The three-time Le Mans winner submitted McCluggage's name as one of his drivers for Le Mans, but the application was denied. Chinetti was able to sponsor Yvonne Simon in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans partnered with Michel Kasse, and fielded the all-female team of Simon and Betty Haig at the 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Chinetti Sr. sold his business in 1977. He remained in Greenwich, Connecticut after his retirement and died on 17 August 1994 at the age of ninety-three.

Enzo Ferrari appointed Chinetti as his Ferrari factory agent in the United States. Chinetti opened the first—and for a while the only—Ferrari dealership in the country. Later his territory became all areas east of the Mississippi River. Chinetti's reputation continued to draw clients from across the country throughout his career. In addition to handling Ferrari, Chinetti Motors was also U.S. agent for Automobili OSCA of Bologna until 1967. The original showroom of his Greenwich, Connecticut business has been demolished but the business with new location remains open, owned by Miller Motorcars, a Ferrari-Maserati dealership.