Aaltonen began his competitive life not in cars but in speed boats and later motorcycles, competing in road racing, speedway, and motocross before his transition to four-wheel competition. He became the first Finn to win a Grand Prix motorcycle race, a distinction that preceded his celebrated rallying career.
His car-racing career began in the early 1960s, and he quickly established himself as a frontrunner in Finnish and European competition. He won the Finnish Rally Championship in 1961 and again in 1965.
Aaltonen won the European Rally Championship in 1965 with Tony Ambrose as his co-driver, becoming the first Finnish driver to claim the title. Among his individual event victories that year was the RAC Rally in Great Britain. He had already taken victories at the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland in 1961 and the Coupe des Alpes at the Alpine Rally in both 1963 and 1964.
In 1967 Aaltonen won the Monte Carlo Rally, one of the most famous and prestigious events in international motorsport, adding the title to his growing list of major rally victories.
The Safari Rally — held in East Africa and considered one of the most punishing events in rallying due to its distances, rough terrain, and extreme conditions — was a recurring near-miss for Aaltonen. He finished second on six separate occasions, a record of extraordinary consistency on a course where attrition is a constant threat. His most agonising result came in 1985 when he was leading the rally by two hours before engine failure struck with only a few special stages remaining.
In 1966, partnering Bob Holden in Australia, Aaltonen won the Gallaher 500 touring car race at Mount Panorama in New South Wales — the premier Australian touring car event of the period — driving a Mini Cooper S.
Aaltonen won the Southern Cross Rally in 1977, extending his international record into the World Rally Championship era.
Aaltonen was a prominent advocate and practitioner of left-foot braking in rally driving, a technique that allows a driver to trail-brake and manage oversteer more precisely than conventional right-foot technique. The manoeuvre of rotating a car through 360 degrees while maintaining trajectory is named after him — a recognition of the precision and car control that earned him his "Rally Professor" nickname.
In 2010 Aaltonen was among the first four inductees into the Rally Hall of Fame, a group that also included Erik Carlsson, Paddy Hopkirk, and Timo Makinen — four drivers whose careers defined the formative era of international rallying.
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