Eddie Cheever
Nation: | United States | ||||||||
Automobile / Formula 1 world championship | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First start: | 1978 South African Grand Prix | ||||||||
Last start: | 1989 Australian Grand Prix | ||||||||
Constructors | |||||||||
1978 Hesketh · 1980 Osella · 1981 Tyrrell · 1982 Ligier · 1983 Renault · 1984–1985 Alfa Romeo · 1986 Lola · 1987–1989 Arrows | |||||||||
statistics | |||||||||
World Cup balance: | World Cup sixth ( 1983 ) | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
World Cup points : | 70 | ||||||||
Podiums : | 9 | ||||||||
Leadership laps : | - |
Eddie McKay Cheever junior (born January 10, 1958 in Phoenix , Arizona ) is an American automobile racing driver .
Career
Eddie Cheever drove in Formula 1 , the Champ Car series and the Indy Racing League (IRL) for almost 30 years . Most recently he was the owner of an IRL team, which, however , had to give up for financial reasons in the 2006 season after the departure of the main sponsor Red Bull . Eddie Cheever took part in 132 Formula 1 races from 1978 to 1989. But he celebrated his greatest successes in the Indy Racing League, whose most famous race, the Indianapolis 500 , he won in 1998. In 2006 he won the Grand Prix Masters at Silverstone .
Beginnings
Cheever spent his childhood in Rome , where he first came into contact with motorsport at the age of eight while attending a sports car race in Monza . He soon started karting and won both the Italian and European kart championships at the age of 15. He then started his formula racing career, which ran through Formula 3 and Formula 2 in Ron Dennis' team .
formula 1
Eddie Cheever made his debut in Formula 1 in 1978 at the age of 20 with the Theodore Racing team , which this season used its own, self-developed and built car for the first time, which turned out to be extremely problematic. Cheever competed for Theodore in the first two races of the year, the Argentina and Brazil Grand Prix , but failed to qualify in either case. Then he was replaced by Keke Rosberg, who was able to take part in individual races with the gradually improved car. Cheever, however, moved to Team Hesketh Racing for a single race , where he replaced Divina Galica . In Kyalami Cheever was able to qualify as the penultimate (ahead of Arturo Merzario ), but retired after eight laps with engine problems. This was Cheevers last in Formula 1; in the other races, Hesketh took his place with Derek Daly .
In the following years Eddie Cheever changed teams several times. In 1980 he drove for Osella and 1981 for Tyrrell . The first success came in 1982 when he took second place in the US Grand Prix (East) in Detroit with Ligier . In 1983 Eddie Cheever sat for the first and only time in a Formula 1 car capable of winning. Together with Alain Prost , he was supposed to drive for Renault for the drivers and constructors championship. Although Cheever reached four podium places and 22 world championship points this year, it missed the ambitious goals. At the end of the season, the team separated from Eddie Cheever.
Cheever ended his Formula 1 career in 1989 with a third place in the US Grand Prix on Arrows .
Sports car
From 1986 to 1988 Eddie Cheever drove several sports car races for Jaguar in parallel with Formula 1 and won ten races.
Indianapolis 500
In 1990 Eddie Cheever switched to US motorsport. In the IndyCar World Series , the later Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League , he was celebrated as Rookie of the Year with eighth place at the Indianapolis 500 .
He had his greatest success in Indianapolis in 1998 as a driver and team principal in personal union in the recently founded Indy Racing League. Starting from 17th position, he led 76 of the 200 laps and won the prestigious race.
Since 2009 he has hosted the Indy 500 on ESPN on ABC with Marty Reid, Allen Bestwick and Scott Goodyear .
Personal
Cheever's son Eddie Cheever III is also a racing car driver.
statistics
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1981 | Martini Racing | Lancia Beta Montecarlo | Michele Alboreto | Carlo Facetti | Rank 8 | |
1986 | Silk Cut Jaguar | Jaguar XJR-6 | Derek Warwick | Jean-Louis Schlesser | failure | suspension |
1987 | Silk Cut Jaguar | Jaguar XJR-8LM | Raul Boesel | Jan Lammers | Rank 5 |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th | 16 | 17th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1977 | BMW Faltz Assen BMW |
BMW 320 | DAY | MUG | DIJ | MON | SIL | ONLY | VAL | BY | WAT | EST | LEC | MOS | IMO | SAL | BRH | HOK | VAL |
2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
1978 | BMW Italia | BMW 320 | DAY | SEB | MUG | VALLEY | DIJ | SIL | ONLY | LEM | MIS | DAY | WAT | VAL | ROD | ||||
DNF | 3 | DNF | |||||||||||||||||
1979 | Lancia | Lancia Beta Montecarlo | DAY | SEB | MUG | VALLEY | DIJ | RIV | SIL | ONLY | LEM | BY | DAY | WAT | SPA | BRH | ROA | VAL | ELS |
DNF | |||||||||||||||||||
1980 | Lancia | Lancia Beta Montecarlo | DAY | BRH | SEB | MUG | MON | RIV | SIL | ONLY | LEM | DAY | WAT | SPA | MOS | ROA | VAL | DIJ | |
2 | 1 | 5 | DNF | 6th | 2 | 3 | |||||||||||||
1981 | Lancia | Lancia Beta Montecarlo | DAY | SEB | MUG | MON | RIV | SIL | ONLY | LEM | BY | DAY | WAT | SPA | MOS | ROA | BRH | ||
DNF | DNF | 11 | 8th | ||||||||||||||||
1986 | jaguar | Jaguar XJR-6 | MON | SIL | LEM | NOW | BRH | JER | ONLY | SPA | FUJ | ||||||||
DNF | 1 | DNF | 2 | 6th | DNF | DNF | 5 | 3 | |||||||||||
1987 | jaguar | Jaguar XJR-8 | JAR | JER | MON | SIL | LEM | NOW | BRH | ONLY | SPA | FUJ | |||||||
3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4th | 1 | 4th | |||||||||||||
1988 | jaguar | Jaguar XJR-9 | JER | JAR | MON | SIL | LEM | BRÜ | BRH | ONLY | SPA | FUJ | SAN | ||||||
DNF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | DNF | 1 | 3 |
Web links
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Cheever, Eddie |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cheever, Eddie McKay Jr. |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 10, 1958 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Phoenix , Arizona, USA |