Eddie Cheever

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 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 132 - - -
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 in the Alfa Romeo 184T (1985)

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

Commons : Eddie Cheever  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Eddie Cheever
• Wheel 2 Wheel: Eddie Cheever
• Red Bull Cheever Racing