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Eddie Cheever
Edward McKay Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1978 to 1989, CART between 1986 and 1995, and IndyCar between 1996 and 2006. In American open-wheel racing, Cheever won the Indianapolis 500 in 1998 with Team Cheever.
Cheever raced for almost thirty years in Formula One, sports cars, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 Formula One World Championship races and started 132, more than any other American, driving for nine different teams from 1978 through 1989.
In 1996, Cheever formed his own IRL team, Team Cheever, and won the 1998 Indianapolis 500 as both owner and driver. The team later competed in sports cars.
Cheever's younger brother Ross Cheever, nephew Richard Antinucci and son Eddie Cheever III also became racing drivers.
Though born in Phoenix, Arizona, Cheever lived in Rome, Italy, as a child and attended St. George's British International School and later The New School of Rome. He was introduced to motorsports at age eight when his father took him to a sports car race in Monza. He soon began racing go-karts and won both the Italian and European Karting Championships at the age of fifteen. He worked his way up through the levels of European Formula racing, teaming with fellow American Danny Sullivan in Formula Three in 1975. He scored a significant win against Gunnar Nilsson and Rupert Keegan at the end of 1975 and then driving for Ron Dennis' Project Four team in Formula Two in 1976, 1977, and 1978, finishing runner-up to René Arnoux in the 1977 championship. By the end of 1977, he was considered among the most promising drivers in the world outside F1,[citation needed] scoring wins in 1977 in F2 at Nurburgring and Rouen.
Cheever first entered Formula One in 1978, shortly after his twentieth birthday. After failing to qualify for the first two races of the year in Argentina and Brazil in a Theodore, he made the grid in South Africa in a Hesketh, but retired early. He then concentrated on Formula Two for the rest of 1978 and 1979.
For the 1979 F2 championship, Cheever left Project Four and joined the Italian Osella team, taking three wins and fourth overall in their BMW-powered FA2. In 1980 Osella moved up to Formula One, Cheever piloting the team's Cosworth-powered FA1. However, the car was unreliable and Cheever managed just one finish all year, twelfth place at the team's home race in Italy. Switching teams repeatedly as he tried to climb his way up the grid, Cheever had five points-scoring finishes for the Tyrrell team in 1981, and three podiums for Ligier the following year, including a second-place at the 1982 Detroit Grand Prix.
The 1983 season proved to be Cheever's high point in Formula One. He signed with the factory Equipe Renault team alongside Frenchman Alain Prost, both of whom were among the year's Championship favorites. Cheever earned four more podiums and 22 Championship points driving the Renault RE30C for the first two races before driving its much better replacement, the RE40, for the remainder of the season. But the team's disappointment after losing both the Drivers' (Prost) and Constructors' titles late in the season brought about the replacement of both Cheever and Prost. His best finish for Renault was second in the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, while earlier in the season he achieved his highest career qualifying position when he was second to teammate Prost at the French Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard Circuit. Unconfirmed rumors had Renault signing Cheever as the French manufacturer was looking to sell more cars in North America, and having an American driver in the factory-backed Formula One team would help that cause (there were three F1 races in North America in 1983 – Long Beach, Detroit and Canada).
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Eddie Cheever
Edward McKay Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1978 to 1989, CART between 1986 and 1995, and IndyCar between 1996 and 2006. In American open-wheel racing, Cheever won the Indianapolis 500 in 1998 with Team Cheever.
Cheever raced for almost thirty years in Formula One, sports cars, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 Formula One World Championship races and started 132, more than any other American, driving for nine different teams from 1978 through 1989.
In 1996, Cheever formed his own IRL team, Team Cheever, and won the 1998 Indianapolis 500 as both owner and driver. The team later competed in sports cars.
Cheever's younger brother Ross Cheever, nephew Richard Antinucci and son Eddie Cheever III also became racing drivers.
Though born in Phoenix, Arizona, Cheever lived in Rome, Italy, as a child and attended St. George's British International School and later The New School of Rome. He was introduced to motorsports at age eight when his father took him to a sports car race in Monza. He soon began racing go-karts and won both the Italian and European Karting Championships at the age of fifteen. He worked his way up through the levels of European Formula racing, teaming with fellow American Danny Sullivan in Formula Three in 1975. He scored a significant win against Gunnar Nilsson and Rupert Keegan at the end of 1975 and then driving for Ron Dennis' Project Four team in Formula Two in 1976, 1977, and 1978, finishing runner-up to René Arnoux in the 1977 championship. By the end of 1977, he was considered among the most promising drivers in the world outside F1,[citation needed] scoring wins in 1977 in F2 at Nurburgring and Rouen.
Cheever first entered Formula One in 1978, shortly after his twentieth birthday. After failing to qualify for the first two races of the year in Argentina and Brazil in a Theodore, he made the grid in South Africa in a Hesketh, but retired early. He then concentrated on Formula Two for the rest of 1978 and 1979.
For the 1979 F2 championship, Cheever left Project Four and joined the Italian Osella team, taking three wins and fourth overall in their BMW-powered FA2. In 1980 Osella moved up to Formula One, Cheever piloting the team's Cosworth-powered FA1. However, the car was unreliable and Cheever managed just one finish all year, twelfth place at the team's home race in Italy. Switching teams repeatedly as he tried to climb his way up the grid, Cheever had five points-scoring finishes for the Tyrrell team in 1981, and three podiums for Ligier the following year, including a second-place at the 1982 Detroit Grand Prix.
The 1983 season proved to be Cheever's high point in Formula One. He signed with the factory Equipe Renault team alongside Frenchman Alain Prost, both of whom were among the year's Championship favorites. Cheever earned four more podiums and 22 Championship points driving the Renault RE30C for the first two races before driving its much better replacement, the RE40, for the remainder of the season. But the team's disappointment after losing both the Drivers' (Prost) and Constructors' titles late in the season brought about the replacement of both Cheever and Prost. His best finish for Renault was second in the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, while earlier in the season he achieved his highest career qualifying position when he was second to teammate Prost at the French Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard Circuit. Unconfirmed rumors had Renault signing Cheever as the French manufacturer was looking to sell more cars in North America, and having an American driver in the factory-backed Formula One team would help that cause (there were three F1 races in North America in 1983 – Long Beach, Detroit and Canada).
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