Today's Birthdays

one click shows all of today's celebrity birthdays

Browse All Birthdays

43,625    Actors
27,931    Actresses
4,867    Composers
7,058    Directors
842    Footballers
221    Racing drivers
925    Singers
9,111    Writers

Get FamousLikeMe on your website
One line of code gets FamousLikeMe on your website. Find out more.

Subscribe to Daily updates


Add to Google

privacy policy



Famous Like Me > Racing driver > C > Eddie Cheever

Profile of Eddie Cheever on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Eddie Cheever  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 10th January 1958
   
Place of Birth:
   
Profession: Racing driver
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Eddie McKay Cheever, Jr. (born January 10, 1958) was an American racing driver for almost thirty years in Formula One, Sports cars, CART and the Indy Racing League, and now owns an IRL team. Cheever participated in 132 Formula One races, more than any other American, driving for nine different teams from 1978 through 1989. In 1997, he formed his own IRL team and won the Indianapolis 500 as both an owner and driver in 1998.

Beginnings

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Cheever lived in Rome as a child and was introduced to motorsports at age eight when his father took him to a sports car race in Monza, Italy. He soon began racing go karts and won both Italian and European Karting championships at age 15. He worked his way up through the levels of European Formula racing, teaming with American Danny Sullivan in Formula Three and driving for Ron Dennis in Formula Two.

Eddie Cheever
Nationality American
Active years 1978, 1980 - 1989
Team(s) Theodore, Hersketh, Osella, Tyrrell, Ligier, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Lola, Arrows
Race starts 143
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes 9
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First Grand Prix 1978 Argentine Grand Prix
First win
Last win
Last Grand Prix 1989 Australian Grand Prix
edit

Formula One

He made his F1 debut at age 20 in 1978. After failing to qualify in Argentina, he made the grid at Kyalami for the South African Grand Prix in a Hesketh-Ford. An engine problem forced him to retire after just eight laps. Two seasons later, he became a regular driver for the Osella team, but finished only once in ten races. 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 United States Grand Prix East in Detroit.

The 1983 season proved to be Cheever's high point in Formula One. He signed with the Renault team alongside Frenchman Alain Prost, both of whom were among the year's Championship favorites. Cheever drove well in support of team number one Prost, earning four more podiums and 22 Championship points, but the team's disappointment after losing both the Driver's and Constructor's titles late in the season brought about the replacement of both Cheever and Prost. In six more seasons, he never drove another truly competitive F1 car. His final podium finish in Formula One came in his hometown of Phoenix at the first USGP event there when he finished third for the Arrows team.

In all, he participated in 143 grands prix, achieved 9 podiums, and scored a total of 70 championship points.

Complete Formula One results

(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)

Yr Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Team
1978 Theo ARG BRA SAF SAW MON BEL SPA SWE FRA GBR DEU AUT DUT ITA USA CAN Hesk
1980 Osel ARG BRA SAF USAW BEL MON FRA GBR DEU AUT DUT ITA CAN USA     Osel
1981 Tyrr USAW BRA ARG SAN BEL MON SPA FRA GBR DEU AUT DUT ITA CAN LAS   Tyrr
1982 Ligi SAF BRA USAW SAN BEL MON USAE CAN DUT GBR FRA DEU AUT SWI ITA LAS Ligi
1983 Rena BRA USAW FRA SAN MON BEL USAE CAN GBR DEU AUT DUT ITA EUR SAF   Rena
1984 Alfa BRA SAF BEL SAN FRA MON CAN USAE USA GBR DEU AUT DUT ITA EUR POR Alfa
1985 Alfa BRA POR SAN MON CAN USAE FRA GBR DEU AUT DUT ITA BEL EUR SAF AUS Alfa
1986 Lola BRA SPA SAN MON BEL CAN USAE FRA GBR DEU HUN AUT ITA POR MEX AUS Lola
1987 Arro BRA SAN BEL MON USAE FRA GBR DEU HUN AUT ITA POR SPA MEX JPN AUS Arro
1988 Arro BRA SAN MON MEX CAN USAE FRA GBR DEU HUN BEL ITA POR SPA JPN AUS Arro
1989 Arro BRA SAN MON MEX USA CAN FRA GBR DEU HUN BEL ITA POR SPA JPN AUS Arro

ChampCars

From 1986 to 1988, while still driving in Formula One, Cheever won ten sports car races for Jaguar. In 1990 he moved to the US to drive in the Indy Car series and to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In his first attempt at the Indianapolis 500, he finished eighth and was named Rookie of the Year. In 1992, he qualified second for the race and finished fourth. In total he scored 4 top-3 finishes in the series, although never winning.

Indianapolis 500 Winner

In 1996 the Indy Racing League was formed, and Cheever switched to this, soon setting up his own team. Then in 1998, all the pieces came together for Cheever when he took the biggest win of his career as both a driver and owner. He started from 17th position and led 76 of 200 laps to win the Indianapolis 500. His team is still active today, and he runs cars for Alex Barron and Patrick Carpentier in 2005, having hung up his helmet in 2002.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Eddie Cheever