Eddie Cheever

"Eddie Cheever, Jr." redirects here. For his son and racing driver, see Eddie Cheever III.

Eddie Cheever

Eddie Cheever, Jr. at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2009.
Born	Edward McKay Cheever, Jr. (1958-01-10) January 10, 1958 Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1978, 1980 – 1989
Teams	Theodore, Hesketh, Osella, Tyrrell, Ligier, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Haas Lola, Arrows
Entries	143 (132 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	9
Career points	70
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1978 Argentine Grand Prix
Last entry	1989 Australian Grand Prix

Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever, Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver who raced for almost 30 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 1997, he formed his own IRL team and won the 1998 Indianapolis 500 as both owner and driver. The team now competes in sports cars.

Early life

Cheever lived in Rome, Italy 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.

Formula One

He made his Formula One 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 Detroit Grand Prix in Detroit.

Cheever driving for Alfa Romeo at the 1985 German 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 team mate 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).

Cheever during practice for the 1985 European Grand Prix

In six more seasons, he never drove another truly competitive F1 car. After leaving Renault, Cheever had two unsuccessful seasons with Alfa Romeo as team mate to Italian Riccardo Patrese. The thirsty and underpowered 890T V8 turbo engine used in the Alfas generally saw results few and far between, though it was generally believed Cheever outperformed his teammate despite failing to qualify for the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. Patrese though scored the only podium finish for the team in those two years when he finished third in the 1984 Italian Grand Prix. Cheever had been 3rd with 6 laps remaining but his Alfa ran out of fuel, handing the place to Patrese (the team had set Cheever's 890T engine for speed while setting Patrese for an economy run in the hope of a good finish). 1985 wasn't helped by the team's car, the Alfa Romeo 185T, which proved to be extremely uncompetitive, forcing the team to upgrade its 1984 car, the 184T to 1985 specifications and use it for the last half of the season, though the old car did not improve results despite proving slightly faster as the fuel issue remained. Late in the 1985 season, Alfa announced they were pulling out of F1 at the end of the year, leaving Cheever without an F1 drive, while Patrese went back to Brabham in place of Nelson Piquet, who was moving to Williams.

While racing in the World Sportscar Championship for Tom Walkinshaw Racing's Jaguar team, Cheever raced in only one F1 Grand Prix in 1986. This was for the American owned and sponsored Haas Lola team at Detroit, as a replacement for the injured Patrick Tambay. Cheever actually qualified the unfamiliar Lola THL2 with its turbocharged Ford V6 engine in 10th position. Regular team driver, 1980 World Champion Alan Jones, could only qualify his car 21st. Both Lola's retired with steering damage in the race, Jones on lap 33, Cheever 4 laps later. Ironically, Cheever was only the third choice to replace Tambay for the race. Team owner Carl Haas had originally asked the lead driver in his CART team, 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti to drive. Mario declined however, but recommended his son Michael as a replacement. However, when Michael was unable to obtain a FIA Superlicence for the race, Haas turned to the experienced Cheever, who quickly agreed to an F1 comeback.

For 1987, he was signed by Arrows team boss Jackie Oliver to partner British driver Derek Warwick (Cheever's appointment coincided with the US based USF&G financial group becoming the team's major sponsor). Cheever and Warwick (who had been teammates at TWR the previous year) were evenly matched and would have many on-track battles throughout 1987 and 1988. He secured third place at the 1988 Italian Grand Prix at Monza; at one stage, he was almost disqualified when his Arrows A10B's 150 liter fuel tank was found to actually contain 151 liters. Luckily, further examination revealed the tank size to be 149 liters and his third place stood. The podium cost him a new pair of sunglasses for the chief mechanic. Monza, won by the Ferrari of Gerhard Berger, was the only time the McLaren-Hondas of Alain Prost and 1988 World Champion Ayrton Senna did not win a race in 1988. Cheever's third place in the 1988 Italian Grand Prix was also the final podium for the turbocharged l4 BMW M12 engine (badged as "Megatron" in 1987 and 1988). At the time, it was the oldest turbo engine in use in Formula One, having been first used by the Brabham team in 1982.

Cheever driving his 1988 Arrows A10B-Megatron at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

His final podium finish came at the 1989 United States Grand Prix in his home town of Phoenix, where he was involved in a race long battle with the Williams-Renault of former Alfa Romeo teammate Riccardo Patrese for 2nd place, but then had to give way at the later stages of the race when his brakes started to fade (he claimed that one of his front brakes had actually stopped working). Cheever's last race in Formula One was at the very wet 1989 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide. During the last seconds of qualifying, he got out of shape coming out of the Fosters Hairpin onto the pit straight and clouted the wall hard with his Arrows A11-Ford, destroying the rear of the car. In the race he was the last to retire, spinning off on lap 42 after driving for many laps with another car's front wing lodged in his Arrows' sidepod.

During his final season in Formula One, Cheever remained one of the best racers in the business (when he finished, his average finishing place was 7th), but he became increasingly bemused by his inability to qualify well (his average qualifying position was 23rd, compared to Warwick's 14th). His best qualifying position for the season with 16th in both Canada and Hungary, and he even failed to qualify for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where he had finished 3rd the previous year.

In all, he participated in 143 Grands Prix, achieved 9 podiums, and scored a total of 70 championship points. His best year was 1983, when he finished 7th in the championship, scored three podium finishes and one front row start for Renault.

CART

Eddie Cheever
CART World Series
Years active	1986, 1990–1995
Teams	Arciero Racing Chip Ganassi Racing Team Menard King Racing Turley Motorsports A. J. Foyt Enterprises
Starts	82
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	9th in 1990, 1991
Awards
1990	CART Rookie of the Year Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year

Cheever driving for Chip Ganassi Racing at Laguna Seca Raceway in 1991

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 for Chip Ganassi Racing in the CART series. In his first attempt at the Indianapolis 500, he finished eighth and was named the race's Rookie of the Year, as well as CART's Rookie of the Year. In 1992, he qualified second for the race and finished fourth. In total, he scored four podium finishes in the series, but never won. Driving for A.J. Foyt's team, Cheever came closest to victory at Nazareth in 1995; he was leading the race on the last lap when he ran out of fuel.

Indianapolis 500 and Indy Racing League

Eddie Cheever
Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
Years active	1996–2002, 2006
Teams	Team Menard Cheever Racing
Starts	77
Wins	5
Poles	1
Best finish	3rd in 1996–1997, 2000
Championship titles
1998	Indianapolis 500 Winner

In 1996 the Indy Racing League began, and Cheever moved there from CART. Cheever ran for Team Menard for the three-race series, and at the 1996 Indianapolis 500, he set the fastest race lap to date at 236.103 mph (379.971 km/h). Cheever then set up his own team and had his first race as a driver/owner at New Hampshire later that August, which was the first race of the next season.

In 1998, all the pieces came together for Cheever when he took the biggest win of his career. He started from 17th position and led 76 of 200 laps to win the 82nd Indianapolis 500, despite sliding in the first turn of the race's first lap, helping bring out the race's first caution period. He was the first owner/driver to win the race since A.J. Foyt (one of Cheever's former bosses) in 1977.

Cheever's IRL team, active until July 2006, ran cars for Alex Barron and Patrick Carpentier in 2005. Having hung up his helmet in 2002, except for occasional instances such as the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona where he competed in the first race with his new Grand-Am series team, Eddie announced on February 21, 2006 he would come out of retirement to run his own car in the IRL's first four races, including the Indianapolis 500. He shut his team down after the 8th race of the season due to lack of sponsorship. The team continues to compete in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.

Currently, Cheever is providing television commentary on ABC for the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500, a position he has held since 2008 with Allen Bestwick and Scott Goodyear, a former three-time runner-up in the Indy 500 who also drove for Team Cheever in 2001.

GP Masters

Eddie Cheever, Silverstone GP Masters, 2006.

In 2005 Cheever competed in the GP Masters series which is open to former Formula One drivers over the age of 45. In the championship's first ever event at Kyalami International Raceway in South Africa, Cheever finished in 8th position. Cheever finished 4th in the 2nd GP Masters race on April 29, 2006 at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

In the 3rd GP Masters race on August 13, 2006 at the Silverstone Circuit in England, he took the victory under wet track conditions.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Pts
1976	Project Four Racing	March 752	Lancia-Ferrari	HOC DNQ													9th	10
			Hart 420R		THR 4	VAL DSQ	SAL Ret	PAU Ret	HOC Ret	ROU Ret	MUG		EST 5
		March 762										PER 3
		Ralt RT1												NOG 8	HOC 15
1977	Project Four Racing	Ralt RT1	BMW	SIL 7	THR 2	HOC Ret	NÜR 1	VAL 3	PAU Ret	MUG 17	ROU 1	NOG 5	PER Ret	MIS 2	EST 3	DON	2nd	40
1978	Project Four Racing	March 782	BMW	THR 4	HOC Ret	NÜR 3	PAU 5	MUG 7	VAL Ret	ROU 2	DON Ret	NOG 9	PER 2	MIS 6	HOC Ret		4th	24
1979	Osella Squadra Corse	OsellaFA2/79	BMW	SIL 1	HOC 5	THR Ret	NÜR 8	VAL Ret	MUG Ret	PAU 1	HOC Ret	ZAN 1	PER 5	MIS 6	DON 7		4th	32

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1978	Theodore Racing Hong Kong	Theodore TR1	Ford Cosworth DFV	ARG DNQ	BRA DNQ															NC	0
	Olympus Cameras Hesketh Racing	Hesketh 308E	Ford Cosworth DFV			RSA Ret	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN
1980	Osella Squadra Corse	Osella FA1	Ford Cosworth DFV	ARG DNQ	BRA DNQ	RSA Ret	USW Ret	BEL DNQ	MON DNQ	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret						NC	0
		Osella FA1B													ITA 12	CAN Ret	USA Ret
1981	Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 010	Ford Cosworth DFV	USW 5	BRA NC	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	BEL 6	MON 5	ESP NC	FRA 13	GBR 4								12th	10
		Tyrrell 011											GER 5	AUT DNQ	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 12	CPL Ret
1982	Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Ligier JS17	Matra V12	RSA Ret	BRA Ret	USW Ret	SMR	BEL 3		DET 2	CAN 10									12th	15
		Ligier JS19							MON Ret			NED DNQ	GBR Ret	FRA 16	GER Ret	AUT Ret	SUI NC	ITA 6	CPL 3
1983	Equipe Renault Elf	Renault RE30C	Renault V6 (t/c)	BRA Ret	USW 13															7th	22
		Renault RE40				FRA 3	SMR Ret	MON Ret	BEL 3	DET Ret	CAN 2	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT 4	NED Ret	ITA 3	EUR 10	RSA 6
1984	Benetton Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 184T	Alfa Romeo V8 (t/c)	BRA 4	RSA Ret	BEL Ret	SMR 7	FRA Ret	MON DNQ	CAN 11	DET Ret	DAL Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 13	ITA 9	EUR Ret	POR 17	16th	3
1985	Benetton Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 185T	Alfa Romeo V8 (t/c)	BRA Ret	POR Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 17	DET 9	FRA 10										NC	0
		Alfa Romeo 184TB									GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	BEL Ret	EUR 11	RSA Ret	AUS Ret
1986	Haas Lola	Lola THL-1	Ford V6 (t/c)	BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	DET Ret	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS	NC	0
1987	USF&G Arrows Megatron	Arrows A10	Megatron Straight-4 (t/c)	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	BEL 4	MON Ret	DET 6	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 8	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	POR 6	ESP 8	MEX 4	JPN 9	AUS Ret	10th	8
1988	USF&G Arrows Megatron	Arrows A10B	Megatron Straight-4 (t/c)	BRA 8	SMR 7	MON Ret	MEX 6	CAN Ret	DET Ret	FRA 11	GBR 7	GER 10	HUN Ret	BEL 6	ITA 3	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN Ret		12th	6
		Arrows A10																	AUS Ret
1989	USF&G Arrows	Arrows A11	Ford Cosworth DFR	BRA Ret	SMR 9	MON 7	MEX 7	USA 3	CAN Ret	FRA 7	GBR DNQ	GER 12	HUN 5	BEL Ret	ITA DNQ	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN 8	AUS Ret	11th	6

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1980	Jolly Club - Lancia Corse	Carlo Facetti Martino Finotto	Lancia Beta Monte Carlo	Gr.5	272	19th*	2nd*
1981	Martini Racing	Michele Alboreto Carlo Facetti	Lancia Beta Monte Carlo	Gr.5	322	8th	2nd
1986	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Derek Warwick Jean-Louis Schlesser	Jaguar XJR-6	C1	239	DNF	DNF
1987	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Raul Boesel Jan Lammers	Jaguar XJR-8LM	C1	325	5th	5th

* Cheever was listed as DNS

American Open Wheel

(key)

CART results

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1986	Arciero Racing	March 86C	Ford Cosworth DFX	PHX	LBH	IND	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MIS	POC	MDO	SAN	MIS2	ROA	LS	PHX2	MIA Ret	NC	0
1990	Chip Ganassi Racing	Penske PC-18	Chevrolet 265A	PHX 7	LBH Ret	IND 8	MIL 11	DET 3	POR Ret	CLE Ret	MEA Ret	TOR 3	MIS 4	DEN Ret	VAN 14	MDO 4	ROA 9	NAZ 6	LS 10		9th	80
1991	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola T91/00	Chevrolet 265A	SRF Ret	LBH 3	PHX 8	IND Ret	MIL 7	DET 12	POR 9	CLE 8	MEA 5	TOR Ret	MIS 7	DEN 4	VAN Ret	MDO 8	ROA 7	NAZ 6	LS 6	9th	91
1992	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola T91/00	Ford XB	SRF 8																	10th	80
		Lola T92/00			PHX 2	LBH Ret	IND 4	DET 11	POR 4	MIL 5	NHA Ret	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	CLE 11	ROA Ret	VAN Ret	MDO 12	NAZ 9	LS 4
1993	Turley	Penske PC-21	Chevrolet 265B	SRF 7	PHX Ret	LBH 9			DET Ret	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	NHA							17th	21
	Team Menard	Lola T92/00	Buick V6 (t/c)				IND 16	MIL
	Dick Simon Racing	Lola T93/00	Ford XB												ROA 6	VAN
	King Racing		Chevrolet 265C														MDO Ret	NAZ 10	LS 14
1994	Team Menard	Lola T93/00	Menard V6 (t/c)	SRF	PHX	LBH	IND 8	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR									27th	5
	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Lola T94/00	Ford XB										MIS Ret	MDO 17	NHA Ret	VAN 17	ROA Ret	NAZ Ret	LS Ret
1995	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Lola T95/00	Ford XB	MIA 14	SRF 7	PHX 14	LBH 4	NAZ 5	IND Ret		DET Ret	POR Ret	ROA 17	TOR 11	CLE 22	MIS Ret	MDO 10	NHA 17	VAN	LS	18th	33
		Lola T94/00								MIL Ret

IRL IndyCar Series results

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Rank	Points
1996	Team Menard	Lola T95/00	Menard V6 (t/c)	WDW 10	PHX DNS	INDY 11													16th	49
1996–1997	Team Cheever	Lola T95/00	Menard V6 (t/c)	NHM 15	LVS 25														3rd	230
		G-Force	Oldsmobile			WDW 1	PHX 12	INDY 23	TXS 6	PPIR 4	CLT 6	NH2 9	LV2 21
1998	Team Cheever	Dallara	Oldsmobile	WDW 24	PHX 10	INDY 1	TXS 26	NHM 9	DOV 16	CLT 20	PPI 8	ATL 3	TX2 25	LVS 5					9th	222
1999	Team Cheever	Dallara	Oldsmobile	WDW 1	PHX 17														7th	222
			Infiniti			CLT C1	INDY 18	TXS 16	PPIR 4	ATL 6	DOV 21	PPI2 11	LVS 17	TX2 4
2000	Team Cheever	Riley & Scott	Infiniti	WDW 3	PHX 10														3rd	257
		Dallara				LVS 11	INDY 5	TXS 9	PPIR 1	ATL 21	KTY 4	TX2 2
2001	Team Cheever	Dallara	Infiniti	PHX 19	HMS 9	ATL 24	INDY 26	TXS 12	PPIR 6	RIR 13	KAN 1	NSH 15	KTY 21	STL 4	CHI 3	TX2 18			8th	261
2002	Team Cheever	Dallara	Infiniti	HMS 25	PHX 15	FON 20	NZR 7	INDY 5	TXS 19	PPIR 8	RIR 14	KAN 16	NSH 6	MIS 22	KTY 11	STL 10	CHI 5	TX2 8	10th	280
2006	Cheever Racing	Dallara	Honda	HMS 10	STP 11	MOT	INDY 13	WGL 17	TXS 17	RIR 14	KAN 14	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	SNM	CHI		19th	114

¹ The 1999 VisionAire 500K at Charlotte was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities. Cheever qualified 18th.

CART career summary

Year	Team	Wins	Points	Championship Finish
1986	Arciero Racing	0	0	Unclassified
1990	Chip Ganassi Racing	0	80	9th
1991	Chip Ganassi Racing	0	91	9th
1992	Chip Ganassi Racing	0	80	10th
1993	Turley/Menard/Simon/King	0	21	17th
1994	Menard/Foyt	0	5	27th
1995	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	0	33	18th

Best race finish: 2nd (Phoenix - 1992), best championship result: 9th

IRL IndyCar career summary

Year	Team	Wins	Poles	Points	Championship Finish
1996	Team Menard	0	0	49	16th
1996-1997	Team Cheever	1	0	230	3rd
1998	Team Cheever	1	0	222	9th
1999	Team Cheever	1	0	222	7th
2000	Team Cheever	1	0	257	3rd
2001	Team Cheever	1	0	261	8th
2002	Team Cheever	0	1	280	10th
2006	Cheever Racing	0	0	114	19th

Wins	Poles	Best Championship Finish	Career Points
5	1	3rd (1996–1997, 2000)	1635

Indianapolis 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
1990	Penske PC-18	Chevrolet 265A	14	8	Chip Ganassi Racing
1991	Lola T91/00	Chevrolet 265A	10	31	Chip Ganassi Racing
1992	Lola T92/00	Ford XB	2	4	Chip Ganassi Racing
1993	Lola T92/00	Buick V6 (t/c)	33	16	Team Menard
1994	Lola T93/00	Menard V6 (t/c)	11	8	Team Menard
1995	Lola T95/00	Ford XB	14	31	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
1996	Lola T95/00	Menard V6 (t/c)	4	11	Team Menard
1997	G-Force	Oldsmobile	11	23	Team Cheever
1998	Dallara	Oldsmobile	17	1	Team Cheever
1999	Dallara	Infiniti	16	18	Team Cheever
2000	Dallara	Infiniti	10	5	Team Cheever
2001	Dallara	Infiniti	26	25	Team Cheever
2002	Dallara	Infiniti	6	5	Team Cheever
2006	Dallara	Honda	19	13	Cheever Racing

International Race of Champions results

(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

International Race of Champions results
Season	Make	1	2	3	4	Pos.	Points
1999	Pontiac	DAY 11	TAL 8	MCH 12	IND 3	7th	31
2000		DAY 11	TAL 10	MCH 1	IND 7	5th	46
2001		DAY 3	TAL 5	MCH 4	IND 7	4th	47

References

• Eddie Cheever
• Wheel 2 Wheel: Eddie Cheever