Sir John Young "
Jackie"
Stewart,
OBE (born 11 June 1939) is a
British former Formula One racing driver from
Scotland.
Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in
Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three
World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in
Can-Am.
In 2009 he was ranked fifth of the fifty greatest Formula One drivers
of all time by journalist Kevin Eason who wrote: "He has not only
emerged as a great driver, but one of the greatest figures of motor
racing."
He is well known in the United States as a
color commentator (pundit) of racing television broadcasts for ABC's Wide World of Sports and ABC Sports, having worked in that role in the Indianapolis 500 from 1971 to 1981. He has also been a spokesman for Ford, Rolex and Moët.
Between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son,
Paul, he was team principal of the
Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team.
In 1964 he drove in
Formula Three for Tyrrell. His debut, in the wet at
Snetterton
on 15 March, was dominant, taking an astounding 25 second lead in just
two laps before coasting home to a win on a 44 second cushion.
Within days, he was offered a
Formula One
ride with Cooper, but declined, preferring to gain experience under
Tyrrell; he failed to win just two races (one to clutch failure, one to a
spin) in becoming F3 champion.
After running
John Coombs' E-type and practising in a
Ferrari at
Le Mans, he took a trial in an F1
Lotus 33-
Climax, in which he impressed
Colin Chapman and
Jim Clark.
Stewart again refused a ride in F1, but went instead to the Lotus
Formula Two team. In his F2 debut, he was second at the difficult
Clermont-Ferrand circuit in a
Lotus 32-
Cosworth.
While he signed with
BRM alongside
Graham Hill
in 1965, a contract which netted him £4,000, his first race in an F1
car was for Lotus, as stand-in for an injured Clark, at the Rand Grand
Prix in December 1964; the Lotus broke in the first heat, but he won the
second
On his F1 debut in
South Africa, he scored his first Championship point, finishing sixth. His first major competition victory came in the
BRDC International Trophy in the late spring, and before the end of the year he won his first World Championship race at
Monza, fighting wheel-to-wheel with teammate Hill's P261.
Stewart finished his rookie season with three seconds, a third, a
fifth, and a sixth, and third place in the World Drivers' Championship.
He also piloted Tyrrell's unsuccessful F2 Cooper T75-BRM, and ran the
Rover Company's revolutionary turbine car at Le Mans.
1966 saw him almost win the
Indianapolis 500 on his first attempt, in
John Mecom's
Lola T90-Ford
only to be denied by a broken
scavenge pump
while leading by over a lap with eight laps to go; however, Stewart's
performance, having had the race fully in hand and sidelined only by
mechanical failure, won him
Rookie of the Year honours despite the winner,
Graham Hill,
also being an Indianapolis rookie. At the start of the 1966 season,
Stewart won the Australasian 8 round championship from his BRM teamate
Graham Hill in 2 litre BRMs and also raced closely with his great rival
and friend Jim Clark who was somewhat disadvantaged by an unreliable
Lotus 39 which was let down by old Climax 2.5s.
Also, in 1966, a crash triggered his fight for improved safety in racing. On lap one of the
1966 Belgian Grand Prix at
Spa-Francorchamps, when sudden rain caused many crashes, he found himself trapped in his overturned
[8]
BRM, getting soaked by leaking fuel, which can result in a fire. The
marshals had no tools to help him, and it took his teammate Hill and
Bob Bondurant, who had also crashed nearby, to get him out after borrowing a
spanner
from a spectator's car. Since then, a main switch to disconnect
electrics and a removable steering wheel have become standard. Also,
noticing the long and slow transport to a hospital, he brought his own
doctor to future races, while BRM supplied a medical truck for the
benefit of all. Stewart also began to keep a spanner taped to his
steering wheel. It was a poor year all around; the BRMs were notoriously
unreliable, although Stewart did win the
Monaco Grand Prix. Stewart had some success in other forms of racing during the year, winning the
1966 Tasman Series and the
1966 Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race.
BRM's fortunes did not improve in 1967, despite closely contesting
the Tasman championship with Jim Clark who in a Lotus 33 probably raced
closer and harder with Jackie than at any time in their careers, while
Clark usually won, Stewart won a classic victory in the NZGP with Clark
attempting to run him down in the last laps with bodywork flying off the
33. Stewart came no higher than second at Spa, though he won F2 events
for Tyrrell at
Karlskoga,
Enna, Oulton Park, and
Albi in a
Matra MS5 or
MS7.
He also placed 2nd driving a works-entered
Ferrari driving with
Chris Amon at the BOAC 6 Hours at
Brands Hatch, the 10th round of
World Sportscar Championship at the time.
In Formula One, he switched to Tyrrell's
Matra International team, where he drove a
Matra MS10-
Cosworth[8] for the
1968 and
1969 seasons. Skill (and improving tyres from
Dunlop)
brought a win in heavy rain at
Zandvoort. Another win in rain and fog at the
Nürburgring, where he won by a margin of four minutes. He also won at
Watkins Glen, but missed
Jarama and
Monaco due to an F2 injury at Jarama.
His car failed at
Mexico City, and so lost the driving title to Hill.
In 1969, Stewart had a number of races where he completely dominated the opposition, such as winning by over 2 laps at
Montjuïc, a whole minute at
Clemont-Ferrand and more than a lap at
Silverstone. With additional wins at
Kyalami,
Zandvoort, and
Monza, Stewart became
world champion in 1969 in a
Matra MS80-
Cosworth. Until September
2005, when
Fernando Alonso in a
Renault became champion, he was the only driver to have won the championship driving for a
French marque and, as Alonso's
Renault was built in the
UK, Stewart remains the only driver to win the world championship in a French-built car.
For
1970, Matra insisted on using their own
V12 engines, while Tyrrell and Stewart wanted to keep the Cosworths as well as the good connection to
Ford. As a consequence, the Tyrrell team bought a chassis from
March Engineering; Stewart took the
March 701-Cosworth
to wins at the
Daily Mail Race of Champions and Jarama, but was soon overcome by Lotus' new
72. The new
Tyrrell 001-Cosworth, appearing in August,
[8]
suffered problems, but Stewart saw better days for it in 1971, and
stayed on. Tyrrell continued to be sponsored by French fuel company
Elf, and Stewart raced in a car painted
French Racing Blue for many years. Stewart also continued to race sporadically in Formula Two, winning at the Crystal Palace and placing at
Thruxton. A projected Le Mans appearance, to co-drive the 4.5 litre
Porsche 917K with
Steve McQueen, did not come off, for McQueen's inability to get insurance.
[8] He also raced Can-Am, in the
revolutionary Chaparral 2J.
Stewart achieved pole position in 2 events, ahead of the dominant
McLarens, but the chronic unreliability of the 2J prevented Stewart from
finishing any races.
[8]
Stewart went on to win the Formula One world championship in 1971 using the excellent
Tyrrell 003-Cosworth, winning
Spain,
Monaco,
France,
Britain,
Germany, and
Canada. He also did a full season in Can-Am, driving a Carl Haas sponsored
Lola T260-Chevrolet.
and again in 1973. During the 1971 Can-Am series, Stewart was the only
driver able to challenge the McLarens driven by Dennis Hulme and Peter
Revson. Stewart won 2 races; at Mont Tremblant and Mid Ohio. Stewart
finished 3rd in the 1971 Can-Am Drivers Championship. The stress of
racing year round, and on several continents eventually caused medical
problems for Stewart. During the 1972 Grand Prix season he missed the
Belgian Grand Prix at
Nivelles due to
gastritis,
and had to cancel plans to drive a Can-Am McLaren, but won the
Argentine, French, U.S., and Canadian Grands Prix, to come second to
Emerson Fittipaldi in the drivers' standings. Stewart also competed in a
Ford Capri RS2600 in the
European Touring Car Championship, with F1 teammate
François Cevert and other F1 pilots, at a time where the competition between Ford and
BMW
was at a height. Stewart shared a Capri with F1 Tyrrell teammate
François Cevert in the 1972 6 hours of Paul Ricard, finishing second. He
also received an
OBE.
Entering the 1973 season, Stewart had decided to retire. He
nevertheless won at South Africa, Belgium, Monaco, Holland, and Austria.
His last (and then record-setting) 27th victory came at the
Nürburgring
with a convincing 1-2 for Tyrrell. "Nothing gave me more satisfaction
than to win at the Nürburgring and yet, I was always afraid." Stewart
later said. "When I left home for the German Grand Prix I always used to
pause at the end of the driveway and take a long look back. I was never
sure I'd come home again." After the fatal crash of his teammate
François Cevert in practice for the
1973 United States Grand Prix at
Watkins Glen,
Stewart retired one race earlier than intended and missed what would
have been his 100th Grand Prix. Nevertheless, Stewart still won the
drivers' championship for the year.
Stewart held the record for most wins by a Formula One driver (27) for 14 years (broken by
Alain Prost in
1987) and the record for most wins by a British Formula One driver for 19 years (broken by
Nigel Mansell in
1992).