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American from Rome

21. Apr 2022 
by Pierre Van Vliet
5340 views

Born in Phoenix, Eddie Cheever spent all his youth in Italy where his father, Eddie Sr. managed a network of fitness centres in Rome. The young Eddie Jr thus learned the ropes of karting alongside Elio de Angelis and Ricardo Patrese. Brilliant debuts in F3 and then in F2 in Ron Dennis’ Project Four team attracted the attention of Enzo Ferrari who was looking for a successor for Niki Lauda for the 1978 season.

Cheever was then invited at Fiorano to test the 312T2 (picture above), but it remained a single test when the Commendatore chose Gilles Villeneuve. Eddie debuted nevertheless in F1 in 1978 with Hesketh, before moving to Osella, Tyrrell, Ligier, Renault, Alfa Romeo and Arrows.

Having made the switch to endurance racing with Jaguar, Eddie made a unique appearance in F1 during the 1986 US Grand Prix at Detroit, when he replaced Patrick Tambay, injured during the Canadian Grand Prix, a week earlier. An American driver in an American car entered by an American team, the Beatrice Lola-Ford by Carl Haas (picture below), had made the headlines of the local media in “Motown”, the automobile capital, Detroit.

Initially, it was the young Michael Andretti who was thought to drive the car, but he was not in possession of a super-licence. Cheever qualified brilliantly in tenth position, for ahead of his team mate Alan Jones (21st), but was forced to retire with a broken gearbox.

Source: DR

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