Indy-Car Racing Fits Cheever to a Tee
If Eddie Cheever had not grown into a 6-foot, 170-pounder, or Formula One cars had not become smaller, he might never have come to the United States to race.
“It was becoming more and more difficult for me to compete in Formula One because the cars were getting smaller and smaller,” the Indianapolis 500 winner and former Formula One driver said. “They were shrinking, and I wasn’t.”
Cheever ran nine years on the world championship circuit, never winning in 133 starts. His best finishes were a pair of seconds, in 1982 at Detroit and 1983 at Montreal, the same year he was sixth in points.
Although he was born in Phoenix, all of his pre-Formula One racing was also in Europe. He won international karting championships at age 15 and drove Formula Three cars as a teammate to former Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan before he was 20.
As a show of support for his birth state, his helmet is designed with an Arizona flag on it.
“The Indy 500 was the reason I came over here instead of perhaps running endurance races on the continent. Even though I am an American, my family was living in Italy. I thought I’d be racing in Monte Carlo in May. That was the race [Monaco Grand Prix] I wanted to win.”
After entering one Indy car race for Frank Arciero in 1986 at Miami, where he crashed, Cheever became a full-time CART driver in 1990 when he joined Chip Ganassi’s team. He earned rookie of the year honors at the Indy 500, but in 81 starts for Ganassi, A.J. Foyt, Turley Motorsports and Team Menard he had no wins.
In eight Indy 500s, his best finish was fourth in 1992 when he started on the middle of the front row.
When Tony George founded the Indy Racing League in 1996 he had an enthusiastic supporter in Cheever.
“I was convinced from the first announcement that the IRL was the way to go. We are, by definition, America’s premier open-wheel oval-track racing series.”
Cheever scored his first-ever major win last year at the Disney World track in Orlando, Fla., where he found himself in the lead when rain halted the race. He collected $170,000 for the win, the highest payoff from a Pep Boys IRL race other than the Indy 500.
He will receive in the neighborhood of $1 million at tonight’s victory banquet.
“The first time I came to Indy, this place terrorized me,” he said. “I didn’t understand the speed. When I first came here, they warned me about the wall--they called it ‘the fence.’ I said, ‘That’s not a fence, that’s a wall. I’ve run into fences and that’s no fence.’ It takes some time getting used to, just going that fast with walls around you.
“This place is a monster. If you don’t get it right, it’ll eat your lunch. On the other hand, I am really glad that I have finally done something that will stick. Winning the 500 will stick.”
Cheever said one of the headaches of being an owner is finding sponsorship, without which it is all but impossible to race at the IRL level.
“The last eight months have been extremely difficult. We had a verbal commitment from First Plus to run again, and then they decided to go NASCAR-only sponsorship, so this is very redeeming.
“Rachel’s Potato Chips is our main sponsor, and it all happened about a week before we came here. The driver’s side is a lot easier than the owner’s side.”
Except that now he can smile when he splits that $1 million-plus with the driver.