June 11, 1939
SirJackie Stewart
Born in Milton, 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 of racing television broadcasts having worked in that role in the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix from 1971 to 1986. In 1976 Stewart became the play-by-play announcer for the 1976 Winter and 1976 Summer Olympics, and he served as host of the Indianapolis 500 coverage for ABC's Wide World of Sports and ABC Sports, from 1982 to 1984. He has also been a spokesman for Ford, Rolex and Moët.
Stewart lives in the Buckinghamshire village of Ellesborough. Between 1969 and 1997 he lived in Begnins, near Lake Geneva in Switzerland and later sold his house to Phil Collins. He married his childhood sweetheart Helen in 1962 and they have two sons. Paul was a racing driver, and later ran Paul Stewart Racing with his father, selling it in 1999. Mark is a film and television producer.
Stewart dictated his autobiography due to his dyslexia. In a 2009 interview, and in the book, he discusses his close relationship with his older brother Jimmy, who was also a successful racing driver in his youth but had a long struggle with alcoholism. Jimmy died in 2008.
Following the death of John Surtees on March 10, 2017 Stewart is now the oldest surviving Formula One World Champion, as well as the only living World Champion from the 1960s era of Formula One.
Should have included his quest to make racing safer.
ReplyDelete