- Sir John Young Stewart (born 11 June, 1939 in Milton, West Dunbartonshire), better known as Jackie Stewart, and nicknamed The Flying Scot
Early life
Sir Jackie's family were Jaguar car dealers and had built up a successful business, Dumbuck Garage, in Milton. His father had been an amateur] motorcycle racer, and his brother Jimmy was a racing driver.
In his early days Jackie was an excellent clay pigeon shooter and was a member of the 1959 British Team. However, in 1961 he followed his brother Jimmy's lead and entered circuit in a Marcos sports car.
Racing career
Ken Tyrrell signed him in 1964 for Formula Three and, after winning his first F3 race at Snetterton, he turned down an opportunity to move up to F1. In 1965 Jackie made his F1 debut when he finished sixth in a BRM in the South African Grand Prix. Only seven GP's later he won his first f1 race when he took the chequered flag for BRM in the Italian Grand Prix. 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, the only occasion to date in race history a rookie winner (Hill, team mate at Indianapolis as well, and final leader after Stewart) was deemed surpassed in performance by another rookie.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 BRM, getting soaked by leaking fuel. Any spark could cause a disaster. The marshals had no tools to help him, and it took his teammate Hill and Bob Bondurant, who had both also crashed nearby, to get him out. Since then, a main switch for 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 the BRM supplied a medical truck for the benefit of all. 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, during which 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 M5S or M7S.
In Formula One, he gambled on a switch to Tyrrell's team, where he drove a Matra MS10-Cosworth 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, is considered as one of the finest ever, even though his rain tyres were probably better than those of the competition. He also tookWatkins Glen, but missed Jarama and Monaco due to an F2 injury at Jarama, had the car fail at Mexico City, and so lost the driving title to Hill.
With wins at Kyalami, Jarama, Zandvoort, Silverstone, 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 Frenchmarque and, as Alonso's Renault was actually built in the UK, Stewart remains the only driver to win the world championship in a French-built car.
For 1970, Matra (just taken over by Chrysler) 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 Tyrell 001-Cosworth, appearing in August, 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 muscular 4.5 litre Porsche 917K with Steve McQueen, did not come off, for McQueen's inability to get insurance. He also tried Can-Am, in the revolutionary Chaparral 2J, managing to beat the juggernaut McLarens at St. Jovite and Mid-Ohio.
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, in a Lola T260-Chevrolet, and again in 1973. In the 1972 season he missed Spa, due to gastritis which was developed following frequent travelling, 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 andBMW 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 GP.