EDDIE CHEEVER WINS SILVERSTONE GP MASTERS! That headline surprised me. Eddie was having so much trouble in the IRL, maybe he found his true niche with the old guys?
Aw, man, way to spoil it in the thread title!!! Maybe, some day, I'll actually get to watch one of these races.
Eddie drove a great race today, hardly putting a wheel wrong in the wet conditions. He is underrated. Eddie did not win in F1 but was saddled with very poor cars (with the exception of his time at Renault when he was still learning his craft and teamed with Prost, one of the all time talents). P.S. I think you can watch the race in the archive at gpmasters.com - well worth it.
Yes, watched it live this morning on-line at gpmasters.com -- 3 pounds sterling fee charged to the credit card. I think you can now watch it from the archive.
Hey Ron - here's the rest of the story for you . . . In soggy conditions eerily similar to his dramatic 1979 European F2 win for Osella at the Northants circuit, Eddie Cheever mastered Silverstone again to win an exhilarating Grand Prix Masters race. Cheever passed early leader Stefan Johansson around the outside of Club Corner on the third lap before sprinting into the distance. But going faster still was Eric van de Poele, who started from the back of the grid but, despite a spin, reeled in the American. As Johansson faded further and further down the field, van de Poele swept around the outside of Cheever at Bridge Bend on the 12th lap of 28 to take the lead, but Cheever continued to challenge, and eight laps later he moved back in front into Copse Corner. The gap remained less than a second, but then van de Poele had a hairy spin at Woodcote, and a further rotation at Vale for the Belgian forced him to settle for second. Poleman Christian Danner spun with Derek Warwick at Luffield on the opening lap. He then had another off at Becketts, but charged back to take third place from Hans Stuck with six laps remaining. Warwick, meanwhile, retired to the pits. Late entry Alex Caffi held off Riccardo Patrese in a battle for fifth, while Pierluigi Martini was the only other unlapped driver at the finish. A mid-race battle for third between Jan Lammers and Andrea de Cesaris ended with the Italian clattering into the Dutchman at Becketts, removing his own front wing and Lammers's rear. De Cesaris pitted and recovered to finish 10th, behind Emerson Fittipaldi and Rene Arnoux. There was huge disappointment for the more partisan members of the crowd. Not only did Warwick retire early, but a broken differential ruined Nigel Mansell's race. He managed just two laps, punctuated by spins, after starting from the pit lane, before returning to his garage. Pos Driver Time 1. Eddie Cheever 1h01:08.625 2. Eric van de Poele + 16.677 3. Christian Danner + 36.555 4. Hans Stuck + 53.514 5. Alex Caffi + 1:03.023 6. Riccardo Patrese + 1:06.867 7. Pierluigi Martini + 1:46.355 8. Emerson Fittipaldi + 1 Lap 9. Rene Arnoux + 1 Lap 10. Andrea de Cesaris + 2 Laps 11. Patrick Tambay + 3 Laps Carol
He obviously didn't win in F1 but definitely had the best showing of any American (other than Mario) to date. In '82 he had 3 podiums for Ligier; '84 - 4 podiums for Renault; '88 & '89 one each year for Arrows. Carol
Going back a little further, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Richie Ginther, and Masten Gregory had some respectable results... but Eddie was a good F1 driver. Some of the recent commentary about him (including from one famous family) is ridiculous and very uninformed.
Cheever had a lot of really good drives in the Ren-no until it would break down on him. I remember somewhere he was leading and the throttle cable came off... stupid things like that, more than a couple of times, he even said that - which lead to him not being on team Ren-no anymore.
A great result for Cheever but helped by Mansel's car retiring. I don't know what happened with Emmo either but most of the top 5 or so weren't exactly GP superstars in thier day. Either way well done Eddie.
