Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi (born December 12, 1946 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian automobile racing driver who throughout a long and successful career won the Indianapolis 500 twice and championships in both Formula One and CART.

Early and personal life

Emerson Fittipaldi is the youngest son of prominent Brazilian motorsports journalist and radio commentator Wilson Fittipaldi Sr and his wife Józefa "Juzy" Wojciechowska, a Polish immigrant to Brazil. He was named after American author and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both his parents had raced production cars shortly after the Second World War and Wilson Sr was also responsible for the first Mil Milhas race in 1956, in São Paulo, having been inspired by the 1949 Italian Mille Miglia. Emerson unsurprisingly became a keen motorsports enthusiast from an early age.

Emerson Fittipaldi is the younger brother of former Formula One driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi. He is the uncle of former CART, Formula One and NASCAR driver Christian Fittipaldi. He was married to Maria Helena from 1970 to 1982. They had three children together, Juliana, Jayson and Tatiana. He was married again, to Teresa, in the mid 1980s. They have one daughter, Joana, and a son, Luca. Now, he has another son, Emerson Fanucchi Fittipaldi, born on March 6, 2007, with his new wife, Rossana Fanucchi Fittipaldi.

In his youth in Brazil, Emerson was known as 'Rato' - mouse, which contrasts with 'Tigrão' - big tiger - for his brother. By the end of his career he was most commonly known as 'Emmo' in the United States and the UK.

In September 1997, Fittipaldi, while recovering from injuries in a crash at Michigan International Speedway a year earlier, was flying his private plane across his orange tree farm estate in São Paulo, Brazil. The plane lost power and plunged to the ground. He suffered serious back injuries. He recovered, and became a born again Christian.

He was a close friend of George Harrison and was with The Beatles guitarist shortly before he passed away in November 2001.

Career history

Lotus in the 1969 F3 Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch]] Aged 14 Fittipaldi was racing motorcycles, and aged 16 hydrofoils. While racing one day, his brother Wilson took off at and landed upside down - they both decided that although he had survived, they would no longer race hydrofoils and moved onto to racing karts.

The pair moved to racing Formula Vees, and built up a company with their parents. In his second season in single-seaters, Fittipaldi won the Brazilian Formula Vee title at 21 years old. He left for Europe in 1969, with the ambition to convince team owners of his talent in three months. After some podiums and his first victories in Formula Ford, Fittipaldi was first trained and then subsequently engaged by the Jim Russell Driving School Formula Three team.

Formula One

at the Nürburgring in .]] Fittipaldi continued to win, drawing the attention of Colin Chapman, who was looking for a driver to support the Austrian Jochen Rindt in the 1970 Formula One season. The team's No 3 driver, he ended up becoming No 1 driver after Rindt was killed at Monza and John Miles left the team. Thrust into the spotlight by leading F1's top team, he proved up to the task and won for Lotus in its first race post-Rindt.

In his first full year as Lotus' lead driver in 1971, Fittipaldi finished sixth in the drivers' championship as the team further developed the previous season's Lotus 72. Armed with what was arguably the greatest Formula one design of all time, the Lotus 72D, Fittipaldi proved unstoppable in 1972 as he won five of 11 races and easily won the F1 Drivers' Championship from Jackie Stewart by 16 points. At 25 he was then the youngest champion in F1 history. It appeared he might do it again in 1973. But after three wins from four attempts with the 72D, he began to struggle in the new 72E that was unveiled mid-year. It resulted in the reverse of the previous year, Stewart beating Fittipaldi for the Drivers Championship by 16 points; though the combination of the 72D and E's points earnings were enough to gain Team Lotus the 1973 F1 Manufacturers Championship.

at the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix.]]

Fittipaldi left Lotus to sign with the promising McLaren team. Driving the highly efficient McLaren M23, he had three victories in 1974, reached the podium four other times, and beat out Clay Regazzoni in a close battle for his second championship. The following season, he notched two more victories and four other podiums, but was second to a dominant Niki Lauda. However, at the height of his F1 success, Fittipaldi shocked everyone by leaving McLaren to race for older brother Wilson Fittipaldi's Copersucar-sponsored Fittipaldi Automotive team.

It was hardly a world class organization and the double champion regularly struggled, even failing to qualify for three races in his time there. Despite this, he remained with the team for five seasons but only managed a best finish of second. Emerson Fittipaldi decided to retire from racing at the end of 1980. He has since said that his last two years in Formula One were very unhappy: "I was too involved in the problems of trying to make the team work, and I neglected my marriage and my personal life", although at the time he cited the deaths of many of his colleagues as his reason. He was only 33, but had been racing in Formula One for a decade. He had failed to finish seven of the last ten races that year and had several times been outpaced by his Finnish teammate Keke Rosberg (a future champion himself). He moved into the management of the team alongside his brother. The team struggled on for another two years with minimal sponsorship, going into receivership at the end of 1982.

CART

After leaving F1 in 1980, Fittipaldi took time out from major racing for four years, returning in 1984 in CART. The 38-year old spent his first season acclimatising to IndyCars, driving for two teams before joining Patrick Racing as an injury replacement. He stayed five years with the team, recording six victories and solid finishes in the overall standings. In 1989 he had five wins and finished in the top five in every race he completed, giving him a CART championship. Among his wins was a dominant performance in the Indianapolis 500 where he led 158 of 200 laps and won by two laps, but only after a dramatic duel with Al Unser, Jr. in the closing laps of the race. With both drivers a commanding six laps ahead of third place Raul Boesel, Unser ran down Fittipaldi after a late-race restart and passed him for the lead on lap 196. Three laps later, Fittipaldi used lap traffic to his advantage to pull alongside Unser on the backstretch. Neither driver would give way, and the two cars touched wheels as they went through turn three side by side. Unser's car spun out of control to hit the outside wall, while Fittipaldi was able to maintain sufficient control to keep his car moving straight. In spite of the altercation, Unser saluted Fittipaldi from the infield with a double thumbs-up sign as he brought his car through turns three and four on the subsequent caution-slowed final lap.

in 1994 ]] Roger Penske hired Emmo for his racing team in 1990 and he continued to be among the top drivers in CART, winning a race with Penske for six straight years. In 1993 he added a second Indianapolis 500 victory by taking the lead from defending Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell on lap 185 and holding it for the remainder. The race was more well known for him breaking Indy victory lane tradition when he drank a celebratory bottle of orange juice instead of the traditional bottle of milk. He was only the second driver to not drink milk at Indy since the tradition was founded in 1936 (and firmly established in 1956). Fittipaldi owned several orange groves in his native Brazil, and wanted to promote the citrus industry. He was widely criticized and ridiculed for the action, even though he later took a sip of milk (after the television cameras were off).

Fan reaction to the milk snub was highly negative, and he was booed a week later at Milwaukee. In the years following, many fans continued to hold the action against him. In interviews since, Fittipaldi explained his action, and apologised for the wave of negativity that followed. Fittipaldi returned to Indianapolis to drive the Chevrolet Corvette Pace Car for the 2008 Indianapolis 500. Despite coming clean, he was again booed and heckled by some fans during the Public Drivers' Meeting.

Approaching 50, he was still with Champ Car in 1996 when an injury at the Michigan International Speedway ended his career. Fittipaldi did not return to the series as a driver after the injury but in 2003 he made a return to Champcars as a team owner.

Later Career

. He waved the green flag at the start of the race. ]] Fittipaldi is currently acting as team principal for the Brazilian A1 GP entry.

In 2005 Fittipaldi made a surprise return to competitive racing in the Grand Prix Masters event held at Kyalami in South Africa, finishing second behind former CART sparring partner Nigel Mansell.

In 2008, Emerson and his brother Wilson entered the Brazilian GT3 Championship, driving a Porsche 997 GT3 for the WB Motorsports team.

Award

He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2001.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Formula One non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

CART results

Indy 500 results

Helmet

Fittipaldi's helmet is blue (sometimes with a dark blue grid effect) with a red vertical stripe crossing the helmet from the top and a red horizontal stripe that cover all the area under the visor (resulting the blue part to form 2 circles), in some seasons he adds a brazilian flag in the sides or change helmet model (simspon bandit or Bell model with 2 eyeholes). in his formula indy years, the vertical stripe has 5 black lines, the blue changes to navy and on the blue area on the top were added sky blue and azure cylinders. his compatriot Tarso Marques sports a helmet with similar design (with the vertical stripe being fluo yellow and on the side of the inferior area there are red curved lines rather than a horizontal line)

See also

Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet - Brazilian Formula One three time world champions

Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Jacques Villeneuve - Other Formula One and CART champions.

Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Mario Andretti, and Jacques Villeneuve - Other Formula One and Indianapolis 500 champions.

Jody Scheckter and Michael Schumacher - Other Formula One champions with brothers racing in the series.

References

;Books

Category:Brazilian racecar drivers Category:Brazilian Formula One drivers Category:Formula One drivers and team owners Category:Lotus Formula One drivers Category:McLaren Formula One drivers Category:Formula One World Drivers' Champions Category:Indianapolis 500 drivers Category:Indy 500 pole-sitters Category:Indy 500 winners Category:Champ Car drivers Category:International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees Category:BRDC Gold Star winners Category:International Race of Champions drivers Category:European Formula Two Championship drivers Category:British Formula Three Championship drivers Category:People from São Paulo (city) Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Grand Prix Masters drivers Category:A1 Grand Prix people Category:Formula Ford drivers Category:Brazilian people of Italian descent Category:Brazilian people of Russian descent Category:Brazilian people of Polish descent