Eddie Cheever somments on incident at Texas

[KC]

In a off-race track interview, Eddie Cheever was asked to comment on the incident at Texas Motor Speedway. Apparently the Chief Steward of the IRL told them all that close racing on high banked ovasl is good, but to respect one another and not cause the major crashes that have been happening.

For those who did not see it. Greg Ray attempted to pass a back marker on the apron of the track and was easily two car widths inside the white line and made contact with the guy, spinning them both into the path of Cheever who was battling with Sharp for 2nd place. Luckily all escaped with minor injuries as the crash was very violent.

During the interview, Cheever expressed his disappointment at the incident and with Sharp and Ray who said it was good aggressive racing. Several times Cheever had attempted to pass Sharp and was driven up the track and forced him to lift or crash into the wall. He asked why was it that no one can drive side by side with Sharp or Ray without them trying to run them off the track, and its easy to race side by side with Lazier or Hornish. He said that these guys do not respect the other racers and feel that they are justified in any action to get a win.

I think that Cheever was upset about the crash and probably had a right to be. Ray made one of the most stupid moves I have ever seen in motor racing and luckily no one had to pay for it with their life or career. For him to shrug it off as aggressive driving is irresponsible.

[SevenGrain]

Funny that last week Cheever is upset with the "agressive driving" of Greg Ray and others and now this week he is upset that Brian Barnhardt has stated that he will asses penalties for such incidents. According to Cheever " now we are all being treated like children" I guess you just can't make this guy happy.

Here is a quote from me; "Eddie Cheever is a putz"

[botsquad]

Originally posted by SevenGrain
Here is a quote from me; "Eddie Cheever is a putz"

herez a quote from me: 'eddie cheever is boring old queen'

[Liz]

Eddie Cheever is only of interest to the people in the news business because he is an American and because he will say outrageous things with great authority they solemnly write them down.

I have never heard Eddie Cheever say anything that makes sense.

And if he is such an outstanding authority, why is he wasting away in the Brand X Racing League, having won no championships in anything, including go-kart racing and Easy-Bake Oven Cookoffs?

[Crash Test]

Then again, Eddie did race many a season in F1, and that is many more seasons than me, and he does have an Indy 500 title to his name, something I will never have....

I think his comments at Texas were in the heat of the moment. They just ran this awesome race, 3 wide, passing left right and center, and then to have it end in really, what can only be described as a silly finish. The Pike Peak race in comparison was pretty boring affair.... Buddy had the car at the finish, Horish had a fantastic car for the whole race (until the final few laps) and Our Robbie was in there the whole way for a podium placing. Way to go!

[Joe Fan]

Liz, Eddie is far from wasting away in Brand X racing. As a driver/owner, he won $880,700 running in the IRL last year. Only four drivers won this much running in the CART series last year and he accomplished this competing in 10 fewer races than the CART drivers. And since Eddie is an owner, he gets to take home all of his money instead of 40-50% like other drivers. Also note that IRL Champ Buddy Lazier won $2,176,200 last year competing in the IRL compared to Gil de Ferran's $1,677,000 in CART. This explains why so many CART owners have been showing an interest in Brand X racing lately.

As far as Eddie's abilities, he may have not won a championship but he is every bit as good as the majority of the drivers in CART. He also is not afraid to compete in the IROC series like some CART champions and drivers I know and has been the only driver to bring some respectability to the open wheel contingent in the series.

[gomick]

how come eddie cheever jnr was never junior in F1 ....

[botsquad]

Originally posted by Joe Fan
he won $880,700 running in the IRL last year.
Buddy Lazier won $2,176,200 last year competing in the IRL compared to Gil de Ferran's $1,677,000 in CART.
As far as Eddie's abilities, he may have not won a championship but he is every bit as good as the majority of the drivers in CART

really joe..you cant be serious.

i hope that was just a wink and nod sort of post...

[Joe Fan]

Botsquad, I am unsure what you are questioning but those numbers were taken directly off the IRL's site and Motorsport.com's.

As far as Eddie's talent, he has always been criticized by quite a few around the various bulletin boards but Eddie was at one time, a whiz kid coming up in open wheel racing. If memory serves me correct, Ferrari was interested in him at age 18. His problem is that he always seemed to be with the right team at the wrong time (ie several years after they were dominant or several years before they starting becoming dominant teams again or for the first time).

[Neil C]

Didn't Cheever finish as high as second in F1? I beleive it may have been at the innaugural Detroit race in early 80's. He finished between the Marlboro McLarens of John Watson and Didier Pironi.

[R]

Eddie Cheever finished 2nd in the US GP East in Detroit in 82, and true, he finished between Watson and Pironi (the latter was in a Ferrari however).

He also finished 2nd in the Canadian GP in 83, this time between two Ferraris, Arnoux and Tambay.

[Crash Test]

And heck, it probably isn't in Eddie's best interests to say too many nice things about CART....

[Old Clunker]

Poor Eddie Da Bum, whose biggest problem was that he could not quite cut it with F-1 or CART to the point of ever winning so when the pick- me-up IRL thing came around he fell right into it. I notice when the CART men showed up at the home track in Indianapolic this past May he was somewhere else in the pack and left the lead lap strictly for the big dogs.

As Eddie loses another race it is from one of three things. His equipment failure, failure of someone else on the track or failure of someone else off the track. Realizing this saves a lot of reading of inane rambling from Eddie.

>>"As far as Eddie's abilities, he may have not won a championship but he is every bit as good as the majority of the drivers in CART."<<

Sure doesn't show when they are on the same track and in the same equipment. Maybe it is different when the CART men are elsewhere, eh? May must have been a truly heartbreaking time of rememberance for him.

>>"Then again, Eddie did race many a season in F1,"<<

Yep, sure did, and p!ssed and moaned the whole way through til they got tired of it and made it easy for him to leave. Same in CART. But he is now where all old might have been drivers should be. Out of the mainstream and in position to be a popular puppet with a media that likes to let people put it on themselves.

I too followed Eddie for some years in F-1 and even for a while in CART until he ginally got on my nerves trying to find the perfect scape goat for all Eddie's shortcomings.

Long live Da Bum but I think he has a pretty good s=ugar daddy in TG so let him enjoy.

Old Clunker

[Joe Fan]

Old Clunker, if you do your homework you will find that Eddie was a very solid driver in CART and F1 considering his equipment. His first three years in CART, he was in the top ten in points every year when the competition was much deeper than today. Really I beg you to answer, when did he every have top flight equipment? One year in F1 he was a number two driver to Alain Prost at Renault and did reasonably well. He said something to the affect that Alain was very standoffish and treated him just like another competitor. In F1, he averaged scoring one podium a year which is much better than some of the current drivers have been doing lately. All the other years he was with teams that were past their prime or start-up jobs like Ganassi.

[Old Clunker]

Originally posted by Joe Fan
Old Clunker, if you do your homework you will find that Eddie was a very solid driver in CART and F1 considering his equipment. His first three years in CART, he was in the top ten in points every year when the competition was much deeper than today. Really I beg you to answer, when did he every have top flight equipment? One year in F1 he was a number two driver to Alain Prost at Renault and did reasonably well. He said something to the affect that Alain was very standoffish and treated him just like another competitor. In F1, he averaged scoring one podium a year which is much better than some of the current drivers have been doing lately. All the other years he was with teams that were past their prime or start-up jobs like Ganassi.

No problem with the homework. Had he really been the competitor you hope him to have been I am sure his stock would have risen allowing him to command a better ride. This was not the case and his accomplishments coupled with his oratory pretty well cast him in the role of an IRL level personage/driver to while away his remaining declining years in continuing mediocrity.

Eddie Da Bum becomes very tiresome even to those who try to believe in him. I quit sometime back when he started preaching another persons script.

We have some men racing here in Portland today who are certainly using their own script and it looks like a good one shaping up

Old Clunker

[Joe Fan]

1) In 1973, he finished second in the World Karting Championship.

2) In 1977, he finished second in the F2 championship behind Rene Arnoux. The following year, at age 18 he was highly considered by Ferrari for a Formula One seat. However, this seat ended up going to Gilles Villeneuve instead.

3) In 1981, as a second-year driver he outscored his rookie teammate Michele Alboreto 10-0 at Tyrrell.

4) In 1983, he outqualified Alain Prost twice, at Detroit and Brands Hatch. He finished sixth in the F1 standings, being outscored 57-22 by Prost.

Here is his F1 career in summary (team/points scored v teammate)
1980 Oscella 0-0 Gabbiani
1981 Tyrrell 10-0 Alboreto
1982 Tyrrell 15-5 Lafitte
1983 Renault 22-57 Prost
1984 Alfa Romeo 3-8 Patrese
1985 Alfa Romeo 0-0 Patrese
1986 ----
1987 Arrows 8-3 Warwick
1988 Arrows 6-17 Warwick
1989 Arrows 6-7 Warwick

One thing that baffles me, if Ferrari were that interested him at a young age but did not sign him, why didn't another top team scoop him up? Ferrari was the top time in F1 at that time so certainly there should have been interest by other top teams.

It seems to me that Eddie did almost everything he had to do to get a top ride in F1. In four years of F2, KeKe Rosberg never finished above Eddie in the point standings. In 1981, Eddie outscored KeKe in F1 WDC point standings but the following year, KeKe gets the prime Williams seat. :confused:

In CART, he finished 9th in points standings in 1990, 1991 and 1992 driving for Ganassi's new team. In 1993, Arie Luyendyk didn't fare much better for Ganassi, finishing 8th in the point standings. From 1993-1995, he suffered from poor rides and opted for the IRL as an owner/driver when it was formed in 1996.

In addition to his IROC win, he has nine World Sports Car wins, most notably his 1987 Nurburgring 1000Km win shared with Raul Boesel. Overall, Eddie has been a solid driver over his career considering the equipment he has had to work with. He was sort of a prodigal child in the motorsports world growing up. It would have been interesting to see how his career would have turned out if he was selected over Gilles for the Ferrari seat in 1978.

Whenever people get on the high-horse that Americans should embrace the rest of the world and compete at the highest level of motorsport, F1, I have to cringe. It seems to me that Americans are just wasting their time trying to make a successful career in F1 and would be better served staying back home where the opportunities are more plentiful.

[SevenGrain]

Originally posted by Joe Fan
His first three years in CART, he was in the top ten in points every year when the competition was much deeper than today.

I really hate to devote any more time to a thread on Eddie Cheever, but I must disagree with the above statement. The competition in CART was not deeper during Cheever's first three seasons (90-92), CART has a much deeper field today.

Consider the fact that in 1990 CART had six different race winners coming from four different teams, In 1991; seven winners from five teams, and in 1992 six winners from five teams.

Moving to the present, in 1999 CART had ten different winners on eight different teams and in 2000, eleven winners from eight teams.

Today's CART field possess far more depth than ever and is certainly far beyond what was found in the early nineties, and what is found in many other racing series elsewhere.

[floid2000]

Eddy grew up in europe(I believe ,the son of an embassy official)When he was in F1 you could barely understand his English.We Americans get to claim him as one of us because of his passport.
He's had an interesting career and always "done the job" and besides.....What Formula One driver wouldn't give his first born for the Borg Warner Trophy ? Go Eddy

[botsquad]

Originally posted by floid2000
What Formula One driver wouldn't give his first born for the Borg Warner Trophy ?

overheard at recent f1 meetngreet...

the borg warner trophy......oh yeah...it used to be famous...pity.
the doorman turned away the bloke holding it.

[floid2000]

Bad Joke

[floid2000]

Besides Nigel. How many "blokes" have held it and can you name them ?

[SevenGrain]

I can, that is if 'blokes' refers to F1 drivers from the U.K. that have won the Indy 500. Jim Clark 1965, Graham Hill 1966.

But Floid, I don't understand why you say "besises Nigel", because Nigel Mansell never won the Indy 500. In his only two attempts he finished 3rd in 1993, and was involved in a rather ridiculous accident in 1994. Under yellow, Dennis Vitolo ran into Mansell on the warmup lane.

Currently, I really don't think that there are that many F1 drivers willing to give up their "first born" for the Borg Warner trophy.

[floid2000]

Thanks for getting me straightened out on Nigel.I don't use the term blokes in a nasty way,Some of my best friends have been "blokes" But, Ive got to disagree with you on the trophy. Don't you think most drivers would love to have the Borg Warner in thier trophy case? After Lemans I can't think of a more prestigious race.maybe Monaco But Please .Give us Americans credit for something.Indy has a great history and many of the worlds greatest drivers have driven in the 500.Not many have come away winners in all those years.

[coaldump]

JOEFAN AND BOTSQUAD
Eddie Cheever wouldnt make a pimple on Tora Takagi's butt and hes the worst Cart driver I have ever seen. Cart proved at Indy this year where the drivers are, and dollars have nothing to do with driving ability you DOOFs. Ive seen Formula 1 in person along with Cart, IRL and Nascar and the latter, without a doubt being lower forms of racing than F1 and CART. I wouldnt really call IRL and NASCAR a racing series they're actually an entertainment series. Which is fine if thats what youre looking for, but I prefer the raw form of racing with fastest and best across the board, driver, engineers, crews, motor, chassis, tires. A close race does not automatically mean it was a successful race in my mind things arent that simple to me. Eddie was washed up ten years ago and has only stayed around because of the watered down talent in the IRL. If both series were still together he wouldnt have been able to buy a ride literally.

[coaldump]

Joe fan you can read all the statistics you want from twenty years ago but cars are ten fold over what they were then. It is like comparing a pad of paper and an IBM thinkpad. A driver now days is pretty much done at 35 in most cases. The young reflexes are totally incumbent with cutting edge cars, and once your reflexes fade just a tinker you can try all you want, but you wont get there. And by the way Im 37 and willing to admit Ive lost a tinker.I still think Michael has a chance though. A small one. But then again youth sometimes leaves the door wide open by making mistakes!