in
1994 .]]
(born
December 12 ,
1946 ,
São Paulo ,
Brazil ) is a highly successful
Open-wheel racing series driver, winning world championships in both
Formula One and
CART .
Emerson Fittipaldi is the youngest son of prominent Brazilian motorsports journalist and radio commentator Wilson Fittipaldi Sr and his wife Juzy. 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 Sao 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 .
In
September 1997 , Fittipadi, 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
Sao Paulo, Brazil . The plane lost power and plunged 300 feet to the ground. He suffered serious back injuries. He would recover, and became a
Born Again Christian.
"Emmo" began as a mechanic before trying motorbikes and finally moving on to racing
Karts and
Formula Vee s built by the company set up with his brother. 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 , Emerson was engaged by the Jim Russell Driving School
Formula Three team. He 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 experimented with a new chassis, the
Lotus 72 . Armed with what was arguably the greatest Formula one design of all time, the Lotus 72D Emmo 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 (his record was eventually topped by 24 year-old
Fernando Alonso ). 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 Emerson 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.
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 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.
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 at the
Indianapolis 500 where he led 158 of 200 laps and won by two laps, but only after a dramatic conclusion on the penultimate lap of the event, where he and rival
Al Unser, Jr. , both a commanding six laps ahead of third place
Raul Boesel , contacted tyres in the course's third turn after Fittipaldi drew alongside Unser on the backstretch in an attempt to overtake for the lead, after the latter had done so himself on lap 196. Upon touching, 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 with a double thumbs-up sign on the subsequent caution-slowed final lap.
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, although 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.
Despite approaching 50, he was still in Champcars in 1996 when an injury at the
Michigan International Speedway ended his career. Fittipaldi didn't return to the series as a driver after the injury but in
2003 he made a return to Champcars as a team owner.
Fittipaldi is currently acting as team principal for the Brazilian
A1 GP entry.
In
2005 Emerson 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 .
He was inducted in the
Motorsports Hall Of Fame Of America in 2001.
