Full Speed Ahead
Sir John Young “Jackie” Stewart is a living legend and three-time Formula One champion whose quick Scottish accent infused his work as an incisive sports commentator and tireless advocate for driver safety in the racing world. And it was a childhood shame that helped spur him on.
A Family Of Cars
In 1939, Stewart was born into the car business. His father ran a garage and dealership selling Austins, then Jaguars, in a village west of Glasgow. Meanwhile, Stewart’s older brother, Jimmy, looked set on a racing career until two crashes injured his arm and he joined his father at work.
Considered Slow
The younger Jackie Stewart had a miserable time at school, with teachers and schoolmates regularly putting him down for being a slow lad. He gave up on school when he was 16 and became an apprentice mechanic at his father’s garage. Decades later, he learned the truth: He was dyslexic.
Rob Mieremet / Anefo, Wikimedia Commons
Going The Extra Mile
In 1980, his son Mark was diagnosed with the learning disorder, and Stewart decided to get tested too. He was 41 and could now make sense of what had motivated him: “When you’ve got dyslexia and you find something you’re good at, you put more into it than anyone else”.
Getting A Shot
And he found lots to be good at. Starting at the age of 13, Stewart won several prizes for clay pigeon shooting and found himself competing throughout the UK and beyond. Twice he earned top spot at a European championship, and came close to qualifying for the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Alex Dawson, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
A Big Chance
But it was cars that had him hooked. He saved up tips his customers gave him and bought his very first car, an Austin A30 with “real leather seats,” just before he turned 17. One customer, Barry Filer, suggested Stewart try racing at Oulton Park, a track in northwest England, in 1961. It was a suggestion that would change Stewart’s life.
Jim Barton, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
More Wins
Stewart won four races in a Marcos that Filer provided. Soon Stewart had the chance to drive a Jaguar E-type, winning two races. And David Murray of Ecurie Ecosse let Stewart drive the team’s Cooper T49 to his first win at the Goodwood track, situated in southern England.
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Getting Noticed
In 1963, Stewart racked up 14 wins, and Formula racing grew nearer. Ken Tyrrell, who ran the Cooper Car Company’s Formula Junior team, had Stewart drive a Formula Three T72-BMC at Goodwood, and he ended up beating Bruce McLaren’s times. Tyrrell signed him up.
Bilsen, Joop van / Anefo, CC-BY-SA-3.0-NL, Wikimedia Commons
A Couple Of Formulas
At his Formula Three debut in 1964, Stewart took an early lead on a wet track at Snetterton, winning by 44 seconds. He would end up Formula Three champion with just two losses, and came second in his Formula 2 debut for Lotus, having spurned F1 offers for the time being.
Joost Evers / Anefo, Wikimedia Commons
Formula One At Last
But when BRM came calling, Stewart was ready to race alongside Graham Hill starting in 1965. He came in sixth at his first Formula One championship race, and ranked third in the Drivers’ Championship by the end of the year, helped by winning a tight fight with Hill at Monza.
Not A Great Year
The 1966 season, however, was a letdown for Stewart. He beat teammate Hill to win the off-season Tasman Series, but his 3-liter H16 BRM was balky. Stewart won the Monaco Grand Prix in a 2-liter, but the major event that year would be his accident at Spa-Francorchamps.
Dire State
There was heavy rain at the Belgian Grand Prix when Stewart rammed into a telephone pole at 165 mph (266 km/h), spinning into a shed and farm building. As the car came to a rest, its steering column pressed against his leg and gasoline spilled into the cockpit. Things looked dire.
Getting Lost
This was a time before much thought was given to safety. There were no doctors, ambulances, or track crews around to rush to his aid. Graham Hill and Bob Bondurant had crashed close by, so they came to Stewart’s rescue. An ambulance showed up, but got lost on the way to the hospital.
Flying Off
Eventually, Stewart reached the UK by private jet to get his broken shoulder, cracked ribs, and fuel burns treated. He turned into a tireless safety advocate, later seeing his legacy as a push to end an era when Grand Prix’s “so-called precautions and safety measures were diabolical”.
Evers, Joost / Anefo, Wikimedia Commons
Reasonable Standards
Along with BRM team boss Louis Stanley, Stewart called for measures that are obvious today, such as having doctors and ambulances on standby, and crash barriers by the pits. Stewart would hire a doctor of his own until things improved, and tape a wrench near the steering wheel.
Evers, Joost / Anefo, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Sense Of Foreboding
He also organized driver boycotts of racetracks he felt were unsafe, including the Nürnburgring circuit in 1970, where he’d later achieve his final F1 win. But it felt risky. “When I left home for the German Grand Prix…I was never sure I’d come home again,” he would later say.
Evers, Joost / Anefo, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Not So Popular
Whether because of cost or racing’s macho image, owners and other critics pushed back. Stewart would later note that he’d have been “a much more popular World Champion if I had always said what people wanted to hear. I might have been dead, but definitely more popular”.
Beyond The Formulas
And Stewart kept exploring outside Formula One. Before his accident, he almost won his first-ever Indy 500 in a Lola T90-Ford, but a mechanical failure foiled a near-certain victory. And after his accident, he triumphed in the Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race.
Christopher Ziemnowicz, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Tough Gear
The next year, BRM’s unreliability still dragged down Stewart’s results. In one race, he had one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding onto the jittery clutch. But he did score some victories away from F1, including at the New Zealand Grand Prix and in Formula 2 races.
Provincial Archives of Alberta, Wikimedia Commons
Injury Strikes
In 1968, Stewart signed up with Tyrell’s Matra team, but missed the Spanish and Monaco Grand Prix after getting injured in a Formula Two race. He did win the race at a rainy Belgian Grand Prix, and then at the anxiety-inducing Nürburgring track in rain and fog by four minutes.
Lothar Spurzem, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Looking Up
But car failure cost him the Mexican Grand Prix and hope for the Formula One Championship. Yet things looked up the next year, when Stewart switched to the Matra MS80-Cosworth. Stewart won the Spanish Grand Prix by two laps, the French by a minute, and the British by one lap.
American Broadcasting Company, Wikimedia Commons
A Spectacular Year
Stewart won three other Grand Prix, all helping him snag the 1969 Formula One title. It was a spectacular year for Stewart. In every one of the Championship races, he was in the lead for at least one lap, a record no other driver has attained. But things took a turn for the worse in 1970.
Losing To Lotus
Matra was turning from Ford to Chrysler, so Tyrrell depended on March Engineering while he worked on his own car. Jackie Stewart drove a March 701-Cosworth with some success, but the competing Lotus 72 held Stewart back. And a brake failure at Can-Am brought disappointment.
Iain A Wanless, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Encore Performance
Fortunately for Stewart, his team leader rolled out the Tyrrell 003 Cosworth. Stewart drove it to Grand Prix wins in Spain, Monaco, France, Britain, Germany, and Canada. Thanks to these victories, Stewart was awarded the Formula One World Championship for 1971, his second win.
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Ulcer Inducing
But overachievement was taking its toll as Stewart raced around the world as a competitor and also as a sports commentator. In 1971, he flew 186 times over the Atlantic and had to race while suffering from mononucleosis. The next year, gastritis kept him out of the Belgian Grand Prix.
American Broadcasting Company, Wikimedia Commons
Nearing The End
At the Indy 500, Stewart realized he couldn’t sustain this pace of life. He decided the 1973 season and his 100th F1 race would be his last. As he neared the end, the Nürburgring track that had given him pause was the site of his final victory. But then tragedy struck.
Lothar Spurzem, CC-BY-SA-2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Deadly Accident
Once Stewart retired, fellow Tyrrell driver François Cevert would be in line to become team leader, as his results consistently approached Stewart’s. But on a qualifying run at the United States Grand Prix, Cevert perished on the dangerous “Esses complex” of Watkins Glen.
Raimund Kommer, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
No Chance
Drivers always found the racetrack’s series of quick left-right bends a challenge, especially at 150 mph (240 km/h) or so. Cevert had brushed the curb and been hurled into a guardrail on the other side. Spinning out of control, his car hit another guardrail. Horrified drivers rushed to help.
Lothar Spurzem, Wikimedia Commons
Tragic Loss
Stewart was devastated by his teammate’s brutal death. They’d been filmed minutes before the race arguing about what gear to use on the Esses, with Stewart advocating a safer fourth gear. Shaken and grieving, Stewart withdrew from what would have been his 100th and final F1 race.
dun_deagh, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Victory Assured
But a couple of weeks earlier, Stewart had placed fourth in the Italian Grand Prix (even after changing a flat tire). That gave him enough points to secure his third and final Formula One Championship without needing more wins. So there was no need ultimately to do race #100.
Markku Lepola, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Racing Thoughts
Stewart now had more time to work as a TV sports commentator for ABC Sports, which first hired him in 1971. With his distinctive Scottish accent, Stewart covered car racing and other events, with a colleague observing that Stewart spoke almost as quickly as he raced.
TV Tension
Stewart learned how to get around his dyslexia too, relying on nearby notes as he found he couldn’t read off a teleprompter. But corporate changes and the awkwardness of Stewart’s Ford commercials airing during his sports coverage eventually led to his departure in 1986.
Dan Smith, CC-BY-SA-2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Owning The Team
Stewart worked as a TV commentator elsewhere until the 1990s, when he took another shot at Formula One—not as a driver, but by running an F1 team along with son Paul. The Stewart Grand Prix served as Ford’s factory team from 1997 to 1999, after which Ford took ownership.
Rick Dikeman, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Going Further
Stewart had first teamed up with Ford in 1964 as a consultant, training the company’s engineers on ways to design better-performing cars that were also safer. After Ford bought Cosworth in 1998, the father-and-son team decided to try designing a new engine for the 1999 season.
Stuart Seeger, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Some Success
The team showed moderate success in its final year, including Johnny Herbert’s dramatic win at a very wet European Grand Prix and Rubens Barrichello’s third-place finish at the French Grand Prix. The team would ultimately place fourth in the 1999 Constructors Championship.
RickDikeman, Wikimedia Commons
Sportsman Of The Year
As one of history’s greatest auto racers, Stewart has received many awards and honors throughout his life. He’s the only racecar driver to be named Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman Of The Year” (in 1973), and was awarded both an OBE (in 1971) and a knighthood (in 2001).
David Merrett, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
The Sport Of Winning
Surveys and analyses place Stewart among the greatest of professional racecar drivers ever, but it’s the business of sport and sponsorships that drives him now. “I get as much out of doing a really good deal in business than I ever got by winning a Grand Prix or a world championship”.
PSParrot, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
You Are What You Wear
But sportspeople have to do their part. He says “very few drivers” have learned public speaking and the right way to dress: “One of the reasons I got into some of the multinational corporations that I did was by how I presented myself”. That access led to deals with Rolex and Unilever.
Still Driving
Stewart says Formula One sponsors can attract more than enough business to cover what they pay out. And he can be part of the mix. In 2017, Stewart appeared in a TV ad to mark Heineken’s Formula One sponsorship. “No, thanks, I’m still driving,” he says when offered a beer.
Nick J Webb, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
A Tireless Push
Now in his 80s, Jackie Stewart is the last surviving Formula One driver from the 1960s, a time when helmets and safety barriers were a tough sell in an often-deadly sport. Stewart’s tireless push to change attitudes off the racetrack is as much his legacy as his brilliant performance on it.
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