Sometimes a sport struggles to contain a character who transcends the sport because of their ability to make it all look so easy. They work hard at getting involved in all levels of their sport from the highest level down to the minutia of behind-the-scenes development in order to make their performance look effortless.
Jackie Stewart was one such sportsman – this triple world champion was a master of the track and at one point out-performed so much that he even had his car investigated to make sure he wasn’t cheating! It’s hard to think of a driver who has had a big an impact on Formula One as Jackie Stewart – the Flying Scot. Here’s a brief history of the legend himself….
Jackie had an unhappy time at school. His dyslexia was undiagnosed at the time and he was seen as an underachiever. He refers to his time there as “mentally abusive” as he was routinely made to feel stupid, but he also considers that it made him work harder to try and succeed at whatever he tried his hand at. When he left school at 15, despite his petrol-head family (his father ran a garage and his brother Jimmy was a fairly successful local racing driver) Jackie focused on a different sport; he was an excellent clay-pigeon shooter and won many awards, he nearly made it into the Olympic team but he botched his trial and didn’t make it, it’s something he still regrets.
Being liberated from school allowed him to spend time out with his brother, he soon met a girl and the lovely Helen soon became his wife. He eventually followed his brother into racing and he did it anonymously for a while so as not to upset his mother, it backfired though and when he announced his intentions to do it professionally she resented his lying and there was an animosity between them. It was clear that he had a natural talent, the young driver mastered every racing tournament he entered, but it was small-time racing. That is until he received a call from Ken Tyrrell to test in single seater racing - he was more than impressive, he was faster than established drivers such as Bruce McLaren! It wasn’t long before he progressed up to Formula 1, though only after knocking back several offers while he fine tuned his skills in Formula 3. His Formula 1 one debut saw him partnering the legendary Graham Hill at BRM. Jackie was surprised by his own pace, he was as fast or even faster than drivers who were his heroes. Hill and Stewart were highly competitive but always respected each other, Hill even helped to rescue him from a terrible accident in ’66 which had an everlasting effect on Jackie – he was sat in a puddle of fuel with no official help available. Spanners were borrowed from the crowd to remove him from the twisted wreckage.
The BRM was becoming less competitive than it once was and old friend Ken Tyrrell formed his own F1 team, he’d heard Ferrari were after Jackie and didn’t want to lose him to a non-British team. The new Tyrrell team with Jackie in the racing seat weren’t expected to be front runners – but in their maiden race at a rainy Nurburgring Jackie convincingly won the race - there were over 4 minutes between him and second place! There were many successes and the following year (1969) Jackie won the world Championship.
Two years later there was real drama in Jackie Stewart's quest for a second world championship. His V8 engine should have meant he languished behind the V12s and simply battled to be the best of the other V8 cars - but he astonished everyone by continually dominating races. Even when he was pipped from the starting grid he would re-claim the lead at the first corners. In fact - he performed so well in an underpowered car that his fuel was inspected and his engine dismantled to check that he wasn't cheating!
During the 1970’s there was a definitive change in the way sports personalities were viewed by the public. Sports stars were now treated like pop-stars and Jackie Stewart merchandise flew off the shelves. He even had a trademark look with large sideburns and long hair peeking out from under his black hat – the style was his wife’s idea, Helen found it very sexy! The look became fashionable and future champion Emmerson Fittipaldi adopted it too. Fittipaldi recently gave one of my all time favourite F1 quotes when reflecting on his thoughts at the time:
“Jackie has big sideburns and he’s going fast – I need to have bigger ones to go faster than him!”
1973 saw Jackie win his third championship title, his second with Tyrrell. The Tyrrell team were a small outfit, and Jackie’s relationship with Ken Tyrrell was more like a father-son relationship rather than Manager-driver. The two never had any contracts in their F1 career together, they trusted each other absolutely. Francois Cevert was a welcome addition to the ‘family’ when he joined as Jackie’s driving partner. He was jokingly described by Jackie as “too good looking” and the two formed a good friendship. Cevert was seen as Jackie’s protégé, someone to continue the winning streak once the Scot retired. Although the year resulted in a driver championship it was a dark year for the team. During practice for what would have been Jackie’s 100th Formula One race, Cevert crashed badly and a metal barrier cut through his car. His injuries were so severe that he was pronounced dead straight away, Jackie was one of the first on the scene and it confirmed to him that it was time to retire. Jackie had been under stress recently as he had involved himself in racing competitions all over the world, it had made him ill (causing him to make mistakes and even miss a race) and coupled with such a personal loss the decision was an easy one, and Jackie Stewart retired on career high – a third world championship.
The championships, the flare, the glamour and the record number of wins - it was an impressive racing career but if you were to ask Sir John Stewart which achievement he was most proud of, he would no doubt say it was his influence on driver safety. Every year drivers died at tracks which were poorly equipped and badly staffed. Jackie increased pressure to improve conditions and the sport which had previously seen drivers leave if they didn’t like the conditions, realised that it had to change. He became a spokesperson for driver safety, his constant campaigning for improvements helped to make Formula One as safe as it is today. Medical support, ambulances and even fire extinguishers at tracks were introduced as a direct result of Jackie’s insistence that the venues had to provide safe conditions for the drivers there. Such changes are an important legacy which both fans and drivers alike can be thankful for.
Life after Formula One was no less interesting, his appearance in adverts led to a growing popularity in America – which was something of a surprise considering his thick accent. Aware of ‘brand Stewart’ he built himself up as a commercial brand and also took part in TV commentary for racing events. His natural charisma and strong personality shone through and led to regular TV work. He also found himself back as a car tester, but this time for domestic manufacturers. He actually earned more after F1 than he did as a racer!
Of course, he returned to Formula One twenty years later when along with his sons they created Stewart GP. Murray Walker described the business world of F1 as a ‘Piranha Club’ where the businessmen cut each other to ribbons. Jackie and his two boys didn’t enjoy the experience, it was tense and stressful. Things looked good for the team – a 2nd place finish at Monaco in the teams 5th ever race signalled a bright future. But it never really happened and the team struggled to win points. The third season, though not great, saw some successes however and the team finished 4th in the constructor’s table. The three Stewarts were tired by the whole thing and son Paul was very ill fighting cancer, after three seasons and a place on each step of the podium it was a dignified bow out of the sport as the team was bought by Ford and renamed Jaguar. That team went on to eventually become Red Bull – but that’s another story.
Jackie Stewart was a great Formula One driver whose influence extended well beyond that of race winner and champion. He raced during a time where the sport was transforming into the modern, media-attracting, glamorous spectacle that we love today. He was a driver who did what only a few great racers can do – he existed symbiotically with the car and could squeeze out of it levels of performance that few others could. He also made racing take a progressive attitude towards safety, without Jackie Stewart perhaps we would have been robbed of more great drivers.
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