Cheever

Though born in Phoenix, Arizona, Eddie Cheever grew up in Rome, Italy, attending St. George’s British International School and later The New School of Rome. His introduction to motorsport came at age eight, when his father took him to a sports car race at Monza. He quickly took to karting, winning both the Italian and European Karting Championships by the time he was fifteen. From there, he climbed the European junior formula ladder. In 1975, he teamed with fellow American Danny Sullivan in Formula Three and scored a notable win against Gunnar Nilsson and Rupert Keegan. He then drove for Ron Dennis’s Project Four team in Formula Two from 1976 to 1978, finishing runner-up to René Arnoux in the 1977 championship. By the end of that year, with wins at the Nürburgring and Rouen, Cheever was regarded as one of the most promising drivers outside Formula One.

Though born in Phoenix, Arizona, Eddie Cheever’s path to Formula 1 began not in the United States but in Rome, Italy, where he grew up after his family relocated. His introduction to motorsport came at age eight, when his father took him to a sports car race at Monza. He quickly moved into karting, winning both the Italian and European Karting Championships by the time he was fifteen. From there, Cheever climbed the European junior formula ladder, teaming with fellow American Danny Sullivan in Formula Three in 1975. That year, he scored a significant victory against Gunnar Nilsson and Rupert Keegan. He then joined Ron Dennis’ Project Four team in Formula Two, competing from 1976 through 1978. His standout season came in 1977, when he finished runner-up to René Arnoux in the championship, scoring wins at the Nürburgring and Rouen. By the end of that year, Cheever was widely regarded as one of the most promising drivers outside of Formula 1. Those results opened the door to F1, and he made his debut in 1978 with the Hesketh team.

Eddie Cheever’s Formula One career spanned 132 Grands Prix across eight teams, yet remarkably, he never won a race. He scored nine podiums, all between 1981 and 1983, a period that defined his peak in the sport. After an uncompetitive debut with Hesketh in 1978 and a brief, pointless stint at Osella, Cheever’s first real opportunity came at Tyrrell in 1980. The following year he moved to Ligier, where he finished third at the season-opening US Grand Prix West and again at the British Grand Prix. His most productive spell arrived in 1982 with Renault, the factory team then fielding the turbocharged RE30B. Driving alongside Alain Prost, Cheever took four third-place finishes that season, including a run of three consecutive podiums in Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. He remained with Renault for 1983, adding two more podiums—second at Canada and third at Detroit—before the team dropped him at year’s end. A move to Alfa Romeo in 1984 yielded little, and after a single season with Lola in 1985, he joined Arrows for his final four years in F1. He scored points only once more, a sixth place at the 1987 Austrian Grand Prix, before retiring from the category at the end of 1989.

Eddie Cheever never had a peak defined by championship titles or a run of consecutive wins. His closest approach to sustained competitiveness came in 1982 and 1983, driving for Ligier and then Renault. In 1982, he scored five of his nine career podium finishes, including three second places, and ended the season seventh in the Drivers’ Championship. The following year, now alongside Alain Prost at the factory Renault team, Cheever finished fourth in the standings with 22 points, his best career result. He stood on the podium twice that season, at Zolder and the Österreichring. Yet even in those two seasons, he never won a Grand Prix, nor took a pole position. His 132 starts yielded zero wins, a statistical anomaly for a driver who spent four seasons at top-tier teams. After 1983, his form faded; he scored only two more podiums across the remaining six years of his Formula One career. The 1982–1983 window remains the only period that can be called his peak, and it was a peak of consistency, not dominance.

Cheever’s family tree is laced with racing fuel. His younger brother, Ross Cheever, competed in Formula 3000 and CART, though he failed to qualify for the 2000 Indianapolis 500. A nephew, Richard Antinucci, raced in the Indy Pro Series and five IndyCar rounds in 2009. The most direct continuation of the name comes from his son, Eddie Cheever III, who built a career in European junior formulae, finishing as vice-champion in both the European and Italian Formula 3 championships in 2012.

Cheever shares a daughter and a son—the driver Eddie Cheever III—with his ex-wife, Rita. He also has a son from a previous relationship with Heather Handley. In 2013, he married Dianna, and the couple welcomed a daughter later that same year.

After Cheever’s final Formula One season in 1989, he moved full-time to American open-wheel racing, where he had already been competing concurrently in CART since 1986. He founded his own team, Team Cheever, and achieved the crowning moment of his career in 1998 when he won the Indianapolis 500 as both driver and team owner. He continued racing in the IndyCar Series until 2006, accumulating 132 career starts in American top-level open-wheel competition. Following his retirement from the cockpit, Cheever remained in motorsport as a team owner and later as a commentator. He has worked as an analyst for ESPN’s Formula One broadcasts and served as a driver coach and consultant. He also runs the Cheever Racing development program, which has helped young drivers advance through the junior categories.

Today, Eddie Cheever runs Team Cheever, the Indianapolis-based organization he founded and with which he won the 1998 Indianapolis 500. He serves as the team’s owner and motorsport executive, overseeing operations that continue to compete in American open-wheel racing. Beyond his team duties, Cheever remains a fixture in the paddock and an occasional commentator on IndyCar broadcasts. He lives in the United States and maintains connections to both the European racing scene where he began his career and the American series where he found his greatest triumph. His son, Eddie Cheever III, followed him into professional racing, competing in European Formula 3 championships and finishing as vice-champion in both the European and Italian F3 divisions in 2012, continuing the family’s multi-generational presence in motorsport.

Eddie Cheever’s Formula 1 career yielded no wins from 132 starts, but his legacy is not defined by the final column of a statistics sheet. He was the American who learned his craft on European kart tracks, winning the Italian and European karting championships at fifteen, and who climbed through Formula Three and Formula Two alongside future stars. In F1, he scored nine podiums for teams ranging from Tyrrell to Renault, often outperforming machinery that did not reward consistency with victories. His true mark came after his 1989 retirement: in 1998, driving for his own team, Cheever won the Indianapolis 500, becoming only the second driver in history to win the race as both owner and driver. That victory cemented his place in American open-wheel lore, a feat no other American-born driver has matched since. His son, Eddie Cheever III, continued the family line in European Formula 3, while his brother Ross and nephew Richard Antinucci also raced professionally. Cheever’s career stands as a bridge between the European single-seater ladder and the unique demands of IndyCar, a path few have walked as completely.