Early life

Stewart was born in Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, a village 15 miles west of Glasgow. Stewart's family were Austin, later Jaguar, car dealers and had built up a successful business. His father had been an amateur motorcycle racer, and his brother Jimmy was a racing driver with a growing local reputation who drove for Ecurie Ecosse and competed in the 1953 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Jackie attended Hartfield primary school in the nearby town of Dumbarton, and moved to Dumbarton Academy at the age of 12. He experienced learning difficulties owing to undiagnosed dyslexia (word blindness) and due to dyslexia not being understood or even widely known about at the time, he was regularly berated and humiliated by teachers and peers alike for being "dumb" and "thick". Stewart was unable to continue his secondary education past the age of 16; he was not actually diagnosed with dyslexia until 1980; when the diagnosing doctor had revealed to Stewart that his oldest son Mark had dyslexia also. Stewart did not understand how his son had such a disorder; the doctor explained that dyslexia can be genetically passed on. Seeing very similar symptoms with his son that he had experienced himself as a child, Stewart asked if the doctor could test him, and Stewart was diagnosed with the disorder, by which time he was 41 years old. He has said: "When you've got dyslexia and you find something you're good at, you put more into it than anyone else; you can't think the way of the clever folk, so you're always thinking out of the box." As a result, he was not allowed to continue secondary school and began working in his father's garage as an apprentice mechanic.

At the age of 13 he had won a clay pigeon shooting competition and then went on to become a prize-winning member of the Scottish shooting team, competing in the United Kingdom and abroad. He won the British, Irish, Welsh and Scottish skeet shooting championships and twice won the "Coupe de Nations" European championship. He competed for a place in the British trap shooting team for the 1960 Summer Olympics, but finished third behind Joseph Wheater and Brett Huthart.

He took up an offer from Barry Filer, a customer of his family business, to test in a number of his cars at Oulton Park. For 1961, Filer provided a Marcos, in which Stewart scored four wins, and competed once in Filer's Aston DB4GT. In 1962, to decide if he was ready to become a professional driver, tested a Jaguar E-type at Oulton Park, matching Roy Salvadori's times in a similar car the year before. He won two races, his first in England, in the E-type, and David Murray of Ecurie Ecosse offered him a ride in the Tojeiro EE Mk2, then their Cooper T49, in which he won at Goodwood. For 1963, he earned fourteen wins, a second, and two thirds, with six retirements.

In 1964, he again signed with Ecurie Ecosse. More important, Ken Tyrrell, then running the Formula Junior team for the Cooper Car Company, heard of the young Scotsman from Goodwood's track manager and called up Jimmy Stewart to see if his younger brother was interested in a tryout. Jackie came down for the test at Goodwood, taking over a new, and very competitive, Formula Three T72-BMC Bruce McLaren was testing. Soon Stewart was bettering McLaren's times, causing McLaren to return to the track for some quicker laps. Again, Stewart was quicker, and Tyrrell offered Stewart a spot on the team.

Racing career

In 1964 he drove in Formula Three for Tyrrell. His debut, in the wet at Snetterton on 15 March, was dominant, taking an astounding 25-second lead in just two laps before coasting home to a win on a 44-second cushion. Within days, he was offered a Formula One ride with Cooper, but declined, preferring to gain experience under Tyrrell; he failed to win just two races (one to clutch failure, one to a spin) in becoming F3 champion.

After running John Coombs' E-type and practising in a Ferrari at Le Mans, he took a trial in an F1 Lotus 33-Climax, in which he impressed Colin Chapman and Jim Clark. Stewart again refused a ride in F1, but went instead to the Lotus Formula Two team. In his F2 debut, he was second at the difficult Circuit Clermont-Ferrand in a Lotus 32-Cosworth.

While he signed with BRM alongside Graham Hill in 1965, a contract which netted him £4,000, his first race in an F1 car was for Lotus, as stand-in for an injured Clark, at the Rand Grand Prix in December 1964; the Lotus broke in the first heat, but he won the second. On his F1 debut in South Africa, he scored his first Championship point, finishing sixth. His first major competition victory came in the BRDC International Trophy in the late spring, and before the end of the year he won his first World Championship race at Monza, fighting wheel-to-wheel with teammate Hill's P261. Stewart finished his rookie season with three seconds, a third, a fifth, and a sixth, and third place in the World Drivers' Championship. He also piloted Tyrrell's unsuccessful F2 Cooper T75-BRM, and ran the Rover Company's revolutionary turbine car at Le Mans.

1966 saw him almost win the Indianapolis 500 on his first attempt, in John Mecom's Lola T90-Ford, only to be denied by a broken scavenge pump while leading by over a lap with eight laps to go. However, Stewart's performance, having had the race fully in hand, sidelined only by mechanical failure, won him Rookie of the Year honors despite the winner, Graham Hill, also being an Indianapolis rookie. At the start of the 1966 season, Stewart won the Australasian 8 round championship from his BRM teammate Graham Hill in 2 litre BRMs and also raced closely with his great rival and friend Jim Clark who was somewhat disadvantaged by an unreliable Lotus 39 which was let down by old Climax 2.5s.

Also, in 1966, a crash triggered his fight for improved safety in racing. On lap one of the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, when sudden rain caused many crashes, he found himself trapped in his overturned BRM, getting soaked by leaking fuel, which can result in a fire. The marshals had no tools to help him, and it took his teammate Hill and Bob Bondurant, who had also crashed nearby, to get him out after borrowing a spanner from a spectator's car. Since then, a main switch to disconnect electrics and a removable steering wheel have become standard. Also, noticing the long and slow transport to a hospital, he brought his own doctor to future races, while BRM supplied a medical truck for the benefit of all. Stewart also began keeping a spanner taped to his steering wheel. It was a poor year all around; the BRMs were notoriously unreliable, although Stewart did win the Monaco Grand Prix. Stewart had some success in other forms of racing during the year, winning the 1966 Tasman Series and the 1966 Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race.

BRM's fortunes did not improve in 1967, despite closely contesting the Tasman championship with Jim Clark who in a Lotus 33 probably raced closer and harder with Jackie than at any time in their careers. While Clark usually won, Stewart won a classic victory in the NZGP with Clark attempting to run him down in the last laps with bodywork flying off the 33. Stewart came no higher than second at Spa, though he won F2 events for Tyrrell at Karlskoga, Enna, Oulton Park, and Albi in a Matra MS5 or MS7. He also placed 2nd driving a works-entered Ferrari driving with Chris Amon at the BOAC 6 Hours at Brands Hatch, the 10th round of World Sportscar Championship at the time.

Stewart also did the 1967 National 500 NASCAR race but did not qualify for the race.

In Formula One, he switched to Tyrrell's Matra International team, where he drove a Matra MS10-Cosworth for the 1968 and 1969 seasons. Skill (and improving tyres from Dunlop) brought a win in heavy rain at Zandvoort. Another win in rain and fog at the Nürburgring, where he won by a margin of four minutes. He also won at Watkins Glen, but missed Jarama and Monaco due to an F2 injury at Jarama. His car failed at Mexico City, and so lost the drivers' title to Hill.

In 1969, Stewart had a number of races where he completely dominated the opposition, such as winning by over 2 laps at Montjuïc, a whole minute at Clemont-Ferrand and more than a lap at Silverstone. With additional wins at Kyalami, Zandvoort, and Monza, Stewart became world champion in 1969 in a Matra MS80-Cosworth. Until September 2005, when Fernando Alonso in a Renault became champion, he was the only driver to have won the championship driving for a French marque and, as Alonso's Renault was built in the UK, Stewart remains the only driver to win the world championship in a French-built car.

For 1970, Matra insisted on using their own V12 engines, while Tyrrell and Stewart wanted to keep the Cosworths as well as the good connection to Ford. As a consequence, the Tyrrell team bought a chassis from March Engineering; Stewart took the March 701-Cosworth to wins at the Daily Mail Race of Champions and Jarama, but was soon overcome by Lotus' new 72. The new Tyrrell 001-Cosworth, appearing in August, suffered problems, but Stewart saw better days for it in 1971, and stayed on. Tyrrell continued to be sponsored by French fuel company Elf, and Stewart raced in a car painted French Racing Blue for many years. Stewart also continued to race sporadically in Formula Two, winning at Crystal Palace and placing at Thruxton. A projected Le Mans appearance, to co-drive the 4.5 litre Porsche 917K with Steve McQueen, did not come off, for McQueen's inability to get insurance. He also raced Can-Am, in the revolutionary Chaparral 2J. Stewart achieved pole position in 2 events, ahead of the dominant McLarens, but the chronic unreliability of the 2J prevented Stewart from finishing any races.

Stewart went on to win the Formula One world championship in 1971 using the excellent Tyrrell 003-Cosworth, winning Spain, Monaco, France, Britain, Germany, and Canada. He also did a full season in Can-Am, driving a Carl Haas sponsored Lola T260-Chevrolet. and again in 1973. During the 1971 Can-Am series, Stewart was the only driver able to challenge the McLarens driven by Dennis Hulme and Peter Revson. Stewart won 2 races; at Mont Tremblant and Mid Ohio. Stewart finished 3rd in the 1971 Can-Am Drivers Championship. The stress of racing year round, and on several continents eventually caused medical problems for Stewart. During the 1972 Grand Prix season he missed the Belgian Grand Prix at Nivelles due to gastritis, and had to cancel plans to drive a Can-Am McLaren, but won the Argentine, French, U.S., and Canadian Grands Prix, to come second to Emerson Fittipaldi in the drivers' standings. Stewart also competed in a Ford Capri RS2600 in the European Touring Car Championship, with F1 teammate François Cevert and other F1 pilots, at a time where the competition between Ford and BMW was at a height. Stewart shared a Capri with F1 Tyrrell teammate François Cevert in the 1972 6 hours of Paul Ricard, finishing second. He also received an OBE.

Entering the 1973 season, Stewart had decided to retire. He nevertheless won at South Africa, Belgium, Monaco, the Netherlands, and Austria. His last (and then record-setting) 27th victory came at the Nürburgring with a convincing 1-2 for Tyrrell. "Nothing gave me more satisfaction than to win at the Nürburgring and yet, I was always afraid." Stewart later said. "When I left home for the German Grand Prix I always used to pause at the end of the driveway and take a long look back. I was never sure I'd come home again." After the fatal crash of his teammate François Cevert in practice for the 1973 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Stewart retired one race earlier than intended and missed what would have been his 100th Grand Prix. Nevertheless, Stewart still won the drivers' championship for the year.

Stewart held the record for most wins by a Formula One driver (27) for 14 years (broken by Alain Prost in 1987) and the record for most wins by a British Formula One driver for 19 years (broken by Nigel Mansell in 1992).

Racing safety advocate

During one particularly dangerous period of the Stewart's F1 career, a driver who raced for five years had a two-thirds chance of being killed in a crash.

At Spa-Francorchamps in 1966, Stewart ran off the track while driving at 165 mph (266 km/h) in heavy rain, and crashed into a telephone pole and a shed before coming to rest in a farmer's outbuilding. His steering column pinned his leg, while ruptured fuel tanks emptied their contents into the cockpit. There were no track crews to extricate him, nor were proper tools available. There were no doctors or medical facilities at the track, and Stewart was put in the bed of a pickup truck, remaining there until an ambulance arrived. He was first taken to the track's first aid centre, where he waited on a stretcher, which was placed on a floor strewn with cigarette ends and other rubbish. Finally, another ambulance crew picked him up, but the ambulance driver got lost driving to a hospital in Liège. Ultimately, a private jet flew Stewart back to the UK for treatment.

After his crash at Spa, Stewart became an outspoken advocate for auto racing safety. Later, he explained, "If I have any legacy to leave the sport I hope it will be seen to be an area of safety because when I arrived in Grand Prix, racing so-called precautions and safety measures were diabolical."

Stewart continued, commenting on his crash at Spa:

I lay trapped in the car for twenty-five minutes, unable to be moved. Graham and Bob Bondurant got me out using the spanners from a spectator's toolkit. There were no doctors and there was nowhere to put me. They in fact put me in the back of a van. Eventually an ambulance took me to a first aid spot near the control tower and I was left on a stretcher, on the floor, surrounded by cigarette ends. I was put into an ambulance with a police escort and the police escort lost the ambulance, and the ambulance didn't know how to get to Liège. At the time they thought I had a spinal injury. As it turned out, I wasn't seriously injured, but they didn't know that.

I realised that if this was the best we had there was something sadly wrong: things wrong with the race track, the cars, the medical side, the fire-fighting, and the emergency crews. There were also grass banks that were launch pads, things you went straight into, trees that were unprotected and so on. Young people today just wouldn't understand it. It was ridiculous.

In response, Stewart campaigned with Louis Stanley (BRM team boss) for improved emergency services and better safety barriers around race tracks. "We were racing at circuits where there were no crash barriers in front of the pits, and fuel was lying about in churns in the pit lane. A car could easily crash into the pits at any time. It was ridiculous." As a stop-gap measure, Stewart hired a private doctor to be at all his races, and taped a spanner to the steering shaft of his BRM in case it would be needed again. Stewart pressed for mandatory seat belt usage and full-face helmets for drivers, which have become unthinkable omissions for modern races. Likewise, he pressed track owners to modernize their tracks, including organizing driver boycotts of races at Spa-Francorchamps in 1969, the Nürburgring in 1970, and Zandvoort in 1972 until barriers, run-off areas, fire crews, and medical facilities were improved.

Some drivers and press members believed the safety improvements for which Stewart advocated detracted from the sport, while track owners and race organizers balked at the extra costs. "I would 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.", Stewart later said.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	WDC	Points
1965	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P261	BRM V8	RSA	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	USA	MEX						3rd	33 (34)
1966	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P261	BRM V8	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	NED	GER										7th	14
		BRM P83	BRM H16							ITA	USA	MEX
1967	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P83	BRM H16	RSA		NED	BEL		GBR			ITA	USA	MEX					9th	10
		BRM P261	BRM V8		MON			FRA
		BRM P115	BRM H16							GER	CAN
1968	Matra International	Matra MS9	Ford Cosworth DFV	RSA	ESP	MON													2nd	36
		Matra MS10					BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	CAN	USA	MEX
1969	Matra International	Matra MS10	Ford Cosworth DFV	RSA															1st	63
		Matra MS80			ESP	MON	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	CAN	USA	MEX
1970	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	March 701	Ford Cosworth DFV	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA						5th	25
		Tyrrell 001												CAN	USA	MEX
1971	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 001	Ford Cosworth DFV	RSA															1st	62
		Tyrrell 003			ESP	MON	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA
1972	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 003	Ford Cosworth DFV	ARG	RSA	ESP			FRA	GBR	GER								2nd	45
		Tyrrell 004					MON	BEL
		Tyrrell 005										AUT	ITA	CAN	USA
1973	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 005	Ford Cosworth DFV	ARG	BRA														1st	71
		Tyrrell 006				RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA

Non-Championship Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1964	Team Lotus	Lotus 33	Climax V8	DMT	NWT	SYR	AIN	INT	SOL	MED	RAN
1965	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P261	BRM V8	ROC	SYR	SMT	INT	MED	RAN
1966	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P261	BRM V8	RSA	SYR	INT	OUL
1967	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P83	BRM V8	ROC	SPC	INT	SYR
	Matra International	Matra MS7	Ford Cosworth DFV					OUL	ESP
1968	Matra International	Matra MS10	Ford Cosworth DFV	ROC	INT	OUL
1969	Matra International	Matra MS80	Ford Cosworth DFV	ROC			OUL
		Matra MS10			INT	MAD
1970	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	March 701	Ford Cosworth DFV	ROC	INT
		Tyrrell 001				OUL
1971	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 001	Ford Cosworth DFV	ARG	ROC	QUE
		Tyrrell 002					SPR
		Tyrrell 003						INT	RIN	OUL	VIC
1972	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 003	Ford Cosworth DFV	ROC	BRA	INT	OUL	REP	VIC
1973	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 006	Ford Cosworth DFV	ROC	INT

Complete Tasman Series results

Year	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
1966	BRM P261	PUK	LEV	WIG	TER	WAR	LAK	SAN	LON	1st	45
1967	BRM P261	PUK	WIG	LAK	WAR	SAN	LON			2nd	18

Non-Championship Tasman Series results

Year	Car	1	2
1967	BRM P261	LEV	TER

Consultant

Subsequently he became a consultant for Ford Motor Company while continuing to be a spokesman for safer cars and circuits in Formula One.

Commentator

ABC's Wide World of Sports

During the period 1971 to 1986, Stewart covered F1 races, NASCAR races and Indianapolis 500 as a color commentator, and also functioned as host for the latter. Jackie was a play-by-play announcer for the Luge at the 1976 Winter Olympics and the Equestrian at the 1976 Summer Olympics (partnered with Chris Schenkel) on ABC's Wide World of Sports. He was noted for his insightful analysis, Scottish accent, and rapid delivery, which once caused Jim McKay to remark that Stewart spoke almost as fast as he drove.

Australian and Canadian TV coverage

Stewart also worked on Australian and Canadian TV coverage, from the late 1987 to the mid 1990s.

Team owner

In 1997 Stewart returned to Formula One, with Stewart Grand Prix, as a team owner in partnership with his son, Paul. As the works Ford team, their first race was the 1997 Australian Grand Prix. The only success of their first year came at the rain-affected Monaco Grand Prix where Rubens Barrichello finished second. The following year, 1998, was less competitive, with no podiums and few points.

However, after Ford acquired Cosworth in July 1998, the team risked designing and building a new engine for 1999. The SF3 was consistently competitive throughout the season. The team won one race at the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring with Johnny Herbert, while Barrichello took three 3rd places, pole in France, and briefly led his home race at Interlagos. The team was later bought by Ford and became Jaguar Racing in 2000 (which became Red Bull Racing in 2005).

Stewart is also the head sports consultant/ patron for the Royal Bank of Scotland. In March 2009, he waived his fee for the year in response to the bank losing £24bn in 2008.

Honours

Stewart received Sports Illustrated magazine's 1973 "Sportsman of the Year" award, the only auto racer to win the title. In the same year he also won BBC Television's "Sports Personality Of The Year" award, and was named as ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year in which he was shared with American pro football player O.J. Simpson. In 1990, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. In 1998 Stewart received an honorary doctorate from Cranfield University where he later served as chairman of the steering committee for the MSc Motorsport Engineering and Management.

In the 1971 Birthday Honours Stewart was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 2001 he received a knighthood, in both cases the honour was for services to motor racing.

In 2002 he became a founding patron of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, and an inaugural inductee.

In 2003 The World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities presented Stewart the Sport Shooting Ambassador Award. The Award goes to an outstanding individual whose efforts have promoted the shooting sports internationally.

On 27 November 2008, Stewart was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree from the University of St Andrews.

On 26 June 2009, Stewart was awarded the Freedom of West Dunbartonshire at a special ceremony in his hometown of Dumbarton.

In 2010, Stewart was named as a founding member of Motor Sport magazine's Hall of Fame.

On 28 January 2012, Stewart gave the starting command for the 50th Anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. He assumed the role after previously announced Grand Marshal A.J. Foyt was forced to cancel his visit due to complications from his recent knee surgery.

Other appearances

Stewart appears in the 1966 John Frankenheimer movie Grand Prix doing all the driving scenes for actor Brian Bedford, who played Scott Stoddard, as Bedford did not know how to drive. Stewart anachronistically appeared in a cameo in a 1977 episode of "Lupin III" as a competitor in the 1977 Monaco Grand Prix and also once appeared on the UK motoring program Top Gear as a driving instructor for host James May. Stewart was the subject in the Roman Polanski-produced film Weekend of a Champion, in which Polanski shadows him throughout a race weekend at the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix.

George Harrison, a good friend of Stewart's, released a single, "Faster", in 1979 as a tribute to Stewart, Niki Lauda, Ronnie Peterson and fellow Formula One race car drivers. He is also interviewed in some depth in Martin Scorcese's documentary biography of Harrison, George Harrison: Living in the Material World. Stewart was featured in the video to the song "Supreme" by British singer, Robbie Williams.

Stewart appeared in several UPS commercials in 2002 and 2003 as a consultant for Dale Jarrett to convince Jarrett to "race the Big Brown truck". He, along with his son Mark, appeared in a Vectrex commercial in the 1980s as a spokesman for the General Consumer Electronics (GCE) / Milton Bradley Vectrex home video game. Stewart also featured in a special presentation video of the then all new Ford Mondeo in 1993, the video was given away free on the front cover of What Car? magazine in 1993.

Helmet

Stewart's helmet was white, with the red, green, blue, white and yellow Royal Stewart tartan surrounding the top.

Personal life

Stewart lives in the Buckinghamshire village of Ellesborough. Between 1969 and 1997 he lived in Begnins, near Lake Geneva in Switzerland (and later sold his house to Phil Collins). He married his childhood sweetheart Helen (née McGregor) in 1962 and they have two sons. Paul was a racing driver, and later ran Paul Stewart Racing with his father, selling it in 1999. Mark is a film and television producer.

Because of his dyslexia, Stewart dictated his autobiography. In a 2009 interview, and in the book, he discusses his close relationship with his older brother Jimmy, who was also a successful racing driver in his youth but had a long struggle with alcoholism. Jimmy died in 2008.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]