Scottish racing driver Jackie Stewart: biography, sports career

Racing driver Jackie Stewart was born in a provincial Scottish town. At the age of 12, he was expelled from school because of the diagnosis of dyslexia - the prerequisites that do not leave much room for achieving anything in life. However, Jack managed to achieve his own life peaks in spite of all obstacles. Shooter, a great racing driver and, finally, the greatest personality in world sports. A man awarded for his achievements in knighthood is Sir Jackie Stewart.

Childhood

Common to Scotland is the provincial county of Dambertonshire. In the small Scottish town of Milton on June 11, 1939, the future pride of Scotland John Young Stewart was born. As a child, John spent a lot of time with his grandfather, the huntsman of Dambek village. It is quite expected that the teenager has been carried away from a young age. This fascination did not take the last place in the life of the Stewart family. The whole male part of the family was fanatically fond of hunting, and little Jack was not spared this family hobby. And it's no surprise that Jackie Stewart's first sporting choice was shooting.

Stand shooting

Hobbies did not go hunting for Jackie Stewart in vain, the gun master saw a fine gun , and from the age of seventeen Jackie was seriously engaged in this sport. Success in shooting at the shooting was not long in coming: at the age of eighteen, Jackie Stewart, whose photo you see in the article, became Scotland champion in bench shooting, and at the age of nineteen he was victorious in the Nations Cup. At the age of twenty-one, there was a turning point in the shooting career of Jackie Stewart. At the qualifying competitions for the Summer Olympic Games, Stuart did not have one good shot to win. Disappointment from the loss was so great that, despite all the persuasion of the coach, Jackie decided to withdraw from the shooting sport.

Job

The young man did not face the problem of choosing a profession. His future was predetermined: Jack's parents owned a large auto shop and garages, and also dealers of a major automobile concern "Jaguar" in his hometown of Milton. Therefore it is not surprising that Jackie spent all his free time in his own father's car repair shop. He began with a simple, his duties included washing and refueling cars to his father's regular customers. Gradually, they began to trust the repair of various failures. Cars were an increasingly important place in Jack's life. The routine work, which was carried out day in and day out, grew into the main activity of the young man. On weekends, Jackie began to take part in amateur motor racing, which at some point began to bring tangible income for the young man. Often, the money received for participating in motor racing, significantly exceeded the income received from working in his father's workshops.

Jackie Stewart is a racer. Carier start

In many ways defining for Jack Stewart was 1964. During the test runs of Formula 3 Jack sensationally beat the famous Bruce McLaren, at that time the vice-champion of Formula 1. Such a result could not go unnoticed by experts from the auto racing world. A talented young man was interested in many teams performing in Formula-3. The owner of one of these teams, Ken Tyrrel, offered a young racing driver a full-fledged professional contract. Nobody expected the debutant big victories in the first year of his professional career.

The fate gave a great chance to the young racing driver, and he used it with brilliance. And if the first successful race could be attributed to luck, the stability throughout the year, which showed Jackie Stewart, except as skill can not be called. The 1964 season in Formula-3 ended with a confident victory of tournament debutant Jackie Stewart. That's the way the world of racing entered the usual Scottish boy.

Formula 1

The winning season in the Formula 3 race served as a kind of impetus for Jackie Stewart's future career. Despite the fact that with Ken Tyrrell Jackie had a great relationship, both understood that Jackie Stewart outgrew the level of Formula-3. Given that Ken Tyrrel had representation only in the junior leagues of the Formula, Jackie decides to continue his sports career in another team. The choice was between the two strongest teams of that time: "Lotus" and BRM. More insistent were the owners of the BRM concern, who signed a full-fledged contract with a promising driver.

In the first race of Formula-1, held in South Africa, the debutant finished in the honorable sixth place. As it turned out, this was only the beginning. Already in the second race, the Monaco Grand Prix, Jackie Stewart was on the podium, finishing third overall. A stunning debut for a young rider who spends only the first season at such a high level. Then followed a series of second places and, finally, a long-awaited victory. At the competitions held in Monza, Jackie Stewart won the first in his professional career Grand Prix. At the end of the first season, Jackie took the honorable third place in the overall standings, ahead of many recognized masters of that time.

Accident

1966 was essentially a turning point both in Stuart's career, and for the whole racing world as a whole. Everything changed a terrible accident on the race track in the Belgian city of Spa. The security measures of that time were on the frankly low level, which often led to the worst accidents on the racetrack, often with a fatal outcome. After the accident Jackie Stewart began to actively fight to ensure the safety of racing competitions. The main requirements of the rider were the expansion of race tracks, the appearance on these routes of special bumpers, improvement of the road surface, the introduction of personal protective equipment for pilots. Initially, these demands were met with hostility, such innovations required a fairly large amount of material investment, which was completely unsuited to the organizers of the racing competition. But, as time showed, Jackie Stewart was absolutely right in his demands. The security measures he proposed allowed to significantly reduce the number of accidents on the race tracks and save more than one life.

Return to Formula 1

Financial problems, which appeared in 1968 with the BRM team, made the ambitious Jack Stewart look for a new team. As it is impossible in time in Formula-1 comes an old friend Jackie Ken Tyrrel, with whom he worked together on Formula-3. Creating his new car, Ken saw the leading pilot is Jackie Stewart. The first season did not bring any special dividends. Designers fine-tuned minor defects, gradually improving the racing car. And the next season brought unprecedented success and Jack Stewart as a pilot, and the team of Tirrel in general. The following seasons in Formula-1 took place under the sign of the struggle between the two strongest teams, "Tyrrel" and "Lotus". The entire racing world followed the persistent struggle of the leading pilots of these teams - Jackie Stewart and Emerson Phytopaldi. Pilots in turn won the title of the strongest racer of the planet.

Completion of career

The 1983 season turned out to be fantastically successful for Jackie Stewart. Leading throughout the racing season, Jackie ahead of time wins the title of the strongest racer of Formula 1. At the peak of his success, he decides to end his career as a racing driver and to leave the big sport undefeated. The race in the American Watkins-Gleny was to become a hundredth in the career of the illustrious Scot. But the death in the training trip team-mate Franz Sever makes Stuart decide not to go to his last race in a professional career.

In total for his brilliant career in Formula 1, Scottish racing driver Jackie Stewart spent 99 races, having won 27 victories in them. This result for a long time remained a world record in auto racing.

Summing up

Racing driver Jackie Stewart is a three-time world champion, he is rightfully considered the national hero of Scotland. All his endeavors invariably ended in success. An excellent shooter, a great racer, a man who completely changed the security system in auto racing, which saved more than one human life. Throughout his sports career, he remained an example for imitation, the idol of millions of fans around the world. Successful manager, in his assets created together with his son the team of Formula 1 "Stuart". Jackie Stewart, whose biography was reviewed in this article, has become a legend not only in Scotland, but throughout the world.