Today January 10 we celebrate the birthdays of two of our American members, Eddie Cheever and Bobby Rahal.
Eddie who started his racing when he lived in Rome had a successful career not only in the smaller classes such as Formula 2 but also in Formula 1 when he made his Formula 1 debut driving Teddy Yip’s Theodore in the Argentine GP in 1978.
His 1978 and ’80 seasons – the latter with Osella – were disappointing and the cars were uncompetitive but when he joined Tyrrell in 1981 things began to look up and was 5th in his first race with the team in the 1981 USGP West at Long Beach,
He continued in grand prix racing until 1989 then moved back to the USA and the Indy Racing League and achieved his finest win in the 1998 Indianapolis 500. He celebrates his 65th birthday today
Bobby Rahal was best known as a sports car driver in Can Am and later IMSA. He came to Europe to race Formula 3 with Walter Wolf and it was Wolf who took him into grand prix racing in 1978 where he finished 12th in the US GP East at Watkins Glen, In 1982 he moved into Indycars and was Rookie of the Year.In 1986 he too won the Indianapolis 500 and today he is 65.
Birthday greetings to both from the Grand Prix Drivers Club.