One of the greatest open-wheel drivers of all-time, and the main inspiration for the many Brazilian drivers who have
driven in Formula One, Champ Car, and IndyCar since, Emerson Fittipaldi was the son of Wilson Fittipaldi, a noted driver, reporter, and race promoter in Brazil, so he and his brother Wilson Fittipaldi
Júnior became interested in motorsports at a very young age, starting in motorcycles, then proceeding to karting and Brazilian Formula Vee; impressively, they financed their own careers by starting
an automotive parts business rather than asking their parents for financial assistance. Fittipaldi won the Brazilian Formula Vee title in 1968 at age 21, but the Fittipaldi brothers knew in order to make
it in Formula One, they would need to emigrate to England. In 1969, he did so and won the Lombank F3 championship (today's British F3) in his first season in Europe, impressing many F1 team owners. After
a partial season in F2 in 1970, Lotus, the top team of the era, hired him as the #3 driver for the team. Sadly, points leader Jochen Rindt, his lead teammate, was killed at the Italian Grand Prix in
Monza, and Rindt's teammate John Miles quit racing as a result, thus suddenly making Fittipaldi the top Lotus driver. Rindt became the first driver to win the Formula One title posthumously. The Lotus
team sat out the races at Monza and Mont-Tremblant, but the team had such strong equipment that upon its return at Watkins Glen, Fittipaldi won and his new teammate Reine Wisell finished third, thus
securing the constructor's championship for Lotus. Despite only starting five of the thirteen races, he claimed tenth in the championship. He was at the time the fourth youngest winner in F1 history,
behind Troy Ruttman, Bruce McLaren, and Jacky Ickx, but has since been surpassed by six others. Fittipaldi and Wisell both struggled in 1971 somewhat, but Fittipaldi did score three podiums for the team
despite suffering an injury in an off-track car crash. By 1972, Fittipaldi fulfilled his earlier promise and dominated the Formula One season with five wins (at Jarama, Nivelles-Baulers, Brands Hatch,
Österreichring, and Monza) and eight podiums in his first ten starts that season in the Lotus 72D, considered one of the greatest racing cars in Formula One history, even though his teammate David
Walker finished no better than ninth and claimed no lead lap finishes. Fittipaldi started the season with six straight podiums including three wins, but four straight retirements after this streak were
enough to give Jackie Stewart his third championship in his final season.
After his fantastic stint with Lotus, Fittipaldi next moved
to drive for the McLaren team, which was slowly building a powerhouse operation. He won in his second race for the team at his home race of Interlagos then won again at Nivelles-Baulers and Mosport. The
cars were not as strong as those he had at Lotus, as his three wins were the only races he led. Nonetheless, no other driver had more than three wins, and Niki Lauda who dominated the season with nine
poles and 339 laps led, had eight retirements to remove him from contention. Fittipaldi meanwhile was very consistent scoring points ten times to claim his second title and the first of many for the
McLaren team, even though other competitors were clearly faster. He did easily beat his teammate, 1967 F1 champion Denny Hulme, who finished seventh in the standings and won once in his final season. In
1975, he won the season opener at Oscar Galvez and another race at Silverstone, again the only races he led that season, still easily beating his new teammate Jochen Mass but he did not repeat as World
Drivers' Champion because Lauda finally gained outstanding consistency in addition to the dominance he had shown the previous year in the Ferrari.
Having easily proven himself a worthy champion for the dominant team Lotus and the then-underdog team McLaren, he surprised everyone by
switching to an even bigger underdog operation in 1976 when he joined the Copersucar-Fittipaldi team owned by his brother Wilson, who drove for the team himself in previous seasons. The team was one of
the worst on the grid, and as good as Fittipaldi was, even he couldn't turn the team into a winner. The early years in particular were a struggle, as Fittipaldi actually missed the race at Zolder in 1976,
and the races at Hockenheimring and Monza the following year. 1978 was his most successful year driving for the Fittipaldi Automotive team, and he claimed a second-place finish at Jacarepaguà,
pleasing his hometown crowd. With five other points-scoring finishes, he finished in the top ten in the championship. However, in 1979 and 1980, he only scored three points-scoring finishes including one
podium at Long Beach, and he had become an also-ran, similar to what happened to Jacques Villeneuve later, who rapidly fell from the top of the F1 world after leaving Williams to drive for BAR.
Furthermore, he was outperformed by eventual 1982 F1 champion Keke Rosberg in 1980, despite the team being his family's operation. Fittipaldi was so frustrated that he could not fix the team's problems
that his first marriage fell apart (he has since married twice more). He eventually retired from F1 but assisted his brother in management of the team, but his career was not over, as he moved to the
United States, switching to the CART IndyCar series in 1984. In his time in the series, CART would go on to rival F1 in international prestige, but despite his reputation he arrived with surprisingly
little fanfare, at least compared to Nigel Mansell when he joined the CART series as defending Formula One World Champion. He drove for two weak teams early in 1984 before joining the powerhouse Patrick
Racing after its driver (and later legendary car owner) Chip Ganassi was injured in a massive crash at Michigan. In his first race, he finished fourth at Mid-Ohio. Given his road course experience, he
was much more of a road course driver than an oval driver, but given time, he would become just as dominant on ovals as he was on road courses.
In 1985, his first full-time foray on the CART circuit, Fittipaldi showed remarkable consistency early on and rose to sixth in the points,
leading his first laps at Indianapolis and surprisingly winning his first race on an oval, not a road or street course, winning the Michigan 500 after starting 19th. Although he faded after scoring points
in nine of his first ten races, he had clearly shown his adaptability to a completely different type of open-wheel car and on ovals. In 1986, he obtained sponsorship from Marlboro, his sponsor at McLaren,
which would remain with him for the rest of his career. Although he was inconsistent early in the season retiring from eight of his first eleven races, he scored three straight podiums including his first
road course win at Road America, finishing seventh in points. He added his first wins on an airport at Cleveland and a street course at Toronto in 1987, but still was very inconsistent. 1988 was more of
the same as he won twice at Mid-Ohio and Road America but had several retirements. Finally, in 1989, after Ganassi purchased a share of the Patrick team, the team suddenly gained remarkable consistency
and Fittipaldi won his championship scoring five victories. He dominated to win his first Indianapolis 500, leading 158 laps, having a fantastic battle with Al Unser, Jr. for the lead. Fittipaldi and
Unser made contact with two laps remaining, sending Unser into the wall and giving Fittipaldi the win under caution. Despite Unser's crash, he was not angry with Fittipaldi for the incident, and the two
remained good friends. Fittipaldi next won three straight races at Detroit, Portland, and Cleveland, followed by two second-place finishes at the Meadowlands and Toronto, and a final dominant win at
Nazareth. Despite the five wins, he narrowly won the title over Rick Mears who was extraordinarily consistent, finishing worse than eighth only once. After 1989 concluded, the Patrick team fell apart,
with Ganassi buying the team's assets to start his own team, Patrick unsuccessfully starting a team with Alfa Romeo engines, and Fittipaldi bringing his Marlboro sponsorship to Penske's team in 1990 to
become Mears's teammate. Every Penske car from 1991 to 2006, not only Fittipaldi's, would carry Marlboro sponsorship. The team was outperformed by Unser, Jr.'s Galles operation and Michael Andretti's
Newman-Haas team. Mears was somewhat more consistent than Fittipaldi, but Fittipaldi dominated three races even though the Penske team seldom contended for wins. He led 128 laps at Indianapolis from the
pole before being passed late by Arie Luyendyk, then led 134 laps at Michigan before blowing an engine, and leading 146 laps at Nazareth en route to victory. Despite his road course experience, he had
become stronger on ovals, perhaps because more and more drivers in the late '80s and early '90s came from a formula-style road-racing background, giving Fittipaldi much more competition on those tracks,
while few of the incoming road racers (several of whom Fittipaldi inspired to race in the United States) had significant oval experience. In 1991, Mears outperformed Fittipaldi, but Fittipaldi won the
last race at Detroit before the race moved from the former Formula One venue to the current venue at Belle Isle.
Fittipaldi became
team leader in 1992 after Mears was injured in a crash at Indianapolis, eventually causing him to retire; he was replaced by 1990 Indy Lights champion Paul Tracy. Fittipaldi won all four races for the
Penske team that season at Surfer's Paradise, Cleveland, Road America, and Mid-Ohio, finishing fourth in points. In 1993, he was even better, posing the main challenge to defending F1 champion Mansell,
who won the CART championship in his rookie season. Fittipaldi and Tracy provided most of the season's highlights aside from Mansell. Fittipaldi won his second Indianapolis 500, his first race of the
season, after Mansell botched a restart due to his oval inexperience. In victory lane, he irritated Indianapolis traditionalists by drinking orange juice instead of milk in victory lane because he owned
several orange groves in Brazil and wanted to support citrus manufacturers. Fittipaldi won twice more at Portland and Mid-Ohio, and was extremely consistent, losing to Mansell by only eight points.
Although Penske had always been a strong team, in 1994 thanks to their new Ilmor-Mercedes engine, the team dominated like no team ever
had in American open wheel before, adding an unprecedented third car for Unser, Jr. Unser, Jr., Fittipaldi, and Tracy claimed the top three positions in points, swept the podium five times in races, and
on four of those occasions, lapped all non-Penske cars. Unser, Jr. was the truly dominant driver, winning eight times, but Fittipaldi was extremely consistent to claim second place despite only winning
once at Phoenix, his ten podiums were rather astounding in their own right. At Indianapolis, Unser and Fittipaldi led all but seven laps, with Fittipaldi domianting the race before a late crash gave Unser
the win. However, despite the Penske cars' domination, Fittipaldi led more than three laps in only one of the last eleven races, and was beginning to show signs of age, as Tracy was more dominant in most
races than Fittipaldi, even though Fittipaldi finished ahead of Tracy in points due to greater consistency. In 1995, Penske retained Fittipaldi over Tracy, who moved to Newman-Haas for one year, but
Fittipaldi struggled, scoring points in only six races, and only leading two races and winning one (his last, at Nazareth). Both Penske cars missed the Indianapolis 500, an embarrassment considering their
1994 dominance, and even moreso considering that the CART/Champ Car/IRL split of 1996-2007 caused the Penske team to not make another start at Indianapolis until 2001. Fittipaldi only finished eleventh in
points, and shockingly, two years after winning Indianapolis, and one year after dominating it, he was fired for Tracy, who replaced him in the second car. Also of note, Fittipaldi's nephew Christian
Fittipaldi finished second in the Indianapolis 500 in 1995 en route to a decent CART career. Emerson Fittipaldi was still aligned with Penske driving for the Penske-backed Hogan team, but despite Hogan's
championship as part owner of Bobby Rahal's operation, Hogan himself did not have very strong equipment, and Fittipaldi only managed two fourth place finishes of note in the 1996 season. On the second lap
of the Marlboro 500 at Michigan, he had a fiery crash, breaking a vertebra, which given that he was now fifty, caused him to retire. Nonetheless, the versatility he showed in his open-wheel career winning
championships in Formula One and in CART during both series's heyday make him one of the greatest racing drivers the world has ever seen.
In addition to his success, Fittipaldi opened up major open-wheel racing to other Brazilian drivers, inspiring Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, and
a myriad of Brazilian drivers in F1 racing and especially Champ Car and IndyCar racing since. He even arranged for Penske to give Senna a test in an IndyCar in 1992, but Senna would never drive in the
Indianapolis 500 due to his untimely death in 1994. Fittipaldi's 1989 CART championship and Indianapolis 500 was probably the impetus to the increasing internationalization of the CART (and IRL) series as
from then on, former Formula One ladder drivers who did not make it to F1 replaced USAC sprint drivers as the main source for drivers in American open wheel racing due to their road and street course
experience, as USAC sprint drivers tended to move to NASCAR. Fittipaldi returned to the CART series in its final season in 2003 as a car owner for Portuguese future F1 driver Tiago Monteiro but he did not
continue as a car owner when the series was replaced by the Champ Car World Series. He made one return to the cockpit in the Grand Prix Masters series. Mansell and Fittipaldi were the only past champions
to enter (although there were several other GP race winners), with Mansell beating Fittipaldi by a mere 0.408 seconds at Kyalami, South Africa. Fittipaldi did not do well in the other two races before the
series was cancelled due to lack of funds. Most recently, he drove the pace car in the 2008 Indianapolis 500, as picking one of Champ Car's greatest legends for the first unified Indianapolis 500 under
the IRL banner was a smart move.
