DETROIT – It was 30 years ago that the legendary Emerson Fittipaldi drove to victory in the first-ever CART race on the streets of Detroit. Fittipaldi, driving the Marlboro car for team owners Pat Patrick and Chip Ganassi, won the race on the old 2.5-mile street course in downtown Detroit.
Prior to 1989, the Detroit Grand Prix was on the Formula One World Championship schedule. Beginning in 1992, the CART version of the Detroit Grand Prix moved to its current location on Belle Isle.
Race promotor and NTT IndyCar Series team owner Roger Penske wanted to honor Fittipaldi for the first of his two Detroit wins by inviting him back as his special guest to this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
When it comes to racing legends, Fittipaldi is in an elite class. He was a two-time Formula One World Champion (1972 and 1974). After his F1 career concluded, Fittipaldi came to the United States to compete in CART.
Fittipaldi went on to become a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner -- 1989 and 1993 -- and the PPG CART IndyCar Series World Champion in 1989.
At 72, Fittipaldi is in tremendous physical shape as he toured the NTT IndyCar Series paddock along with his wife, Rossana Fanucci, and the couple’s two children, son Emerson and daughter Vittoria. He also has five children from two previous marriages.
With 14 victories in Formula One and 24 NTT IndyCar Series wins, the driver from Brazil is one of the 20th Century’s most accomplished drivers.
Today, he remains active in racing by helping the next generation of Fittipaldi’s climb the ranks.
“My involvement in racing is directly helping my grandchildren, Pietro and Andrew, and now my son Emmo, who is racing junior go-karts and Vittoria,” Fittipaldi told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “I’m going to the Formula E race in Zurich, Switzerland next month and going to the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. I very closely follow racing, and I’m building my own car in Europe.
“I’m so happy to be back in Detroit on the 30th anniversary of the downtown race. To me, it was a very special win, the first IndyCar race in Detroit. It was a bumpy track. It was difficult. Bobby Rahal gave me a very hard time. It was incredible racing.
“It’s so good to be here after so many years.”
Fittipaldi is perhaps the only driver able to experience the best of both worlds in Formula One and in IndyCar.
“I was able to race for a long period of time,” Fittipaldi said. “I raced 11 seasons in Formula One and 13 seasons in IndyCar.
“Every day, I’m thankful I’m here. I saw Chip Ganassi earlier, and we won at Indianapolis and last year, I saw Pat Patrick. This is my life to be here, people that I love. Everything I have done in my life, since I was five years old, my dream was to be involved in racing. My mother even raced in the 24 Hours at Interlagos in a Mercedes when I was five years old.”
Fittipaldi’s F1 career came when the cars were mainly mechanical, not technologically driven as that series is today.
When he came to IndyCar in the old CART series, it was a time of great cars, great teams, great drivers, great engines, great facilities. He raced against many legends who were still at the top of their game, such as A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Rick Mears and Bobby Rahal, just to name a few.
“In Formula One, there were some fantastic champions,” Fittipaldi said. “IndyCar was the same. I was lucky to have an extremely competitive Formula One and IndyCar career. IndyCar saved my life when I had my crash at Michigan in 1996.
“The day-to-day life, for sure, IndyCar was much more fun. Formula One, inside the cockpit was a lot of fun. But outside the cockpit, the family spirit and ambience were much more fun in IndyCar.”
Fittipaldi lives in the Key Biscayne area of Miami. His young son and daughter were both born in Miami and are United States citizens.
He believes grandson, Pietro, may one day return to the NTT IndyCar Series after the kid showed blazing speed last year for Dale Coyne Racing. His son, Emmo, has already told his father, “One day, I want to drive at Indianapolis.”
The 1989 Indianapolis 500 remains one of the greatest races in Indy history. It came down to a two-driver battle between Fittipaldi and Al Unser, Jr.
As they entered Turn 3 heading to the white flag, it was two cars entering the turn, but only one was going to come out the other side.
“It was an incredible race and a fantastic finish,” Fittipaldi recalled. “We went into Turn 3, Junior looked at me and I looked at Junior, and we knew, we weren’t going to back off.
“I didn’t back off; he didn’t back off.
“Thank God, he didn’t get hurt when he hit the wall. I radioed to Jim McGee and asked, ‘Is he OK? Is he OK?’ He said he was OK, and I said, ‘Good, I won.’
“Sometimes in racing, we take a higher risk and we did that day.”
When Fittipaldi won the 1989 Indianapolis 500, he thought back to his mentor in Formula One, Colin Chapman, and how he encouraged him to compete in the Indy 500.
Fittipaldi won his second Indy 500 in 1993 with Team Penske. His career came to an end when he sustained a neck injury from a crash at Michigan International Speedway in 1996.
He continues to follow the NTT IndyCar Series and is impressed with the competitive nature of the today’s IndyCar racing.
“I’m very impressed, the cars are very balanced, and the lap times are very close,” Fittipaldi said. “The cars look a lot better and the power is very impressive. I watch the races and last week at Indianapolis, the end of that race was incredible.”