Comeback From Brazil
Most people would agree that failure is difficult to accept. It is even more difficult when one's financial world collapses as well. But perhaps the most difficult is to rise from the ashes of failure and achieve success. Musicians, actors, actresses and businessmen have all done this. However, Emerson Fittipaldi, a racecar driver from Brazil also accomplished this feat. Fittipaldi was born into a racing family. His father, Wilson, had raced motorbikes and carts, and was a famous motor racing journalist in Brazil. As a young boy, Emerson worked with his older brother, Wilson Jr., building karts and racing them.
Emerson (Emmo) believed that to achieve a career in motorsport he would need to relocate to England so he left his home and journeyed to London in 1969. Here he met Jim Russell, a racing school owner, who was impressed by Emmo's smooth and controlled driving. Emmo started driving in Formula 3 and won. By 1970 he had moved into Formula 1. In 1972 Emmo won the Formula 1 championship, the youngest driver to ever accomplish this. He also worked to improve F! car and track safety. While racing in the Spanish Grand Prix, he braked his car at the end of the first lap to complain about dangerous track conditions. Later in the same race another driver's car spun off the track and killed four spectators.
At the end of the 1975 season, with the road to stardom stretched out ahead of him, Emmo made the decision that would lead to his downfall. He left his racing team and joined a start-up team that had been organized by his older brother, Wilson, Jr. with the backing of the Brazilian sugar industry. However, their cars were undependable and Emmo's winning record plummeted. He retired from the European circuit in 1980 to manage the family team but it folded in 1982. Heavily in debt he returned to Brazil to try to recoup his financial losses. At this time he had driven in 144 Grand Prix and won 14.
However, although through hard work he was able to pull out of his financial doldrums, he still yearned to race. So in 1984, rather than returning to Europe Emmo decided to try his skill in the United States and joined the American Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Indy-Car. His first race was the Long Beach Grand Prix and he finished fifth. At first he was not well received by American fans who made fun of him when he came to the Indianapolis 500 in a pink car. However, Emmo won the CART championship in 1989 and won the Indy 500 in 1989 and again in 1993. The young man from Brazil had climbed back up the ladder of racing success, but not for long.
In 1996 Emmo crashed on the Michigan International Speedway. He survived the collision but was nearly completely paralyzed and decided to retire from racing. Then in 1997 he was injured again, this time in a small plane crash. He was fortunate to regain movement in his legs. And he was alive while many of his friends had died on the track. He still maintains a connection with racing through his various business ventures.
