On This Day

Saturday 6th October 1973

46 years ago

With his third World Drivers Championship assured and on the eve of his 100th Grand Prix, Jackie Stewart, pulled out of the Unites States Grand Prix and announced his retirement. His decision came immediately after his Tyrell-Ford team-mate, Francois Cevert, was killed during practice at Watkins Glen. Stewart held the record for most wins by a Formula One driver (27) for 14 years until Alain Prost won the 1987 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the record for most wins by a British Formula One driver for 19 years until Nigel Mansell won the 1992 British Grand Prix. His last (and then record-setting) 27th victory came at the Nürburgring with a 1–2 for Tyrrell. "Nothing gave me more satisfaction than to win at the Nürburgring and yet, I was always afraid." Stewart later said. "When I left home for the German Grand Prix I always used to pause at the end of the driveway and take a long look back. I was never sure I'd come home again." He also competed in Can-Am. In 2009 he was ranked fifth of the fifty greatest Formula One drivers of all time by journalist Kevin Eason who wrote: "He has not only emerged as a great driver, but one of the greatest figures of motor racing." In the United States, he worked as a color commentator on television broadcasts at the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix from 1971 to 1986. In 1976, Stewart was a play-by-play announcer for ABC Sports for the 1976 Winter and 1976 Summer Olympics, and he served as host of the Indianapolis 500 coverage for ABC's Wide World of Sports and ABC Sports, from 1982 to 1984. He has also been a spokesman for Ford, Rolex and Moët. Between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team.