Ross Cheever

Ross Cheever (born April 12, 1964 in Rome, Italy) is a retired American race car driver and is the younger brother of former Formula One driver and Indianapolis 500 champion Eddie Cheever. Born in Rome, Cheever spent most of his career in Japan, where he won the Japanese Formula Three championship in 1987 and raced successfully in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship for eight years.

Cheever started his career in British Formula 3, with five wins between 1984 and 1985. He later competed in Formula Atlantic in New Zealand during the winter of 1985 and 1986 winning the New Zealand Grand Prix both years at the wheel of a Ralt RT4. After failing to qualify in his International Formula 3000 debut at Brands Hatch, and a brief foray in the United States' racing scene that included three starts in the new American Racing Series (current Indy NXT), Cheever switched his attention to Japan in 1987.

In his first season, Cheever won the Japanese Formula Three championship and signed a deal with Dome, racing at the All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship with Toyota and a half-season program in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship, which became a full time seat for 1988. He narrowly lost the 1989 title to Hitoshi Ogawa by three points, and again in 1991 at the last race to Ukyo Katayama, finishing second both times. He also reached the final race of the 1992 and 1993 season with title chances, finally retiring at the end of the 1994 season after finishing third in the standings for the third straight year. By then, Cheever had become a Suzuka specialist, with seven of his ten wins in Japanese F3000 coming at this track since 1991.

After his first prototype experience in 1987, Cheever returned to a Toyota seat with Dome in 1989, which included a 24 Hour of Le Mans run that ended in an early retirement due to an engine failure. In the summer of 1992, Cheever dovetailed his F3000 season with his Indy Car debut for A. J. Foyt Enterprises in 1992, racing against his brother Eddie. He finished 11th in his debut at Portland, but suffered mechanical failures at Milwaukee and Cleveland, crashed at Road America early in the race and withdrew from the Vancouver event due to a crash in practice.

Cheever returned to the cockpit in 2000 as a test driver for Eddie's Cheever Racing, to help in their transition to Infiniti engines in the Indy Racing League. He was entered in a second Cheever Racing car for the Indianapolis 500 and completed rookie orientation. However, he was withdrawn by the team before Pole Day, as Eddie claimed that his crash during Opening Day had left the team without "the necessary resources to field a first-class effort for the car". Ross had only taken part in a single practice day, four days before being pulled out, and brushed the wall in an incident between Turns 1 and 2.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key)

Complete Japanese Formula 3 results
(key)

Complete Japanese Formula 3000 results
(key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

American open–wheel racing results
(key)

Indy Lights

CART

Indy Racing League

References

External links
 Ross Cheever can't shake racing bug, aiming for Indy spot by Terry Callahan, The Auto Channel
 
 

1964 births
American racing drivers
Champ Car drivers
Indy Lights drivers
Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers
Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers
Living people
International Formula 3000 drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
American expatriate sportspeople in Italy
American expatriate sportspeople in Japan
Racing drivers from Rome
World Sportscar Championship drivers
Cheever Racing drivers
Team LeMans drivers
A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers
TOM'S drivers