My friends, Emerson Fittipaldi’s life story is something remarkable, unbelievable, and driven by incredible inner strength.
The Trailblazer and Pioneer
At 25 years old, in 1972, Emerson Fittipaldi reached the top of the world with the Lotus team in Formula 1, becoming the youngest driver at the time to win a world championship in the category. He repeated the feat in 1974, this time with McLaren, establishing himself as a two-time world champion. Emerson is widely revered for having “opened the doors” of European motorsport to the generations of Brazilians who came after him, such as Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet.
I remember very well Emerson and Wilson (his brother) making do in the team garages, eating boxed lunches however they could, draining engine oil themselves, chasing after a tire that came loose, and literally “making miracles happen.”
They secured sponsorship from Copersucar and formed the first and only Brazilian team in F1, bringing great pride to Brazilians, but immediately drawing criticism from the know-it-all journalists who said it would never work, instead of supporting them. The Fittipaldi brothers were treated unfairly, tried to move forward in every possible way, but sadly had to shut down years later; yet the spirit of victory never left them, especially Emerson.
Those who are great fans of Ayrton Senna—and he absolutely deserved the public’s affection—do not know that Senna was a “student” of the Fittipaldi school, raced for the same teams, and received phenomenal help from Emerson.
After leaving F1, the Fittipaldis were no longer talked about. Some magazine articles claimed he was bankrupt in the interior of São Paulo after a severe frost hit his orange farm.
Some years passed, and Mário Andretti called Emerson and invited him to learn about IndyCar racing in the U.S. Emerson replied: “I’d love to, but I don’t have money for the ticket.” Mário said: “Don’t worry about anything, I’ll cover everything.”
And so Emerson went to discover Indy, the ovals, the extremely high speeds nearing 400 km/h, the yellow flag, the fatal crashes, and an entirely different dynamic from F1.
And after being encouraged by the Andrettis that he could still compete, Emerson saw a light at the end of the tunnel. But who would put up the money? Who would sponsor a retired former driver?
Pepe Romero, a retired Cuban and owner of WIT Racing, had the pioneering spirit and initiative to say: “I’ll sponsor you,” which brought great joy to Emerson. But the Cuban added: “There’s only one condition: the car and the racing suit must be pink. Do you accept?” Emerson looked at Wilson, thought for a moment, and replied: “It’s my favorite color.”
At that time, IndyCar was broadcast on TV Manchete, and the car was always breaking down, finishing last or second to last, and I thought: Has Emerson gone crazy? After the brilliant career he had, to go through such embarrassment? But despite everything, he started finishing fifth, sixth, and gradually positioning himself better.
The other American drivers continued helping Emerson with tips, conversations, and a great deal of support. Emerson kept improving quietly, in his own shy way.
Showing that they still believed in him, he was signed by Patrick Racing, and at that moment he regained his self-esteem as a racing champion and began to feel at home on American tracks, earning some victories and strong finishes.
And watching all that, I thought: If Emerson becomes champion again, I’ll walk on my knees to the Bonfim church in Salvador.
Then came 1989, the most famous race in the world, with 500,000 spectators at the speedway and 2 billion viewers watching on TV: the Indianapolis Grand Prix. Emerson started in fifth place.
He used a tactic of staying among the top six throughout the long race, and with 20 laps to go, he charged forward and passed each one of the rivals, with only Al Unser Jr., a fierce competitor, ahead of him.
With 4 laps remaining, Emerson moved into first place, but shortly after was passed by Al Unser and went all out in pursuit of catching him. With 2 laps to go, after a small mistake by Al Unser, Emerson pulled up side by side with Al Unser. They stared each other down on the straightaway, and into the turn Al Unser wanted Emerson to let him through; Emerson didn’t. The cars collided and Al Unser hit the wall hard, and Fittipaldi’s long-awaited, once-impossible victory happened. He drank orange juice on the podium instead of the traditional race milk to promote orange juice sales.
He became the first foreigner to win the race, as only Americans had won it until then.
Al Unser Jr. complained a lot that Emerson had blocked him, but the victory was confirmed, and that forgotten former driver returned to glory and to the international jet set in triumphant fashion, even becoming a partner of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Planet Hollywood restaurant, a spokesperson for Hugo Boss, Rolex, and several car manufacturers, in addition to having his name engraved on one of Miami’s avenues because of the great achievement he accomplished.
Invited for an interview on David Letterman’s show—after all, the world wanted to meet the Brazilian who won Indianapolis—he arrived soft-spoken, extremely polite, thanked Mário Andretti and his family, thanked Pepe Romero for believing in him, became emotional, cried, and said that becoming champion at Indianapolis had been a childhood dream and that he was very happy.
The Americans fell in love with him. To this day, he can only arrive at an American speedway with plenty of bodyguards, because the attention is immense, even from children.
We recently lost another great idol, Oscar Schmidt from basketball. We must value these “legends”; they were the pioneers, the trailblazers, and thousands followed in their footsteps.
After Emerson, IndyCar opened space for many foreign drivers, opened negotiations with new sponsors and new cable TV channels, which made financial numbers multiply many times over.
The lesson is this: it doesn’t matter what others think of us; what matters is what we think, what we dream, and what we aim for.
If someone sees us as a good professional, great; if others don’t, so be it. But we should not be shaken by criticism or angry haters. We must always remain in a sphere of hard work, dedication, and honesty, regardless of any fact or comment.
