Eliseo Salazar

Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela (Spanish pronunciation: [e.liˈse.osa.laˈsaɾba.lẽnˈswe.la]; born 14 November 1954) is a Chilean former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1981 to 1983. Salazar remains the only Chilean driver to compete in Formula One.

Salazar made his Formula One debut at the 1981 United States Grand Prix West, scoring a total of three championship points across 37 Grands Prix. After Formula One, Salazar participated in several motorsport disciplines, becoming the Chilean national rally champion in 1984 and 1985. Across a three-decade career, Salazar also competed in American open-wheel racing and sportscar racing.

Career

Formula One (1981–1983)

After racing in the British F1 Championship in 1980 with a Williams FW07, and winning in Silverstone, Salazar moved to Formula One in 1981, with March. He switched midseason to Ensign, and finished sixth in the Dutch Grand Prix. In 1982, he drove for ATS, and finished fifth in the San Marino Grand Prix, a race where only seven teams entered due to the FISA–FOCA war. His most noted career moment in Formula One came when he collided with the overtaking race leader Nelson Piquet in the 1982 German Grand Prix; after both drivers got out of their stricken cars, the angry Piquet started to punch and kick Salazar. In 1983, he entered six races with RAM Racing, but the car was very slow and he only managed to qualify twice. He finished fourteenth in Jacarepaguá and retired in Long Beach with gearbox failure.

After the Chilean economic crisis in the early years of the 80's, Salazar had to leave F1, and competed with little success at the Formula 3000 championship and the South American Formula Three Championship in some races. He began to race rally in Chile, becoming the champion of the 1985 hill-climbing season in Chile in a Toyota Corolla XT.

Sports prototypes (1988–1990)

In the late 1980s, Salazar drove some races in the FIA World Sports Prototype Championship. His best result was first place at the C-1 class in the 1988 Fuji 1000 km in Japan with a Spice SE88C-Ford of the Spice Engineering team. Thanks to his contacts with Tom Walkinshaw, he joined the Jaguar Silk Cut factory team, to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the 1989 race, the Chilean, with Alain and Michel Ferté, achieved the 8th place with the Jaguar XJR-9; but his best result would be winning the 1990 event of the historic race in a Jaguar XJR-12, but after driving several hours in the No. 3 car, he was forced to leave his seat to the British driver Martin Brundle, who received the chequered flag, and Salazar was forced to move to the No. 4 car, which retired at twenty hours with mechanical problems (Brundle's original car, the No. 1, was pulled out at fourteen hours for electrical problems). For that particular fact, he was named the 1990 Sportsman of the Year by the British magazine Autosport.[citation needed]

Career in USA (1994–2002)

After years with no competition, working as a co-host in the TV show "Video Loco" (America's Funniest Videos' Chilean version, broadcast in Canal 13), Salazar received an opportunity to join the Ferrari-Momo factory team for the 1994 IMSA Sport Prototype championship in the WSC (World Sport Car) series, with the Italian Gianpiero Moretti. He raced at the Exxon World Sports Car Championship in 1994 and 1995 with several races won and podiums with the Ferrari 333 SP. Those results were good enough to pull him to the Indy Car World Series.

Salazar signed a contract with the Dick Simon Racing in 1995 to race in the CART Indy Car World Series, with a strong debut at the Indy 500. With a Lola-Cosworth, he started 33rd and finished fourth in the Cristal-Copec-Mobil 1 No.7.

When the IRL and CART split in 1996, Salazar chose to compete in the new series. He became a regular top driver at Indy 500 with four top-ten results. His best result at Indianapolis was in 2000, when he started and finished on third place, at the wheel of a G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora for A. J. Foyt Enterprises.

In 1997, Salazar earned his first and only victory in IRL racing, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, racing for Team Scandia. That year, he also made his only start at a NASCAR sanctioned race, finishing 17th on the Watkins Glen International road course, in the Craftsman Truck Series.

2000 and 2001 were the best years in the IRL for Salazar, finishing fourth and fifth in those championships, with five top-five results in 2000. In 2002, he suffered a serious accident testing at Indianapolis, and was forced miss several races. After much consideration Salazar decided to retire from Indy Car racing and focus on Sports Cars.

Salazar later joined the American Le Mans Series, where he raced in a Porsche 911 GT3 and a Ferrari 360.

Present and future (2004–)

Salazar then returned to Chile where, in 2004, he joined the official Hyundai rally team in the Rally Mobil, the national rally championship. His car was an N3-class Hyundai Coupe GK 2.0L.

In November 2005, Salazar competed in the inaugural race of the Grand Prix Masters, as a late replacement for Alan Jones. In 2006 he raced in both GPM races in Qatar and England.

In 2007, Salazar moved to the N4-class of the Rally Mobil, the Chilean Rally Championship, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, and was 5th in his first year at the N4-Class with a car of the ING Team.

Salazar's last international project is to race the Lisboa-Dakar rally, with the objective of being the first driver to have raced in the Monaco Grand Prix, the Le Mans 24 Hours, the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Indianapolis 500 and the Dakar Rally. In February he signed a pre-contract with Jean-Louis Schlesser to drive one of his buggies at the 2008 Dakar Rally, but he could not get a deal with a sponsor and that year's running of the Dakar Rally was cancelled anyway.

In 2008, Salazar raced in the Rally Mobil with his own team, formed by 3 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in the N4-Class.

Salazar made his debut in the Dakar Rally in 2009 with a McRae Prototype, finishing in 88th place. He would compete in the 2010 edition as part of the Team Dakar USA, in a third Hummer H3, in addition to the ones raced by owner Robby Gordon and Frenchman Eric Vigouroux.

In 2013, Salazar introduced autocross (aka "solo racing") to Chile, with the first event being held 6 April 2013 at Estadio Monumental in Santiago. In September 2013, he participated in the Sports Car Club of America Solo National Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, driving a C Prepared Ford Mustang.

Personal life

On 15 May 2001, Salazar had a son, also named Eliseo. The younger Salazar attended his first Indy 500 at the age of 8 days old.[citation needed]

Motorsports career results

Complete British Formula One Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Formula One World Championship

(key)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

International Formula 3000

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

American open-wheel racing

(key)

PPG Indycar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IndyCar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Indianapolis 500 results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series

Complete Grand Prix Masters results

(key) Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap.

Dakar Rally results

World Rally Championship

External links

• driver statistics at Racing-Reference