rpm.espn.com: Eddie Cheever Jr.

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Tuesday, December 4

Eddie Cheever Jr.
ESPN.com

Team: Team Cheever
Nationality: United States

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Poles
Top 5
Top 10
Money
Best finish

2001 8 1 0 3 5 $881,275 1st, Kansas

Career 5 0 16 28 $5,322,928 1st, Five times

Eddie Cheever Jr.
Cheever Jr.

2001 Recap
The Good: Cheever's goal entering the season was to get the Infiniti 35A up to speed. He did that and was rewarded with a competitive car that had the ability to win on any given weekend.

Season Highlight: Cheever overtook Sam Hornish Jr. with only two laps remaining to win the inaugural Ameristar Casino Indy 200 at Kansas Speedway. It marked the first win for Infiniti.

The Bad: It's hard to win a championship when you only finish five-of-13 races. Just ask Cheever. With his aggressive style of driving, the 43-year-old crashed out of three races and was knocked out of five others due to mechanical difficulties.

Sometimes this season it seemed Cheever spread himself too thin as owner and driver of the Infiniti 35A. We'll see if he reorganized his daily planner this off-season properly to make improvements both on and off the track.

Cheever Jr.
Eddie Cheever was both owner and driver of the Infiniti 35A in 2001.

Season Lowlight: Take your pick. Cheever was taken out in a massive accident at Texas between Greg Ray, Scott Sharp and Robby McGehee while in contention for the victory and he clipped Eliseo Salazar in Richmond, Va., while challenging for the top spot. Possible victories were turned to brutal defeats in a matter of seconds. They were tough for Cheever to swallow and ultimately knocked him out of serious championship contention.

Key Stat: It's put up or shut up time for Cheever. Father Time is marching on and more and more gray is peppering Cheever's mane. He is nearing his 44th birthday, 20 years the senior to IRL champ Hornish.

2002 Outlook
What needs to be done: The maturation of the Infiniti engine program means its testing will center, for the first time, on chassis rather than power.

Cheever is spending the offseason auditioning drivers as a potential teammate. Whomever is chosen will need to take the Formula One approach to team driver. Cheever is the boss -- and you don't beat the boss!

Prediction: Besides being one of the IRL's more aggressive drivers, Cheever is also one of the more outspoken regarding actions taken by others. The upcoming season sees Cheever's team in the best financial state since it was first incorporated. The additional support from Red Bull and Orange means Team Cheever Indy can test extensively.

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