Word: fittipaldi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Brazil, home of Soccer Star Edson Arantes do Nascimento ("Pelé") and Champion Race Car Driver Emerson Fittipaldi, has a new game that combines the most violent aspects of both sports. Autobol, as it is called, is played roughly-very roughly-according to soccer rules except that the players drive stripped-down Renault Dauphines and bump the ball instead of kicking it. The result is a kind of motorized madness that seems perfectly in tune with a country that has one of the world's highest auto fatality rates...
...Grand Prix racing, there is a tendency, sometimes justifiable, to credit victory to the car rather than the driver. Fittipaldi has proved that he can win even with autos that lack a racer's edge. Several days before the Monza race, a truck carrying his newest Lotus-Ford Formula 1 racer blew a tire and threw the car into a pepper patch and out of the race. Mechanics managed to patch up a leaking gas tank in Fittipaldi's back-up car scant minutes before the race began...
...Austrian Grand Prix last month, Fittipaldi, the No. 1 contract driver for the Lotus-Ford team, passed up the group's top car (which had been having steering and transmission problems) for the older back-up model. Though his choice had a balky engine, Fittipaldi won the 198-mile race by 1.18 seconds over Former World Champion Denis Hulme of New Zealand. The Italian triumph was Fittipaldi's fifth Formula 1 Grand Prix victory in ten races this season-a remarkable record for a driver only in his second full Grand Prix season. At that torrid pace...
...Fittipaldi's greatest assets are the fluid control he displays in taking a car through a curve, his ability to spot passing points that other drivers miss and an invincibly steady hand. Referring to the Austrian race, Hulme said: "The only way I could get past was if Emerson made a mistake, and Emerson doesn't make mistakes...
...winner is determined by the total points collected in twelve Grand Prix races. Although two of these races (the Canadian and American) have not yet been held, Fittipaldi already has enough points (61) to clinch the title...