Eliseo Salazar

Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela (Template:IPA; born 14 November 1954) is a Chilean former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from Template:F1 to Template:F1. 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)

File:Salazar and Lammers at 1982 Dutch Grand Prix.jpg

Salazar (front) at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix

After racing in the British F1 Championship in 1980 with a Williams FW07, and winning in Silverstone, he 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)

File:Dome RC82 - Chris Craft, Raul Boesel & Eliseo Salazar at the 1982 Silverstone 6 Hours (49905478197).jpg

Salazar competing in the 1982 Silverstone 6 Hours

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.

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.

He 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.<ref>Creating Autocross in Santiago, Chile Template:Webarchive</ref>

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.Template:Citation needed

Motorsports career results

Complete British Formula One Championship results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1980	RAM Racing Team	Williams FW07	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	OUL Template:Small	BRH Template:Small	SIL Template:Small	MAL Template:Small	THR Template:Small	MNZ Template:Small							2nd	52
		Williams FW07B								MAL Template:Small	SNE Template:Small	BRH Template:Small	THR Template:Small	OUL Template:Small	SIL Template:Small
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Formula One World Championship

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Template:Tooltip	Pts
Template:F1	March Grand Prix Team	March 811	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	USW Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	ARG Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small											18th	1
	Ensign Racing	Ensign N180B								ESP Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	CPL Template:Small
Template:F1	Team ATS	ATS D5	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	RSA Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	DET Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	NED Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	SUI Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CPL Template:Small	22nd	2
Template:F1	RAM Automotive Team March	RAM March 01	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	BRA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	SMR Template:Small	MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	DET	CAN	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	RSA		NC	0
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Dome Co. Ltd.	Template:Flagicon Chris Craft	Dome RC82-Ford Cosworth	C	85	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Dome Racing	Template:Flagicon Chris Craft Template:Flagicon Nick Mason	Dome RC82-Ford Cosworth	C	75	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Spice Engineering	Template:Flagicon Almo Coppelli Template:Flagicon Thorkild Thyrring	Spice SE88C-Ford Cosworth	C2	281	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Silk Cut Jaguar Template:Flagicon Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Template:Flagicon Alain Ferté Template:Flagicon Michel Ferté	Jaguar XJR-9LM	C1	368	8th	7th
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Silk Cut Jaguar Template:Flagicon Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Template:Flagicon Davy Jones Template:Flagicon Michel Ferté	Jaguar XJR-12	C1	282	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon Pacific Racing Ltd.	Template:Flagicon Harri Toivonen Template:Flagicon Jesús Pareja	BRM P301-Nissan	LMP	6	DNF	DNF
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

International Formula 3000

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1986	RAM Motorsport	RAM 04	Cosworth	SIL	VLL Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	IMO Template:Small	MUG Template:Small	PER Template:Small	ÖST				19th	1.5
	Lola Motorsport	Lola T86/50										BIR Template:Small	BUG Template:Small	JAR Template:Small
1987	Bromley Motorsport	Ralt RT21	Cosworth	SIL Template:Small	VLL Template:Small	SPA Template:Small	PAU Template:Small	DON Template:Small	PER Template:Small						NC	0
	Colin Bennett Racing	March 87B								BRH Template:Small	BIR Template:Small	IMO Template:Small
	Genoa Racing												BUG Template:Small	JAR Template:Small
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

American open-wheel racing

(key)

PPG Indycar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	No.	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Template:Tooltip	Pts	Ref
1995	Dick Simon Racing	7	Lola T95/00	Ford XB V8t	MIA Template:Small	SRF Template:Small	PHX Template:Small		NAZ Template:Small	INDY Template:Small	MIL Template:Small	DET Template:Small	POR Template:Small	ROA Template:Small	TOR Template:Small	CLE Template:Small	MCH Template:Small	MDO Template:Small	NHA Template:Small	VAN Template:Small	LAG Template:Small	21st	19	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
			Lola T94/00					LBH Template:Small
1996	Dick Simon Racing		Lola T96/00	Ford XB V8t	MIA	RIO	SRF	LBH	NAZ	500	MIL Template:Small	DET	POR Template:Small	CLE	TOR	MCH Template:Small	MDO Template:Small	ROA	VAN	LAG		30th	2	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

IndyCar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	No.	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Template:Tooltip	Pts	Ref
1996	Team Scandia	7	Lola T95/00	Ford XB V8t	WDW Template:Small	PHX	INDY Template:Small													23rd	58	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1996–1997					NHA Template:Small	LVS Template:Small	WDW	PHX												9th	208	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
			Dallara IR7	Oldsmobile Aurora V8					INDY Template:Small	TXS Template:Small	PPR Template:Small	CLT Template:Small	NHA Template:Small	LVS Template:Small
1998	Riley & Scott Cars	15	Riley & Scott MkV		WDW Template:Small	PHX Template:Small	INDY Template:Small	TXS Template:Small	NHA Template:Small	DOV Template:Small	CLT	PPR	ATL	TXS	LVS					29th	60	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1999	Nienhouse Racing	6	G-Force GF01		WDW Template:Small	PHX Template:Small	CLT Template:Small	INDY Template:Small	TXS Template:Small	PPR Template:Small	ATL Template:Small	DOV Template:Small	PPR Template:Small	LVS Template:Small	TXS Template:Small					20th	137	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2000	A. J. Foyt Racing	11	G-Force GF05		WDW Template:Small	PHX Template:Small	LVS Template:Small	INDY Template:Small	TXS Template:Small	PPR Template:Small	ATL Template:Small	KTY Template:Small	TXS Template:Small							4th	210	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2001	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	14	Dallara IR-01		PHX Template:Small	HMS Template:Small	ATL Template:Small	INDY Template:Small	TXS Template:Small	PPR Template:Small	RIR Template:Small	KAN Template:Small	NSH Template:Small	KTY Template:Small	GAT Template:Small	CHI Template:Small	TXS Template:Small			5th	308	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2002		11	Dallara IR-02	Chevrolet Indy V8	HMS Template:Small	PHX Template:Small	FON Template:Small	NAZ	INDY	TXS	PPR	RIR	KAN	NSH Template:Small	MCH Template:Small	KTY Template:Small	GAT Template:Small	CHI Template:Small	TXS Template:Small	20th	157	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Indianapolis 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
1995	Lola	Cosworth	24	4	Dick Simon Racing
1996	Lola	Cosworth	3	6	Team Scandia
1997	Dallara	Oldsmobile	9	24	Team Scandia
1998	Riley & Scott	Oldsmobile	DNQ		Riley & Scott Racing
1999	G-Force	Oldsmobile	18	33	Nienhouse Racing
2000	G-Force	Oldsmobile	3	3	A. J. Foyt Racing
2001	Dallara	Chevrolet	28	7	A. J. Foyt Racing
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

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

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	Template:Tooltip	Pts	Ref
1997	Doran Racing	77	Chevy	WDW	TUS	HOM	PHO	POR	EVG	I70	NHA	TEX	BRI	NZH	MLW	LVL	CNS	HPT	IRP Template:Small	FLM	NSV	GLN Template:Small	RCH	MAR	SON	MMR	CAL	PHO	LVS	93rd	149	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Complete Grand Prix Masters results

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

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5
2005	Team Altech	Delta Motorsport GPM	Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8	RSA Template:Small
2006	Team Phantom	Delta Motorsport GPM	Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8	QAT Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	MAL Template:Small	RSA Template:Small
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Dakar Rally results

Year	Class	Vehicle	Position	Stages won	Ref
2009	Cars	Template:Flagicon McRae	88th	0	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2010	did not enter
2011	Cars	Template:Flagicon Hummer	DNF	0	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

World Rally Championship

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Pts
Template:WRC	Eliseo Salazar	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG Template:Small	GRE	NZL	FIN	GER	GBR	FRA	ITA	ESP	NC	0
Template:Small {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Racing-Reference driver