Jacky Ickx, six-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, who additionally claimed eight System 1 wins, the 1979 SCCA Can-Am sequence championship and back-to-back World Endurance Championship for Drivers titles in 1982 and ’83, shall be honored by the Highway Racing Drivers Membership in Lengthy Seaside, California, on Thursday, April 13. The “RRDC Night with Jacky Ickx Offered by Firestone” is the RRDC’s thirteenth banquet honoring auto racing’s most influential leaders and icons. It is going to be held previous to the forty eighth Annual Acura Grand Prix of Lengthy Seaside.
Earlier RRDC honorees had been Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Roger Penske, Jim Corridor, Brian Redman, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, George Follmer, Emerson Fittipaldi, Johnny Rutherford. David Hobbs and Rick Mears. These “RRDC Evenings” are acknowledged as one of many highlights of the auto-racing social calendar, drawing followers and luminaries from all types of motorsports.
The Firestone model will return as presenting sponsor of the RRDC banquet for the twelfth yr.
“Having Firestone assist the RRDC Lengthy Seaside dinner for greater than a decade is a real privilege,” mentioned RRDC President Bobby Rahal. “Firestone has an unmatched heritage in motorsports courting again to the primary Indy 500® in 1911. We all the time welcome Firestone’s assist, and salute the model’s long-standing success and contributions to the game.”
The dinner’s proceeds will assist assist the RRDC’s younger driver initiatives, together with its groundbreaking SAFEisFAST.com program and the Group USA Scholarship, which the RRDC has backed since 1997 and has been offering alternatives for proficient younger American race-car drivers since 1990. The Mark Donohue Basis, a 501(C)(3) tax-exempt group, was shaped to additional assist the SAFEisFAST.com initiative.
Jacky Ickx has raced on the highest degree in all kinds of classes — together with System 1, sports activities vehicles, touring vehicles and rallies — a winner in all. Amongst many accolades, he received the 24 Hours of Le Mans an unprecedented six instances and twice completed runner-up within the System 1 World Championship. He’s competed in 565 races in vehicles and on bikes, forming an in depth and insightful file.
Beginning his profession in motorbike racing, Ickx was twice topped Belgian champion earlier than switching to 4 wheels, turning into the 1967 European System 2 champion.
His first 24 Hours of Le Mans victory got here in 1969, however not earlier than he achieved a heroic first System 1 victory in 1968 on the rain-soaked French Grand Prix.
After retiring from circuit racing, Ickx competed within the Paris-Dakar rally, successful in 1983 and putting second in 1986 and 1989.
His distinctive profession has spanned 40 years.
He additionally earned one other official title by serving as Clerk of the Course of the Monaco Grand Prix.
The RRDC Night with Jacky Ickx, Offered by Firestone shall be held on Thursday, April 13, on the Hilton Resort, 701 West Ocean Blvd, Lengthy Seaside, Calif., with cocktails at 6 p.m., and dinner at 7:15 p.m. Tickets are $280 per individual ($250 for RRDC members) if bought by April 2, and area is proscribed. An extra $20 shall be added to price if paid after April 2. Sponsor packages are additionally accessible. All are welcome, however this occasion is predicted to promote out, so early reservations are really helpful. Please contact Jeremy Shaw at rrdc2@cox.internet.
Extra details about the RRDC could also be discovered HERE.
